Saddle shopping

Through the past couple of months I have, through trial and error, learned more about saddles. How they fit the horse and how I feel in them. All good things to learn and it surprises me I never encountered all this trouble sooner in my horse-back riding travels. I have come to the conclusion that I really dislike saddle shopping. Part of it is my meager budget and part of it is just all the time it takes to track down something that "might" work and then ride a trial and realize that no, no it won't. I am a bit envious of the people who know what exactly they want/need and can just go and purchase it and have it work for both them and their horse.

With the help of some riding friends who know significantly more about this then I do, we have looked, and put numerous saddles on Sinwaan to see how they fit him.

The first one I really liked the look of, a leather english saddle that had both black and reddish tones. It was a medium tree and what I thought I needed at the time based on the measurement of the pommel gap for the withers. Mine measured 5" and so did this new saddle. However, after just looking at it, Cassandra put her fist in the pommel and quickly showed me that although they appeared to measure the same, mine actually was wider by about 1/3 a fist. That was amazing to me. So no need to trial that saddle. Cassandra also pointed out to me that placing the saddle up on Sinwaan, it wanted to slide down farther onto his back then was correct, and also did not sit level. The cantle sat much lower then the pommel and it just wasn't right.  Another thing she pointed out to me at the time was that Sinwaan's sheath appeared swollen, but that is a topic for another blog post!

At this point I had a list of about 10 local saddles available in a medium tree and my hopes diminished when I realized none of them would work and I would have to start over in my search.

I am thankful to have the resources locally of a ladies' riding club and a dressage club with which to inquire. Word gets passed around and soon various people I would encounter would ask me if I had found a saddle yet :)

Looking for a wide tree resulted in a much smaller selection. There was one about an hour's drive from me, and while it sounded great I hesitated due to the distance. I wanted to be able to put significant time in the saddle before purchasing it. The local tack shop would have let me try anything but they did not have what I was after.

Finally, during a lucky conversation with Annie I discovered that someone that I see every week (Bethany) had exactly what I was looking for. Annie had been planning to buy the saddle from Bethany but was changing her mind about it because she wasn't sure she would be doing much dressage with her current horses. It was a Wintec Isabella dressage saddle, very similar to what I have, but better because of an interchangeable gullet system and knee rolls that were also adjustable. Annie delivered the saddle to me and the next day I was able to go out for a very long ride to try it. I love that it has the same suede ("sticky") seat that I am used to, and I feel very secure in the deeper seat.

I trailered out to the Lake and did the short loop alone, then met up with Laurie and some other riders, one of whom I ended up doing the rest of the ride with, a lady named Stefani. All told I was in the saddle for about 3 1/2 hours doing all gaits, hills and flats. Sinwaan got sweaty but it was really hard for me to tell what was going on with his sweat pattern, other than there was a good air strip down his spine. When I dismounted the outside of my knees hurt. I wasn't sure what to blame it on,  but in talking with Heather later she suggested changing my stirrup length. Bethany's saddle had a deeper seat then mine, and I had used my own stirrups on the trial ride. So it is possible they ended up being just a bit short.

Within about 15-20 minutes the pain in my knees had subsided and overall I was pleased with the saddle but wanted a chance for Cassandra to look at the fit to Sinwaan and tell me her thoughts.  In the meantime I saw Laurie again and she gave me yet another saddle to try, one Betsy had gotten and wasn't using.  So the following week I had Cassandra come out to look at the two saddles. She felt that Bethany's saddle was a good fit for Sinwaan, and with the adjustable gullet it was a great choice because undoubtedly his shape will continue to change as his fitness level changes. He is very fat right now! We put Betsy's saddle up on him and it was ok,  but not as good a fit as Bethany's. So that confirmed my thoughts and I took Sinwaan out for another ride that day in Bethany's saddle, this time adjusting my stirrups down a hole.

I only had a short time to ride at the Lake so I started with the shorter inside loop and ended up on the outside longer loop and was pleased that I managed to do it all in an hour's time. Sinwaan and I encountered two does. One seemed curious about us and ended up jumping the fence and crossing our trail just about 8 horse lengths ahead of us. That was neat to see.  There was one other trailer at the lake but we never saw the other horse(s). It was a beautiful day for a ride. Fall is here and it was 57 degrees at 10 AM.

This time I didn't have knee pain, but with it being a much shorter ride it is hard to tell much at this point. Except for the fact that the saddle seems to be working out just fine. I am so happy to have finally found one! Sinwaan has gained more weight again since he has had a vacation during this summer, so it will be a priority for me to get in a ride every week to try and burn more calories. That seems to be the most efficient way to keep his weight down. Easy keeper!