Angled Rear Dee Rigging Explained with Julie Goodnight

On certain trail saddles, Circle Y has an angled rear dee with the in-skirt front rigging. Not all of the trail saddles have this rigging, but for this type it's imperative that the saddle is rigged correctly for you and your horse's safety. It's a great option for trail riders that frequently ride through rough and varied terrain. Our Team of Champions member, Julie Goodnight, explains how to use this rigging correctly. Be sure to rig your horse the same on both sides!

Sunday Trail Ride

Several of us here in the office went on the annual church trail ride/picnic Sunday. We ride in the ditches for those 7 miles so it's not a real scenic experience but fun nonetheless. In my previous post you got to meet some of our horses and these are the ones we took on the trail ride. An addition to our group is Donna, our Tack Production Supervisor, and she rode Buddy; Tina rode a cute little gray Quarter horse she is training; I rode Copper; and Amy rode Fancy. Amy also had her favorite horse of all time, Boomerang, which she ponied so her young daughter could ride. Boomerang will be 25 in September and is now teaching the second generation of children to ride. What a guy…

I am pleased to say Copper was a perfect gentleman not spooking at anything! He walked along, looked alert, and paid no attention to trucks whizzing by, flags flying, the teams of mules, or anything else except me. It was fantastic being able to visit with the girls and trust my horse too. He is mischievous and among several of the breaks during the ride he would pull the end of the rein into his mouth, hold it for a minute, and then turn around and look at me like-c’mon let’s get going! This is a habit I do not want escalating! He gets bored easily and is quick to entertain himself.

Several of the husbands would drive along slowly with their hazards on to keep an eye on us and get us cold drinks. They also had some fun driving up the trucks and trailers to the church. One older truck they drove up had to be started with a screwdriver! I appreciate this very much since my husband is not horse crazed like myself. This was a wonderful way to spend a Sunday morning riding and visiting in the hot summer sun.

Horses of Circle Y

I thought I would showcase some of the horses that are owned and loved by several of us at Circle Y. Some of us ladies got together the other night to ride, which we try to do about once a week, and I snapped some pics of our faithful companions. These are also a few of the horses we try trees on, test new saddle designs, or try new tack.

The bay Quarter horse belongs to Tina, our Purchasing Agent, and is only 3. He is the calmest, most laid back baby horse I think I have ever been around. Tina aspires to make a barrel horse out of him, but he has many other talents such as being a cowhorse, baby sitter, and teacher for novice riders. Normally young horses are never a match for children or new riders, but this guy's a wonderful exception. Plus, he's pretty and a versatile athlete!

The lovely gray Quarter horse mare is Fancy. She belongs to Amy, our Design and Marketing Manager. She is a real cowhorse and will rope and chase cows all day long. She is a big girl at 15.2 hands and stout. Her name suits her because she has this gorgeous refined face. When we ride, this mare covers some ground with her long strided walk and is always alert. She is also our tack catalog cover model.

Last is my chestnut Tennessee Walker, Copper. He is my continual project of becoming a bomb-proof trail horse. I set this goal for myself at the beginning of the year and am progressing-even though we have a lot of work to do before he achieves this title. He is gentle but mischievous and has lots of personality. He gets thoroughly bored with arena work and loves to see new things and be on the go. All of us girls are going to a beginner Cowboy Mounted Shooting clinic in August so I've been working on getting a better handle on him.

Goodnight saddles

One of our favorite things about this job is seeing a new saddle design or concept come to fruition. It's almost like giving birth...we plan, we wait, a saddle is born! We ooh and aah, take lots of pictures, and fall in love with our new favorite saddle. This week we sent some new saddles to trainer Julie Goodnight for testing. We are so excited about working with Julie on a signature saddle line that embraces her horsemanship philosophy. These saddles have some great features for horse and rider and are GORGEOUS! Come back soon for a product update in the coming weeks.

Riding Technique

So here in the office us gals were discussing whether riding is more about balance or movement. One opinion is it’s more about balance because if you’re not balanced you can’t stay on the horse and go with him. The other opinion is riding is more about movement because you have to be able to move with your horse to stay on…not to mention how uncoordinated we are on the ground until we get on a horse so it couldn’t possibly be only balance. To me, both of these concepts are valid. It seems like one would have to be balanced to stay on the horse no matter what your riding tasks might be. But, is it movement that keeps you on the horse when a deer pops out of the brush and your horse jumps sideways? What about when you are trotting or loping your horse, then movement really seems to be priority because you want to move with your horse’s rhythm. Or the third option is you can’t have one without the other. Who actually knows the answer to this Wednesday lunch hour horse discussion?

Getting Fixed

I have recently have been given an opportunity to get a horse that is a 14-year-old Quarter horse stallion. I am planning on gelding him immediately if I decide to take him, and hopefully he will mellow out fairly quickly. He is a great horse and has been used extensively for cattle work and some trail riding and not been allowed to be “studdy”. In fact, if he was a gelding he would have been in my pasture yesterday! He has been socialized with other horses in his younger years but has been by himself for the last four or five and has not had a real breeding career. I don’t have any experience handling a stud, and am not looking to start. If he will remain acting like he is a stallion but more mellow, I’m not thinking that is something I would like to take on. I do have a gelding already so he would have a buddy. I want to be able to relax and enjoy my ride, not be on the lookout for fellow mares. Does anyone have an input on gelding an older stallion? How did it work out?

Horses for Sale

My husband and I went to an estate horse auction a few weeks ago looking for a well broke ranch gelding. It was not what I was expecting, although I have never been to a sale like this. There were a lot of brood mares, most with babies at their side and bred back, a few studs and 3 riding horses. The catch with the mares is they were all turned out together with the stallions, so you didn't know what stud bred the mare. That's a real genius way of being in the horse business. One of the studs was a real pretty Hancock bred blue roan with a gorgeous, wavy black mane. I guess he hadn't been handled that much because he was pretty wild in the auction pen. Some of the broodmares sold for $200 with weanlings going for $75. We could've bought the entire herd for $2000. We came home with an empty trailer, but I can't get those images of the horses out of my mind and wondering what happened to them. It's a real pity in these kinds of situations; I wish I could've brought them all home. It seems like "horse breeders" would stop breeding these kinds of herds seeing they have no real goals in mind. I understand if you have a champion and you are in the real biz of competing or raising calm, well rounded riding horses. There's a real need for that, but this guy totally seemed to miss the mark. How do you stop people from breeding horses just for the sake of breeding a horse? Foals are cute for awhile until they nail you in the stomach with one of their sweet little hoofies and leave a bruise the size of a grapefruit. Now there's talk of reopening slaughter plants or creating new ones in the U.S. to help ease the horse population. The thought of horse slaughter makes me absolutely nauseous, and I don't feel there's one easy answer. I do think we must stop horses from going to Mexico regardless of what's done in the U.S. No matter what solution you think is the best, I think one thing we can do is write our Congress representatives and senators with a particular viewpoint. The squeaky wheel gets the grease...