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?

Baby Mares: They Grow

dust. the season before mud.

I've been in absolute tack ho hysterics lately because it seems like nothing I own fits Zoebird anymore. Which like. Babies grow, I get it. But also she is four and sure people TELL ME that drafties grow through their seven year old year and yes, I've formed her life/training plan around letting her growing body develop, but also like the horse is four. How much is she really going to change?

Cough.

I'll just wait for y'all to quit laughing uproariously.

Okay. So. I was cleaning up my phone pictures the other day and I saw this:

is a baby!

That's a baby Zoebird the first day I ever met her. Look what a leetle beebee she is! 

Annnnnnd here's Zoebird playing in the round pen last week:

VA VA VOOM

And like. That isn't a fat horse you're looking at. Mare is solid. She's muscle. She's pretty fit. She was in great shape when she came too--nice weight, glossy coat, all that. 

It's just that in four months (I counted), she doesn't look like the same horse anymore. 

You can see it under saddle too:

one of her first rides

I think that was like... first few days of August? 

Annnnnnnd here's October: 

mmhmmm

Oh and if you're wondering what a curvy girl looks like without all the tack, well, brace yourself:

that's real round

IN FOUR MONTHS

boss corgi needs more coffee

So uh. 

That existential scream you just heard was definitely someone else saddle shopping. 

Definitely. 

Wherein Zoë Has An Opinion

Zoë is a fascinating horse for me--she is so cool, yet so different from any horse I've ever spent time with. She has this fantastic "let's do something" attitude. She is 110% try. And she's just so... straightforward?

SMOOSH CAMERA

This past week, I was stressed about things outside the barn and it definitely impacted me when I showed up. I was tense and spooky and not a great influence.

Zoë is a champion, so she still brought her A Game and was lovely.

But then Friday was cold and windy and blowing in a storm and I was alone at the barn, so the smartest thing to do seemed like putting Zoë on the lunge line and go a little forward. Every time I asked for an upward transition, she was a little resistant. Not naughty per se--just a little head shake and DONT WANNA and then she'd go.

sass!

Which. Eh? She's no self-propelled OTTB. She's certainly allowed to be a horse. Horses have opinions sometimes.

Then I asked her for canter and she gave an honest-to-goodness crow hop (!!) before setting out (and I yelled at her and made her RUN REAL FAST FOR A REAL LONG TIME because NO CROW HOPS).

And again. She's four. She's a mare. The weather was changing drastically. Her work has gotten a lot harder lately. She might be a little body sore. She might have popped a little baby attitude. Besides, it was a crow hop and it was not repeated. We're not exactly talking about a giant red flag being towed behind an airplane here.

cannot get enough smooshy face in my life

Later that night, I was texting a friend about saddle fit and hoop trees and how fast babies change.

And while everything that had happened could be quite simply explained by Zoë being a baby mare who's a little body sore and having a case of the dont-wannas on a crappy day, it just seemed like maybe a dark orange flag fluttering in the breeze. I haven't had her that long, but everything I know about her is that she's very, very genuine. She likes having a job. She likes going to work. She loves attention and people and cookies and everything about being an ammy horse.

For a horse like that, who does something out of character?

Hm.

also she got her first hat from Leah and T 

On a hunch, I grabbed a different saddle I had sitting around my garage and headed out to the barn Saturday. I started to tack up normally. Sat her usual saddle on her.

Instantly pinned ears.

Hm.

Took her saddle off. Put back up saddle on.

Pleasant ears.

Then took her to the arena and stuck her on the the lunge line.

Her first walk/trot transition was a little stuck and head shaking.

Then she went nicely forward and every transition after that was smooth and flowing, both on the lunge and under saddle.

awwww 

Again. She's four. The weather just changed. I was definitely in a better frame of mind Saturday than I was early in the week. All of those factors could be are related. Further testing is required etc.

To me, learning Zoë's tolerance level and how she communicates is so critical at this stage. It allows me to make better choices going forward. If I'm going to cultivate her awesome work ethic and develop her trust, she needs to know that she can express discomfort and not have to work through pain.

Can you even?
You cannot.

Outfitting a Zoëbird: Part Two

Needless to say, when you go from the cobbiest of cob size OTTBs that ever cobbed the earth to a Percheron cross baby, not a lot of your tack is going to fit.

Like. Less than you'd think even.

i mean. they go on. and they're purple. so they stay.

I did not expect C's boots to fit, but they do. Sorta. As in. Well. ZB has good, solid bone but isn't exceptionally enormous, so the height is pretty ok. She's definitely broader than C is, so boots that overlapped a little on him don't quite close on her.

o hai expensive boots

I do have this fancy schmancy set of Schockemohle dressage boots that I bought for Courage, but by the time I got done dicking around with eBay UK and they actually arrived, I'd already decided to rehome him. (So if you don't recognize them, that's why.) Anyways. They fit just slightly differently than the knock offs and are the best fitting boot I have right now.

