Challenges of finding a saddle for pony

Just for fun, we took wither tracings of Max, the 11-hand grade pony, versus Tucker the 16 hand muscled Quarter horse, and Diesel, the 17 hand Paint stallion.  Max's wither tracing displays at the top of the photo. As you can see, Max had the u-shaped withers typical of the pony.  Diesel and Tucker have V-shaped withers.

Max's gullet width measured three inches down from the top of the withers was 9.5 inches versus 6.5 and 6 inches for Diesel and Tucker respectively.  Blessi's saddles fit Max through the shoulders--even though they were way too long for Max's back.  Another illustration of why saddle fit can be so challenging.

Max the Pony Meets Blessi

A fellow boarder purchased Max a grade pony for her 8-year old son.  Max is such a sweetie--well behaved and curious.  He and Blessi celebrated their ponitudes by alternating pushing over the stool.

PC A most unusual Burmese cat--A Memory

PC and I are dressed as Rocky and Bullwinkle at the
office Halloween party.  Yes, that is a landshark from
the classic SNL skit and yes the Japenese
visitors are quite amused.

PC was my first Burmese cat, who did not think he was a cat.  Or at least he defined "catness" as something totally different from the rest of the feline world.  As you can see by the photos, PC would go anywhere, anytime, meet any creature, and have fun.  From twin human babies poking at him, to kids putting him in a swing and pushing him, to visiting other people's houses with strange dogs and cats, he assumed life was a party filled with catnip and friends.

PC pushes the baby carriage down the
hallway.  He learned most of the tricks in
minutes.

PC also learned tricks.  He was easy to teach--learning sit, roll over, shake hands, leap through a hoop, jump to shoulders, walk on a leash, retrieve, wave bye bye, push the other cat in a baby carriage, etc.  At one point I was convinced that I should quit my job in software documentation and move to Hollywood to train cats for the movies.  However, I was never able to teach another cat a single trick so I am glad that I kept my day job.

My other cat was Mimsie the Siamese.  The only creatures
she liked were me and PC.  PC and Merci were
a nice yin-yang of feline companions.

Blessi entered my life when PC was 17.  I always wanted to take PC to the barn to meet Blessi and  take PC for a tolt.  But PC was a bit frail at that age and I wasn't sure if the visit was for my entertainment or his so I never did so.  Merci got to meet Blessi 10 years later.

PC loved his fish.  Unfortunately he was much more clever about
stalking it than I was at protecting it.  Even keeping the fish in
the microwave at night did not extend its life by much.

PC was such a character that he deserves a book of his adventures.  I did write and illustrate a children's book on that topic--thus learning just how hard it is to write a good book for that audience.