(no subject)

[kirkcudbright]

+1. Bought a western bridle for Cheyenne today. I don't own this horse, and in 15 or so years of riding, this is the first bit of tack I've ever bought. But I ride him, and he came with a western saddle, but not a bridle. For the longest time, I rode him english with a saddle and bridle that were nominally for another horse. Lately I've been riding him western with his own saddle and the barn owner's bridle. Except she's cleaning tack this week, so the bridle is up at the house. So I used an Australian saddle belonging to another of the leasers, with the English bridle.

You're confused by this point, and so am I. Suffice it to say that it's easier if the horse has his own set of tack.

I hadn't been to State Line Tack since they moved from Plaistow to Salem. I was severely dismayed to find that they're now just the Horse department of PetSmart, with less than a quarter of the stock they had in the free-standing store. It occurred to me that I should have just gone to the local tack store, but there I was.

Cheyenne came with a cheap synthetic saddle, so I got an embarrassingly cheap synthetic bridle to go with it. I mean, $8 headstall, $5 reins, $5 noseband/tie-down combo, and $15 bit. OTOH, I can't wait until Sunday to try it out.

-2. Went to the Conservation Commission meeting this evening. The business I was there for was scheduled for 8:00, but didn't come up until 10:00. They spent the longest time on plans for recreation and reclamation at Martin's Pond, including duelling biologists on whether fan-wort was an alien or native species, and what it meant to call it invasive.

The business I was there for concerned the 6 acres directly behind our house, which the town took out of conservation protection and sold for development, in order to buy parcels on the other side of town, to save them from development. The town has issued the Orders of Taking to acquire the land, only to find out that the developer doesn't have the $1.7M in the bank to hold up his side of the deal. He needs the town to green-light the building plans so that he can go to the bank for a loan.

Long story short - the developer has the town by the short hairs. Did I mention that it was the developer's idea in the first place to sell him the (formerly) conservation land so that they could buy the land on the other side of town for conservation purposes?

Comments

[deguspice.livejournal.com]

The town has issued the Orders of Taking to acquire the land, only to find out that the developer doesn't have the $1.7M in the bank to hold up his side of the deal.

Was the developer supposed to buy the land on the other side of town and then donate it to the town?

Watching these sort of projects, I've learned some developers are operate as a Ponzi scheme.  They need to complete the buildings in order to have the money to pay for the project.  Next time, get the money in escrow.

[kirkcudbright.livejournal.com]

Was the developer supposed to buy the land on the other side of town and then donate it to the town?

No, the town is taking a lot of bits and pieces (most less than an acre) abutting or contained within existing town land, to form a single cohesive Eisenhaure's Pond Park.

There's really nothing to link the two sites (the land behind us, and the Eisenhaure's Pond project) except the money angle. But that's how it was proposed, and that's how it was sold to the voters.

[hawkegirl.livejournal.com]

You know Dover is moving into the Plastow store... they generally have a really good "basement" section when it comes to prices.

[kirkcudbright.livejournal.com]

Thanks, I didn't know that. I was hoping someone would take over the space.

[quietann.livejournal.com]

see, I don't understand how these horse leases work around here, where they expect everyone to have their own tack. Shouldn't each *horse* have its own tack, whatever is the best for that horse? With maybe a few variations in bridles for different riding skills?

See, if I went out and got a saddle that fit *me*, how would I know that it fit the horse? And would I have to buy a different saddle every time I leased a different horse? Seems wasteful.

(When I was riding as a kid, my instructor had one mare that had to be ridden in an English style bitless bridle by beginners; once one had "good hands" there was a full double bridle for her, and she was wonderful to ride in it. Yes, I got to use the bridle, and considered it a real honor. She was my instructor's personal riding horse, and my instructor didn't want her mouth destroyed.)

[kirkcudbright.livejournal.com]

I don't know how all leases work, but the way it runs at this barn is that each horse has its own tack, more or less. There's actually less tack than there are horses, so one bridle may be used on two horses, as long as they're not being ridden at the same time.

The complicating factor here is that Cheyenne is actually a boarder, so his owner is supposed to provide his tack. She left a western saddle at the barn, but no bridle, and in fact she hasn't been seen for a long long time. Thus the borrowing. It's worse when I ride english - I use Royal's saddle and a bridle out of the common tack pool.

Bottom line is that I didn't have to buy a bridle, but it made everything simpler. And it's going to stay at the barn, so anyone who rides him can use it.