I did not expect my boots to work.

I did expect my saddle pads to work.

yeah she thinks i'm funny too

I keep meaning to take a fairly hilarious video for you guys, but essentially, my beautiful Ogilvy wither-relief pads... uh... don't work for a horse without withers. Like. You push one end down and the other pops up. And if you're wondering, no they do not stay under the saddle. Oops.

Fortunately, I have more dressage pads and those seem to work ok for her shape.

and that shape is hella sexy

 Then saddles. 

Yeah. 

I knew my $$$$ Custom was never going to fit her and I know it's idiocy to buy a $$$$ saddle for a baby horse that's going to change shape dramatically unless you can afford to just keep buying them. Which yeah no. Not happening. 

I scrounged up a saddle at a local consignment place that fits both of us well enough but won't completely break my heart to sell when the inevitable time comes. 

sad lil jump pad

Bridles were tricky of course. Zoëbird is actually the same measurement bit to bit over the poll as Courage, but let's just say all of her other dimensions are... larger. If you're counting, yes, that means off-the-rack bridles are out for her. SOB. This is a shopping killer. I ordered her a Nunn Finer Custom event bridle because they let me pick the size of each piece without ever talking to an actual human being. (That's the whole point of the internet. Retailers, take note.) 

hey baby. sad bridle.

Now of course I have already ordered Ms Zoëbird her very own Topline Leather browband (custom specs omg can't wait!) buuuuut the wait time is killer and no matter how many times I'm like BUT LOOK AT THIS SAD BRIDLE WITH NO SPARKLES, I don't get to jump the line (sob) so I needed an interim browband also. Alyssa let me play with her cool new toy from Blackjak Refinery and with my great sense of restraint, I ordered my own immediately. 

rainbow hematite. i think yes.

Haha and remember how I buy every bit I can get my grabby hands on and never sell them and have this life goal of being the crazy bit lady in 30 years with basically every bit that was ever made?

Uh yeah. 

Well like 85% of horses on the planet wear a 5" bit. So my entire collection is 5" bits. And one 5.5" because there was a sale. 

Guess where this is going.

mmhmm

Yeah the "little" D bit in that picture is my lone 5.5". And yeah. It's too small. The eggbutt is a 6" that fits just fine. Jury is out on the ramifications for the bit collection, but it's a strange position for me to be in. 

Oh and halters? Hahahahahahaha shut up. When Roxie's mom dropped Ms. ZB off, she handed me a rope halter and was like "this fits weird. you can have it." 

just. weird. not bad. 

She's not wrong. It does fit weird. It also goes on Zoëbird pretty ok, so we use it on the daily. 

My inner optimist stuck Courage's fancy clinician-style stiff rope nose-knot halter on her...

someone should slap my inner optimist

Yeah it just straight up doesn't fit. Her smooshy nose barely goes in it and the tie throatlatch is BARELY long enough. 

So uh. Possibly there was some late night online shopping that hopefully rectified this situation. I'll keep you posted. 

Oh. And. We're not even talking about bonnets, ok? WE'RE JUST NOT. 

(definitely) let them tame you

I mean. I guess I would have been disappointed if I didn't get to shop for her. Silver lining?

Help a Sister Out: Half Pad Problems

My guiding principle #1 on half pads is that they are a primarily trendy item and as long as they don't make your saddle fit worse, it doesn't much matter what type you're using. When Courage was scarily attempting jumping, we used an ogilvy half pad, because they're all the rage in that ring and I like being on trend. 

sheep represent

Then we switched over to dressage. DQs are big on dead sheep, so I snagged a mattes correction pad with shims for like $90 and have just rolled with it. Sans rolls. Ha! #halfpadnerdjoke

I have never noticed Courage care AT ALL about what half pad I put on his back, so in keeping with guiding principle #1, I haven't messed with it. Arguably, I could ride him without one and see what happens, but my brain just likes a little something extra in there because I don't trust myself enough as a judge of saddle fit and I feel better knowing there's some margin for error. (Noted: Courage is an EXCELLENT judge of saddle fit and as you would expect, lets me know when things are sub-optimal, so this is probably frivolous. You're just going to have to accept my human frailty on this point.)

so classic

HOWEVER, whilst tacking up the other day, I was futzing (it's a word??? who knew) with my much-used-shimmable-mattes and noticed that one of the shim pockets is creating a ridge of pressure under the panels of my saddle. I tried adjusting the pocket and screwing with the velcro, but it looks like the pad is just old enough that it's not going to cooperate with me. AKA, it's fine if I have shims in it (probably?), but since I don't, it's not quite laying flat, which means it might be causing me problems, which means it's in violation of principle #1.

