The Little Red Mare Gets Some Love

DeCato needed attention, and if you look at the photo, you’ll see why. 

Argh! A gazillion botfly eggs!

I noticed, this year, that the number of botfly eggs the horses have on them is inversely proportional to their position in the herd.  The lower they are, the more eggs, so DeCato and Stormkite ended up with the most eggs.  I’m sure this is because they are the two who are pushed out of the shelter by the others, so they are the easiest target for that annoyingly persistent mamma botfly.

As I ponder it, I believe that swatting a botfly is almost as satisfying as swatting one of those humongous, B52-bomber-sized horse flies.

But I also wanted to try a couple of saddles on DeCato.  I have an, ahem, impressive collection of used saddles, and it’s time for them to go.  I moved them to the new house under the incorrect assumption that several of them were good possibilities for Dee, Starlight and DeCato, but have since realized that Dee and Starlight are much wider than all of them.  That left DeCato to pick out her favorite, and the rest can go.

The Tack of the Day saddle.

The Professional Trainer saddle

I tried two on DeCato, and as you can see by the photos, she looked equally uncomfortable in both.  This is due to her anxiety about being away from the herd, first, and her not being accustomed to wearing a saddle, second.  However, the Professional Trainer Pro Eventer saddle seemed to be a better fit than the Tack of the Day saddle (this is a brand name saddle that Tack of the Day sells without the brand button.  Rumored to be Harry Dabs, Collegiate, lower end Jaguar, Dover, and a few others.  It’s a nice saddle, whoever the maker).   I don’t know anything about the Professional Trainer, other than it seems to be a well made, all-purpose saddle.

So, after an anxious 40-minutes of botfly egg removal and saddle fitting, I put the little red mare back in the pasture.   It was getting dark, alas, so early, and I had already had a nice ride on Hudson, so it was time to call it a night.

Oh, and be looking for a huge saddle sale, soon.