Getting Better

Second ride on Licorice today.  I was told I could ride him, but not to let him work up a sweat.  We did a little of this and a little of that and had a pretty ugly ride, but both of us were just finding out feet again.  It was good to be back in the saddle.

I don't think Licorice shared my enthusiasm for this.  When I went to get him out of turnout (his second time getting out with friends in almost three weeks!) he gave me "Are you crazy?" look and turned and walked away.

Once under saddle, he tried looking back up at me a few times and stopping.  He just wasn't all that motivated to get back to work.  I think he enjoyed having a three week vacation with 24 hour room service.

I gifted Licorice with a new bridle that does not have a pink sparkly browband.  I forgot to take a specific close up of the bridle, but I'm pretty happy with it.  It's a Horze brand bridle and I think the stitching looks fancy.

See the white stitching?  I love how it looks on his big, black head.  I think he likes this better than bling.

It's a bit stiff though.  What do you use to soften up your leather?  Keep in mind, this is not an expensive leather bridle so it's not going to 'break in' the way a nice bridle would.  Still, I would like to soften it up some so it's easier to undo the buckles.  Any ideas would be appreciated.

Also, I would like to bitch a little about how hard it is to find a bridle without a flash AND a crank on it.  What happened to just nosebands?  Sheesh!!  Also, Licorice is wearing a Cob size bridle and the giant crank noseband is still too big.  He doesn't even have a delicate face so I find this surprising.  I don't want to crank his noseband down and put on his flash.  Sigh.  Stupid trends.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.  I'm hoping to catch up on my reading tomorrow somewhere in between oiling my new bridle and drinking wine and eating so much that I pop the button off my pants, which shouldn't take too much since I haven't ridden in three weeks and have been eating my way through Licorice's illness.