Saddle, fly masks, etc

The ponies got pretty new fly masks.

So cute!  River is of course wearing his fly sheet..  Kinda funny when he's galloping up and down the fenceline because I took The Mare away, because he looks like he's wearing a dress.  Hard to take him seriously, lol.

Yesterday I rode in my new saddle, FINALLY.

I like it.  It's very comfy and fits Princess well.  I do feel like I'm tipping forward a bit, but I also tend to ride with my hip too closed... when I open up more, it's fine.  I might also change the shims in the ThinLine pad to see if that makes a difference.  I took off the velcro knee blocks (which are ENORMOUS) and much prefer it that way.

I'm not sure I like the stirrup leathers I bought.  They're the Ovation "webber" style leathers.  For some reason, they seem less stable than normal leathers.  Maybe I just need to get used to them?  Or I may put some saddle tite on the inner side to keep them still on the saddle.

We tried picking up the canter like normal (in a corner, then circling) with no luck..  I asked him in the far corner so we could go down a long side, and he was able to get it.  I stopped him at the end of the long side and suddenly remembered.... I forgot to put in his ear plugs!  Ooops!

We tried the canter on a circle again and we were both floundering.  BO came out and agreed that he's having a hard time circling, and suggested making the circle longer so he has a few strides of going straight.  And what do you know, he picked it up and held it until I asked him to stop.

He was a pretty good boy, especially considering that I got on, rode for a minute, dismounted, changed a couple things, remounted, dismounted, changed again, remounted, and finally rode.

When I took the saddle off, the sweat marks were nice and even, so that's a good sign!