Good News and Bad News

The good news is that I'm very, very close to closing the deal on the new saddle. We're just figuring out payment methods now.

The bad news is that with the added expense of a new saddle (and probably girth, etc), I probably won't have the money to board Izzy elsewhere this winter. There go my dreams of the indoor.

The other good news is that my trainer owns land further out that she's planning on moving to sometime in the indefinite future. She said today that she's hoping to be out there by the end of November, which means that we might have an indoor arena after all. At least, I'm told there's a small indoor there. I haven't actually been out to that property.

There's not really other bad news. My world is mostly good and happy.

Hurray!

Treed vs Treeless

Lest you all think I've gone over to the crazy side, let me reassure you: I still love treed saddles. I love how they look, love how they ride, love them. I am not one of those who's into treeless saddle, natural horsemanship, barefoot shoeing, and holistic healing. Frankly, I think if you're in to all those things and keeping the horse as naturally as possible, your best option is to move to the mountains, buy a couple thousand acres, and turn the ponies loose. Obviously, that's the most natural choice for them. Riding is inherently unnatural for a horse. I didn't say unpleasant or unfortunate, just unnatural. So. I love trees.

Izzy, however, goes better in a treeless saddle than I have ever seen her go before. I have been told, and I suppose I believe, that a horse will go just as well in a well-fitting treed saddle. I think that's wonderful. It must be amazing for people who have saddle fitters in their area to have this option.

I do not. In Idaho, we kinda do things the cowboy way. There is a small (and growing) english contingent, but that hasn't expanded to saddle issues yet. There is one tack store in Boise that even sells english stuff. There is no one who does saddle fittings or reflockings or anything of the sort. As such, the most economical way for me to take care of Miss Izzy is to go treeless. As I said, I've ridden that way before and I do enjoy it, but that enjoyment is with the appreciation of a tree as well. It's not one without the other. It's one because the other isn't feasible for us right now. I can ill afford a nice treeless saddle, but my other option, to continually cycle through quasi-fitting treed saddles until Izzy's size stabilizes, is even more expensive.

All that said, I'm super excited for a new saddle.

Meet the Critters

Azuzu, named for the gargoyle on Futurama, is our kitty. He's big boned, fat, sweet, and friends with all the neighbors. We don't really know anything about him. He used to be a house cat, got dumped off in the middle of nowhere, showed up at my inlaws house, and has been ours ever since. He's very cuddly and talkative. We think he's middle aged for a cat, but we're not sure. He's a pretty spry guy, though.

This is Clive Stubby Lewis, our Pembroke Welsh Corgi. In this picture, he's on the ranch (my in law's) and he's just killed a mouse. He's a very active and intelligent little guy, so we can't leave him alone for long or he gets into trouble. Especially since we don't have mice around the house to kill. His ears have gone back and forth between flopping over and sticking up. They're flopped here, but they prick up pretty well at home. We've had Lewis since March, and he's now 8 months old. He's probably 6 months in this picture.

I love horses. Brent loves rabbits. Here's Brent with Pope Buniface I, a Champagne d'Argent rabbit. We actually have three Champagnes and a Dutch rabbit... hm, I should put up a picture of her.


This is Heloise, the dutch rabbit. I got her for Brent when Waverly, his first rabbit, died. She's bigger now and lives in a rabbit cage instead of a cat carrier, but I don't have a picture handy. She's the only bunny I've ever held, and I do like her. She's a funny girl.

This is the boys, just hanging out.

Chaucer is my beloved Beagle puppy. Brent got him for me last winter, secretly hoping that Chaucer would be his hunting dog extraordinaire. Unfortunately for him, I was laid off and out of school for Christmas, so Chaucer and I spent hours and hours together. He's now a definite momma's boy with nice manners and a pretty face. He does hunt a little, but mostly when I'm not around. If I try to go, he's too distracted with getting attention to focus.


I don't live with my girls--I'm sadly stuck in the city with a 5 minute commute (walking) and close access to everything. Just because my horses can't be at home, though, doesn't mean our house is animal free.

