Painless Saddle Shopping

Yeah, you heard that right, and I don't believe it either.

Our saddle situation has been questionable for a long time. Back when Arwen and I were eventing (many years and many kilograms ago), I made our first non-starter-GP purchase. I had to sell two cows to do it, but I splurged on a beautiful brand new Kent & Masters jumping saddle. It still works in my riding school but sadly that expensive English leather did not stand up well to the brutal African sun and it has been falling to pieces for years.

dear old K&M in its glory days

In sharp contrast, when I started heading in the dressage directions about eight or nine years ago, I picked up a secondhand Wintec 250 dressage from Erin for peanuts. She'd bought it secondhand herself, but that saddle just never dies. It's had a few minor repairs and it's still doing its thing. I competed Arwen in it for years and Lancey has also worn it since I bought him, but as Arwen and I worked harder and her body changed this winter, it became increasingly obvious that the 250's fit wasn't working the way it used to. It wasn't doing me any favours, either.

It was obvious that we needed a new saddle and I was pretty sure what we wanted. I don't have the spoons for looking after leather and the price makes me wheeze. I've always been happy with Wintec - J rides his GP horse in a Wintec Isabel - and as long as I could find one to fit Arwen, I would have been happy, although obviously fitting her was the first priority.

Wintec 250 doing its thing

To complicate things, Arwen has never, ever been an easy fit. Though she did eventually develop a wither, she now has that curve to her back as well, and she's a little downhill. That all conspires to make it very difficult to find a saddle that doesn't slide forward. The Wintec 250 slipped just a little every single ride and we were both sick of it, even though she was never back sore.

high butt, curvy wither

Of course, the budget was a significantly limiting factor. With the exchange rate being what it is---I get paid in US dollars so I'm not exactly complaining---there was no way we were going to afford anything brand new. It would have to be secondhand and I was ready to spend many months waiting to see if anything suitable cropped up, if it was available to fit, and if I could even get anything in my budget to fit the dragon acceptably.

It was around that time that Anke put on a growth spurt and suddenly no longer fit into her almost brand new Wintec 500. EM had bought it new less than a year ago and hadn't put that many miles on it yet; it had one superficial scratch and was in otherwise perfect condition. I was nearly done with a novel that would bring in some extra cash, so on a whim, I asked EM if I could try it on Arwen. It was exactly what I wanted and well within the budget, so I was pretty sure it wouldn't fit. It's never that easy, right? Still, it would have been silly not to try.

one gullet too narrow

I thought my suspicions were true at first when I tried it and it was tight behind the shoulders and bridged slightly. I could more or less fix that with a half pad shimmed in front, and it was in a gullet one size narrower than she usually likes, so I hopped on for a brief ride anyway and absolutely loved how it felt for me. Arwen didn't protest the fit and it didn't slip during our short ride, either, so I figured I'd try another gullet before sending it back.

It was a couple of days before I could get my hands on a red gullet, and it was magical. The tightness behind the shoulders was gone and the panel made full contact down her back, even if it was somewhat imperfect near the middle. Nothing unfixable with a tiny flocking tweak. I fit my own saddles---I'm no master saddle fitter but I am actually qualified, I just don't really have the time to go around fitting for other people---and I thought it was fine but decided to leave the decision up to the dragon.

The moment I sat in that saddle, Arwen stretched right down to the ground. She is often quite stretchy in walk so I didn't think much of it, but when we moved up to trot, she didn't squirt forward, fuss, or pull. She just stretched all the way to the floor. I took that as a resounding yes, especially when the saddle didn't move an inch throughout our ride.

And that concludes the most painless saddle shopping story ever. It even came with its girth, stirrup leathers and brand new Nu Angles at a great price.

Now the dragon is all kitted out for bigger things. More on that later...

Even in little things, God is good!