And see, we're asking Courage to do hard stuff like lift his back and while he does settle in and do it eventually, it's a learning curve, it's going slowly, and my trainer has commented that he doesn't quiiiiiiite want to give in and lift through his withers. That's probably mostly a training thing, but if my half pad was stabbing me in the back, I'd hesitate too.

so. what to do.

hair hair everywhere and it's covered in dust ewwwwww

I rode Courage this past weekend in his jump ogilvy pad under his dressage saddle, which to me is a very non-flattering look. Of course, I'm also anti-winter-fuzzies, so basically this entire picture is just nails on a chalkboard to me.

If you separate out how I felt about the dust+hair combo (SO GROSS MUST CLIP OMG), I actually had a really superb ride. Which is interesting.

This brings us to options.

1) The mattes problem is all in my head. Carry on with what we have and assume it won't cripple the princess. This is obviously a stupid idea and is pre-discarded. I'm just listing it here so you know I considered it.

2) Use jump ogilvy. Carry on like it's not aesthetic hell. This is obviously a temporary idea. It needs to end. The sooner, the better.

3) Acquire an non-shimmable, non-corrective mattes pad. This eliminates the pressure ridge problem by not having pockets. We stay on-trend for the dressage ring. The major drawback is that this is the $230 answer to the $90 question. Or the $210 answer, if we go without rear trim. Thoughts on rear trim?

hmmmm rolls

4) Be enough of a nerd to know that Blueberry (yes, THE Blueberry) has actually eschewed sheepskin in favor of space age gel. His particular model is lined with sheepskin, which is $ more and seems hard to clean, but there's also an option that's cheaper and simple to clean that would just disappear under my saddle. In addition, the non-sheepskin option would potentially be the $100 answer to the $90 problem, so that's something. There's even a $50 knockoff I could almost justify instead, but if I'm changing brands, I want to get the nicest thing and evaluate it on it's own merits, not sort of half ass it and then be pissed it doesn't work.

it's definitely a look.

5) Explore other options. I mean, I'm actually really interested in the Invictus half pad innovations--if the rumors are true (and I've handled one, so I believe them), the pad essentially eliminates pressure points by distributing weight, which is basically what we're trying to do anyways. I'd buy one RIGHTNOW, but this is the $280 answer to the $90 problem. If you're keeping track, that's by far the most expensive option we've considered so far. It's also not particularly attractive, but I guess that's neither here nor there if it actually does what it claims.

the sadly unattractive invictus

6) Go ogilvy/ecogold/equifit routes. This is another one I'm just listing for your benefit. I've had the first two and handled the third. I kinda lump them all in the same heap. They're fine, but they're not on-trend enough in my ring to satisfy guiding principle #1 and I'm not excited about them.

equifit pretties

Ideally, someone will pipe up and say "hey give me $100 and I will give you this invictus half pad", but that seems like wildly unrealistic speculation at this juncture. Talk to me blog land--what are your half pad solutions/opinions/ideas? What else should I be considering? Do you deeply hate one of the options listed?

We Wants It

You might remember that I had a couple of saddles to play with. I had no intention of buying anything, but one shouldn't go snorkeling in stream bottoms if one doesn't want to find magic rings. 

It quickly went from "hm 17.5" Custom Advantage is interesting" to this: 

We told you it was tricksy. We told you it was false. 

It came to me. My own. My precious.

Not its business. Leave us alone. 

Nasty elves twisted it. TAKE IT OFF US.

That would kill us. KILL US. 

We be nice to them if they be nice to usssss. 

"I will take the precious to the mountain of FIRE"

I spent a long weekend waffling back and forth between MY PRECIOUS and OBVIOUSLY ITS CRIPPLING MY HORSE (because apparently now that we have used a fitter ONE WHOLE TIME, I am completely incapable of making decisions). 

But then after a fateful ride in which I spent 10 minutes in my old saddle, then ripped it off in disgust, this happened:

#frodofailed

Which is to say. The Custom is here to stay. Stand by whilst I sell my soul to afford it. (And yes. Alyssa approved it provided said soul was actually listed for sale today.) 

I Swear I'm Not Saddle Shopping

CONTEST PEOPLES: I swear I haven't forgotten you. I'm buried at work this week, so I will write you a results post ASAP! Thank you for all the submissions--definitely plenty of amusement to go around.

OK. On to content:

Despite the fact that I can tell you in absolute terms what my dream jump saddle is and have a pretty good idea of what I like vs what I don't, I have NO IDEA WHATSOEVER what I even think about dressage saddles.

Sad fact: I have sat in so few. 

Sadder fact: of the few I have sat in, only 3 actually worked for me.

Less sad fact: I actually own one of those. 

I don't own this one. Do I need to?

I'm not saddle shopping (WE SWEARS PRECIOUS WE SWEARS) (We will not swear on the precious). 

But. 