Opinionated Ponies

Izzy is a horse who definitely knows her own mind. She's a little lazy, but she has plenty of spunk. She definitely let me know when she didn't like our last saddle, and she told me in no uncertain terms that treeless is how she wants to be.* Monday I tried riding her in an eggbutt french link snaffle because most all my dressage friends swear by them. Most of them actually prefer the loose ring version, but I learned my lesson with those. I put a loose ring on my fussy OTTB mare, and she learned a whole new and more annoying bad habit. Lesson: if the horse goes well in a fixed-cheek, DO NOT TAKE THE FIXED CHEEK AWAY.

So. Eggbutt. Maybe it was just that it was different and she doesn't like change, but she flipped her nose almost constantly. Ok, well, a lot more than usual. She doesn't usually flip it at all unless she's really mad. This wasn't mad flip, though, just playing flip. Needless to say, I changed back to our full cheek snaffle the next day. The more I think about it, though, the more I think that she just really likes things to be as quiet and still as possible. I use keepers on her full cheek bit, so there is virtually no movement in her mouth. It's thinner than the eggbutt I tried, but it's quieter. I know thin bits are supposed to be more severe, but I think that Izzy prefers the slightly stronger action to the change offered by her other option. If I was intent on getting the mildest bit possible, I guess I could go seek out a thicker full-cheek snaffle, but Miss Pony is already getting a super expensive saddle. All other gadgets have to wait until my budget has recovered.

I've been told on many occasions that I'm a quiet rider (meaning that I'm very still), and because of that, I know I get along with the hotter horses well. Izzy's not hot. She's pretty lukewarm, as far as that goes, but she doesn't like being fussed with. There's just enough of her very hot and strong willed mother in her to keep her interesting. That's good, because I cannot stand even the idea of riding a push-button horse like I used to compete against in 4-H. I love the constant challenge and engagement of riding. Just sitting still and pushing buttons bores me to death. Evidence: here I am at work, writing a horse blog. I cannot think about contract right now. So, with the good mind of a warmblood and the fire of a thoroughbred, I think I'm doing well.

Really, I think I'm training my dream horse.

Getting Serious

After a lovely ride this morning, I took a bunch of stuff out of my locker and hauled it to the car. I'm going to take it home this afternoon, clean it, and try to sell it to offset the cost of an expensive new saddle. I've never done this before, and it feels kind of weird. Almost everything I have has some memories attached to it, so it's a little sad to get rid of it. Still, I'm keeping that stuff that I use a lot and the stuff that I'm really attached to. I'm just selling things I don't use, haven't used, and see no reason to use. Maybe tomorrow I'll post some of it here, just in case anyone is interested.

That's my plan, anyways. To afford $$$ saddle on $ budget means that I will sell what I can and buy only necessities for the upcoming semester, as well as trying to work as much as possible. I can afford it, but my bank account looks somewhat dismal afterwards. Still, with a few months of highly disciplined spending, I think I'll be back on track and done buying saddles.

Also, once I get my new saddle, I will try my very hardest to talk someone in to taking pictures of Miss Izzy. This blog really does need more pictures.

A Glimmer of Hope

It's been an exciting day for me. Izzy and I had a lesson this morning, which went really, really well. The only part that wasn't great was my own fault. I changed her bit from a full cheek snaffle (single jointed) to an eggbutt french link, and she fussed with it. It wasn't bad, but she seems to like the other bit much better.

In the lesson, we worked on keeping her marching in her walk. She does tend to dawdle, and I need to stop letting her. To fix this, Cathy had me swing her with one leg, then the other, using the whole leg from the hip to the ankle, if that makes sense. It's pretty weird to have Izzy far enough along that we can finally start working on equitation again. I know that I adopted a very defensive position to ride her initially, and I need to counteract that now. We also worked on keeping her downward transitions forward and moving her off my leg in small increments. I'm going to start doing spiral in/spiral out circles to get her thinking about that and continue working on our turns on the forehand. Cathy did admire our canter departs, as I haven't let Izzy run through them.

What a good pony. We were out of treats, and she was very sad about that.

The other exciting news is that I probably have a saddle lined up to buy. Cathy has been very gracious about letting me ride in hers, but she does, you know, like to ride in her own saddle as well. She has several horses that will pretty much only go in her treeless, so I can't use it a whole lot. I hate to say much before everything's certain, but I may have a saddle on the way here by the end of the week. Cross your fingers for me. This is wonderful news.

