Chat
04-29-2018, 09:17 AM
The class went great as far as the boys, the variety of saddles, and the presentation, but it was woefully under-attended. We had only one family and they'd never heard of packgoats. They were showing Boers in the other barn and saw my class on the program. The man had a lot of experience packing with horses so it was fun to introduce him to goat saddles without having to spend time introducing terms and such.
Finn and Sputnik were good boys. They were model citizens as I whisked saddles on and off of them, but any time we left the two of them to themselves they would troll each other. I tied them far enough apart that it was difficult for them to interfere in each other's space. But Sputnik would back up almost to the end of his lead so he could put his tail as close as possible to Finn's area. Then Finn would reach over and bite Sputnik's tail. Sputnik would get riled up and act like he was being tormented, but he would back right up into Finn's face again. And of course Finn stood as close to Sputnik's side as possible so as to be sure that Sputniks butt could reach his face. It was hilarious to watch them.
Finn and Sputnik are shaped very differently, so it's fun to compare and contrast how the different saddles fit them. It would have been fun to have had more goats to try saddles on. It would especially have been nice to have had a classic Alpine or other Swiss type there to show how a saddle should fit. Both of my boys are too wide for a standard saddle. Finn can get away with it, but it's still not ideal. I hoping his withers will come up in the next year and improve how his saddle fits. It's fun to show saddle fit on Finn and point out the problem areas, then take the same saddle and plop it on Sputnik. Suddenly the minor problem areas on Finn become exaggerated on Sputnik to the point where anyone could point out the issues and why that goat would be very unhappy once I added weight onto the tree.
Finn and Sputnik were good boys. They were model citizens as I whisked saddles on and off of them, but any time we left the two of them to themselves they would troll each other. I tied them far enough apart that it was difficult for them to interfere in each other's space. But Sputnik would back up almost to the end of his lead so he could put his tail as close as possible to Finn's area. Then Finn would reach over and bite Sputnik's tail. Sputnik would get riled up and act like he was being tormented, but he would back right up into Finn's face again. And of course Finn stood as close to Sputnik's side as possible so as to be sure that Sputniks butt could reach his face. It was hilarious to watch them.
Finn and Sputnik are shaped very differently, so it's fun to compare and contrast how the different saddles fit them. It would have been fun to have had more goats to try saddles on. It would especially have been nice to have had a classic Alpine or other Swiss type there to show how a saddle should fit. Both of my boys are too wide for a standard saddle. Finn can get away with it, but it's still not ideal. I hoping his withers will come up in the next year and improve how his saddle fits. It's fun to show saddle fit on Finn and point out the problem areas, then take the same saddle and plop it on Sputnik. Suddenly the minor problem areas on Finn become exaggerated on Sputnik to the point where anyone could point out the issues and why that goat would be very unhappy once I added weight onto the tree.