It seems like it would be worth my time to get in as many different dressage saddles as possible because all I know about them is that they're basically impossible. Unless you have a well-supplied local tack store. Which we don't. In lieu of that, I'm making a list of saddles I've sat in/put on my horse and keeping track of my thoughts on them. 

I'll try to keep this interesting, but I want this for my own reference. 

1) Current Own Saddle 18" Ideal brand, Medium tree, unknown model. 

pre-sparkles, reflock, and dye job

This brand is a bit obscure in the US, apparently much more common in the UK. It's a very basic saddle, english leather, kinda slick. Minimal blocks. Not restrictive. Lets me get to the right position, but definitely doesn't put me there or keep me there. I have a wide range of options for sitting incorrectly, but that has come in handy over and over as we attempt various hijinks. 

latest position shot

Because I've had this saddle for about a year, my position has changed a lot in it. It fits my horse well and has served us well. I have no complaints. 

2) 17.5" Devoucoux, Medium tree, Makila model

This is Lindsey's saddle that we borrowed last fall while mine was getting reflocked. The sizing says a 17.5", but HOLY HELL it rides like a 17" or less. As in. My ass kinda got stuck in it. I put me in a really excellent and secure position, but I couldn't get out of it and the leather was SUPER grippy. 

forgot to take a picture on Courage, whoops

I definitely enjoyed it. The standard panels fit Courage quite well and he went nicely in the saddle. I would DEFINITELY need at least an 18, possibly larger. The panels are foam, which means no reflocking, so less flexible fit as Courage continues to add muscle and change sizes. 

3) 17" Prestige, 32 medium fit, Roma model

This is a really beautiful saddle that we borrowed from an enabling friend. It's basically brand new, completely gorgeous, and almost comfier than the couch in my living room. The medium fit went on C great with our standard half pad and he didn't seem to object to it at all. The seat and knee rolls were super grippy. The twist was wider than I'm used to, but not uncomfortable. Despite being the smallest seat size on this list, the seat itself is fairly "open" and actually rides equivalent to an 18" seat. My snooping indicates that this is fairly standard for the brand. 

I liked this saddle, didn't love it. It definitely put me in a more defined position than my Ideal saddle, but it didn't hold me there and I can ride like a monkey in any saddle, so there's that. I didn't feel off balance or restricted, but I didn't feel all that much different than I do in my own saddle, aside from the super comfy seat factor. I'd be curious to try a couple other models. 

4) 17.5" Custom, Medium fit, Advantage model. 

This saddle sports the upgraded buffalo leather and wool flocking. It was custom made for someone who is not the current owner, so some specs may not be standard. This was also borrowed from enabling friend. Oops. Just sitting on C in the stall, this saddle is a hair tight in the front and almost wants to bridge. It does sit pretty level on him. 

This saddle makes me go hmmmmmmm. It definitely sports the bigger blocks that are trendy in dressage right now and while it's not super restrictive, I could feel it put me where it wanted me somewhat. I even dropped my stirrups a hole and felt completely comfortable and confident. The biggest difference I noticed was in the canter--it put my leg RIGHT THERE where it needed to be and I felt really comfortable and confident instead of perched and weird, which is more normal. 

Enabling friend is letting me play with this one for a little while. Courage is pretty inconsistent right now, so it's hard to tell what's saddle and what's normal--I had a really great ride in it the first day, then the next day my position in it was even better but he didn't go as well. Now I need to switch back and forth between my saddle (which is flocked to fit him) and this saddle with my halfpad (which was the set up we used for the really good ride day). 

Conclusions

I have none at this point. 

I liked the Devoucoux and I've been in enough French saddles to be pretty confident buying one sight unseen, but A) poor and B) the foam flocking isn't my bestiest friend. Courage is just now building a dressage body and I do anticipate him getting wider and filling out as we progress. The foam saddle that fits now probably won't fit in a year. 

Also see A) poor again. Frenchies have nice stuff with a matching price tag. 

I'm really, really thinking hard about the Custom at this point in time. I love the wool flocking, love what it does for me. I'd be curious to sit in an 18" and see if it made an appreciable difference and I'm not sure how much I love it for Courage, which is obviously a huge factor. I'd also be interested in trying a MW model on him just because I don't know how long the medium would fit for, but I don't have a friend with an 18" MW Custom Advantage and a generous trial policy. (And I do have a friend with a 17.5" M with those specs and hmmmmmmm.) 

Another question mark here is the flocking--my usual fitter can't work on these (because she isn't with the company or something about warranties or something) so I'd have to wait to talk to the Custom rep. We do actually have one and I do actually know her, but she's not local so that would take longer. The saddle has had excellent maintenance, but it would be a much better fit for C with some minor adjustments. 

Any ideas for us? (Other than "hit the lotto and buy custom Custom" because I've obviously already thought of that.)