Sat. Misc.

More difficult to find time for posts when we train morning and also in the evening.  I'll try to do a little more now as it seems we are making progress with our horses, and lots happening of interest to write about.

More equipment:

Smoke still coming out of ears for spending $250.00 on this:

Of the very wide range of choices for all sports body armor--dirt biking, mountain biking, skiing, motocross, etc. etc. the POC VPD 2.0 vest is the only one boasting 1621-2 level protective padding that is the highest level of motorcycle standards.  The new rubbery VPD material advertised as state of the art, light, soft, molds to body, hardens and spreads force on impact.
How can one go wrong with this product?

For horses, several problems.  #1 the vest fails to cover crucial body parts.  The vest is without "any" padding for ribs, clavicle, back of shoulder all of which seem to me to be no brainer type areas that any protective vest would cover.  This was known, of course, before purchase, and so I had the idea of an under layer using the Nike Pro Combat padded shirt that does cover these body parts.

Which raises problem #2 with this vest--it's heavy.  Good grief is it heavy.  Advertising that padding is light is downright false.  The chief culprit in the vest is this back pad:

the green pad on the left.  You see the VDP logo.  This pad alone weighs at least three pounds, and so the 3.2 lbs for the vest advertised on Amazon is wrong.  The pad is very thick--almost an inch.

On the plus side Mr. Nob wore the vest tonight on #148 and reports that he indeed felt a higher level of protection.  The back pad is so effective I'd think falling on one's back even from a 17'1" horse would feel like landing on a pillow.  Unfortunately, for this vest, that's better were one would fall for the rest of it is crap.

Our main problem with it is weight which prevents adding padding to it when the horse goes at speed for our rider will be too heavy, even for the big horse.  There are vests that cover everything with lighter pads, such as this:

The Troy Lee 7855 Upper Body Armor that has pads everywhere, except, the lower back.

So, what are these companies thinking with their armor that partially covers crucial body parts?  Gross incompetence comes to mind.

And there's this wonderful product:

Our #148 suffered a scrape on his front left knee 10 days ago that became infected--knee grossly swollen.  This sort of thing generally subsides in a few days but this swelling/infection still lingers.  I've found a combo of cranberries, garlic and Reishi mushrooms causes all my tooth infections to subside, although some of them come back. How many times have I called the dentist for an emergency mouth swelling, taken the combo and cancelled the appointment.  Multiple occasions.

Hoping to save the $45 on anti-biotics from the vet, #148 got a does of Cran Max this morning.  8 hours later the knee swelling was down by at least 1/3.

Training:
#17 has been successfully negotiating our course at the walk-trot-gallop.  Plan is for full gallops around some time in coming week.
#148--our intelligent fast learner horse has been anything but.  #148 still has trouble with basic commands and rider aides, although we have been without the gross misbehavior of late June, early July.  We decided the misbehavior was primarily caused because the horse had yet to ready to leave his buds at any distance.  #148 has been only walking under tack, although I believe were ready to begin the trot this next cycle.  Will try a trot with him in the morn.

Both horses have continued their every three day riderless work.  #17 is scheduled to stop this, likely this week.