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Tuesday, December 5, 2017

Saddlessssssss

I sort of doubt Roxie's mom quite knew that she was adopting myself (and now Zoë!) when she initially was like "come ride my Roxiecorn!"
the Roxiecorn herself!

Hahahaha but now she's stuck with us. Joke's on her.

See, all my horses ever prior to Zoë were 50% thoroughbred or more. Which is fine. It just means that the same general sorts of things worked for them.

Pro tip: approximately 0 of those things work for a Zoëbird.
i mean i guess if you duct taped like 3 ottbs together, you'd almost get this wide
And you know. Because I'm way too ocd to let things be "just ok" and must always tweak and get them to "quite good actually", I can be a little high maintenance.

I mean. Y'all ought to be REAL DAMN IMPRESSED that I have gone this long with a black bridle and brown saddle.

Anyways. My saddle doesn't fit. My back up saddle isn't something I want to ride in every day if I don't have to.
a very cute 4

HOWEVER my baby mare is four and basically just doubled in size in four months and, oh, I know NOTHING about saddles wider than like medium narrow.

That makes buying things kinda disingenuous, given her rate of change, as well as expensive because I have no frame of reference for what I'm looking at.

But also I can't just not have a saddle.
i'm really not a great bareback rider

Naturally I texted this entire monologue to Roxie's mom and then started sending her saddles I found for sale online like I DONT KNOW WHAT ABOUT THIS.

Lucky for me, she is a total hoarder who basically still owns every saddle she's ever liked. Also lucky for me, she was willing to loan me a few to try on Zoë. (There is a rather hilarious story about picking them up that involves me mocking her geography skills but karma getting revenge whilst I steered (with no brakes) my motorized toboggan through a mountain pass in a snowstorm, but that's another story for another day.)

She sent me this to-die-for totally gorgeous brown Albion in xtra-super-duper wide, then a slightly wider basic black saddle, then the super wide Roxiecorn saddle.
i really need to get a pic in better light
but then i might never give it back
Three options. Then I can try them all and play with them a bit and at least start to get an idea of what I'm looking for with my baby mare. Makes sense.

Ha ha ha.

First night at the barn, I just reached in the car and grabbed the closest saddle. It was black. I thought it was the less wide one. I set it on Zoëbird.
the problem with the dark is bad pictures

And um.

You guys.

It looked real good.

I threw some fittings on. Lunged her. Sat in it. Really liked it. Puts me in a good place. Fits her really well. Maaaaaaybe needs a thin little half pad, but seemed pretty ok without it.
look! riding media!

I looked under the flap to check which saddle it was.

cough.
well that's real wide
Yeah the Roxie saddle. The uber wide one.
why am i surprised?
i shouldn't be surprised
Of course, the fun thing with babies is that if they're not done growing at 4, they're probably not done growing at 4.5 either.

But.

At least we have a starting point?

27 comments:

  1. 😂😂😂 hoop trees 4 lyfe. Fitting half drafts can be particularly challenging -- one of my local friends has been through approximately 15 saddles and when she finally found the PERFECT saddle.... Her tack room was burglarized and now she can't find another. Because that's how life works?

    Hopefully this saddle works for you guys for a while!

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    Replies
    1. That is horrifying. If it was a movie, I couldn’t watch it.

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  2. Oh hooray, the tack game with a growing horse... blergh. I bought Mae's winter blanket this summer. It's tight on her already...

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    1. I objectively understand that baby horses grow. It’s still surprising to watch how much she changes in person.

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  3. I mean you're basically trying to fit a table. So there's that.

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  4. I feel like the tack ho game is a lot of fun until bitches start bringing saddles into it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah all of a sudden the stakes are a lot higher. Stress!

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  5. This might be a weird question, but does she hurt your hips? I have not ridden many super wide horses (coming from mostly TB land) but every single REALLY wide one I've ever ridden has legit killed my hips. Like for days. Apparently I don't bend that way.

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    Replies
    1. I’m lucky I think—the width doesn’t bother my hips at all but I definitely know people it would be a deal breaker for.

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  6. How long until riding bare back requires you to be able to do full splits?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I mean, I’ve akways wished I could do that. Maybe this is my chance?

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  7. Yeah, that's WIDE AF. If it makes you feel any better the English saddle I finally found to fit my Halter-bred QH was 9" dot to dot.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I wish eBay had a section that was just like “these saddles fit 55 gallon drums”. That would be helpful.

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  8. A wide saddle? What's that? lol Scarlet, being arab and saddlebred, is narrow. Just as narrow as some tbs out there I'm told. I can't imagine having to find a wide saddle. Hopefully she fills out in other places and doesn't get too much more wide.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The growth process is actually super interesting. They go out some and up some. Just never had one go out this much. Ha.

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  9. You'd only have to duct tape 2 OTTBs together to get Zoe-wide if one of them is mine. Or maybe just my OTTB and a pony.

    Good thing Zoe's awesome because that saddle shopping sounds much more like hell than saddle shopping usually is.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh god I’d be lost without good help. It’s a whole new world.

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  10. Baby got back for sure!!! My curly is super wife and flat backed too, nothing of mine actually fits that great. The struggle is real plus half-lease so...yeah not getting to shop, sad face.

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  11. Yeah. I'm a little worried my medium-wide saddle - which adequately fits most everything I've thrown it on - ain't gonna fit Cessa's current level of chub, and she's only about 45% draft. I'm... still trying not to think about Justice's adult size, because homeboy could be 16hh or taller, and he could be anywhere from "slightly wider than a post" on up through "capable of holding wine, fish, monkeys, and dwarves."

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  12. I can't wait to tell you that 4 year old Roxie was an excellent fit in a medium wide HDR. :P

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  13. Lol, I think if I smooshed Rio and Jamp together they still wouldn't be that wide! (in the front anyway, they both have a pretty impressive hay bellies.) Fingers crossed she's done growing outwards!

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  14. I can't believe nobody has mentioned this yet....


    Two words. Duett Saddles.

    Your welcome

    ReplyDelete