Back in the Saddle

I finally rode Brig today. It is the first time I've been back on since I fell off (other than right after I fell off). Between my back being so sore, being really busy for several days, and moving Brig to a new barn I just haven't made riding a priority. I lunged him lightly about 3 or 4 times during the past two weeks but otherwise have not givin him any exercise. I did go for a ride on Monday with Jen though. We took her boyfriend's (his family's) horses for a short ride on the dyke. It was really nice. Today I tacked Brig up and hopped on. I didn't lung first or anything. He was excellent. No spooking, no goofiness from having 2 wks off, nothing. He just walked, trotted and cantered around the ring like we'd been riding in it every day. One person at the new barn that I'm at suggested that his spookiness lately could be from having a saddle that doesn't fit properly. It could be his way of letting me know that it hurts him. She had that happen to her with a horse once and when she changed the saddle it was totally better. Today I rode in my jumping saddle because I know that it fits him better than the dressage (I think the dressage might be a bit narrow for him) and he didn't spook once the whole ride. So, I might have to invest in a new dressage saddle. I've been wanting one for a long time but I've been hoping that I could wait and save to get a good one. If I buy one now I can get something decent that I'm sure I'll be happy with but it won't be my dream saddle. I was actually surprised with how comfortable I found my jumping saddle today. I felt really secure in it. My current dressage saddle doesn't help my position or riding very much. Riding in my jumping one today made me realize how bad my dressage saddle must be. If I don't have to work next weekend I think that I might have to go check out some saddles.
Brig seems to be settling in quite well to his new home. He gets turned out some days with about 10 other horses. He's handling it fairly well I think. At first he tried to be mean but there were too many of them to chase and one of them wouldn't back down from him. Eventually he found some horses on the other side of a fence and so he spends his days near them. I think that he must feel safe because he knows that they can't get to him. I haven't had a chance to see if he's started to get along with the ones in his own field because the horses are usually in already by the time I arrive at the barn. While Brig seems to be enjoying his new home I'm not sure if I like it. There are definitely quite a few things that I do like but I can't help but think that I can find something better. I'm going to give it some time though. Maybe I just need time to settle in and get to know how things work around there. I have been enjoying the fact that there are more people at this barn. I haven't gotten to know many of them yet but I'm starting to.
I think that I'm going to work some more overtime this weekend. I could pick up as many as 3 shifts if I wanted to but I think that I'm just going to take one on Sunday. If I do take the shift I will get paid 2 hrs call time, 8 hrs at time and a half, and then on friday I will get paid time and a half again for my 8 hr shift. It's hard to turn that down especially when I might need to buy a new saddle.