So... happy Aimee, happy pony.

School started today, but I only have a couple classes I actually have to attend. The rest are online. That means hopefully more riding time than I usually have during the semester.

Izzy Has Spoken -- The great saddle search con't

Let me preface this by saying that I am very familiar with treeless saddles. My instructor has owned the same one for at least ten years. Thus, I know they hold up well even when used hard, because she rides multiple horses a day, pretty much every day in that saddle. I've done quite a few hours in that saddle. It's the only saddle that Cassie, my old mare, will go in. Ellie, a red Hanoverian mare I used to ride, was also partial to it.

All that said, though, I really wanted a treed saddle. I like the extra side-to-side stability. I like to look conventional. There are some truly beautiful treed saddles out there. The thing with treed saddles is that you have to fit them to a particular horse. The the horse changes. Then you need a new saddle.

Anyways, I ran across a treeless saddle that was the same brand as Cathy's, but made for jumping instead of dressage. I've never ridden Izzy in a treeless saddle, so before placing a bid, I tried her in Cathy's saddle this morning.

*Crickets*

Yeah... I'm inclined to say something more along the lines of "Omg, the pony trained itself." She was incredible. She was reaching down to the bit, stretching through her topline, and pushing off her hind end. It was like riding a dressage horse, albeit with no lateral flexion just yet. I'm still in somewhat of a state of awe.

So that's that. We're getting a treeless. At this point, I'd be a fool to settle for anything else. I don't want the dressage model, but I also don't exactly have the budget for this: http://ansursaddle.com/konklusion.html

Anyone want to donate to the "Make Izzy a Happy Pony" fund? Really, tell me if you do. ;-) Also, tell me if you find one used.

Comments on Trial #1

I'm sorry for the crappy quality. This is a cell phone picture because my beagle ate the power cord for my computer, making it difficult to upload pictures. You could argue that this happened in March and I ought have replaced it by now, but really, I had horse stuff to buy, people. ;-) I may actually have to replace it this semester.

The picture is of trial saddle #1, from the local tack shop. It's an older Beval close contact with a wide tree. It's only a 17" though, so it's a little small for me. As you can see, it's very light colored, so it matches absolutely none of my other tack. There are some minor tears in the leather, but they're only really noticeable up close.

I put it on Izzy this morning, and I have mixed feelings about it. It's not an amazing fit. I did notice a slight improvement in her movement on the lunge line, but part of that is always that I just love to watch my horses, so when I watch closely, I appreciate them more. I did notice a slight but marked improvement under saddle, though. With the last saddle we used, Izzy never relaxed her neck, and I don't blame her. She's balanced enough now that if (a big if) her saddle isn't bugging her, her natural head carriage should be fairly long and low. Today, when we trotted long enough to settle, her neck finally began to relax.

That's good. All it says though is that this saddle is better than the two last. It doesn't really make this the be-all and end-all. The sweat patterns were better than the previous two, but still nothing to be excited about. This is a saddle that I guess is my absolute fall back if-nothing-else-I-can-find-fits idea. It's cheap, which is nice, but I have other priorities, too. When I'm spending this much on something, I want it to be something that fits well, looks good, and preferably will hold it's value. This is why I'm looking at used mid-range saddles instead of new low range saddles.

Now, I just need to find a way to get saddle #2 here.

First Adventure

I made it to our local tack shop, such as it is, to look at consignment saddles. To my very great surprise, they had one that might actually fit in a price range that I might actually be able to afford. This is good. I hate trying things over the internet. They also have a pretty nice trial policy, so I brought it home with me, and we'll try it tomorrow.

I'm not actually sure that I want it to fit. It's a fairly nice brand, but it's very, very old and not terribly well taken care of. I'm emailing with a lady who has a nicer (and more expensive) saddle a few hours away, and I really want that one.

Except I also don't know if that one will fit. I figure that in the meantime, I will see what's around here. I'm also getting set up to do wither tracings and try to work with www.trumbullmtn.com to see what they have to say. Thankfully, their advice is free. Their saddles are not.

All this, and I start school next week. I have mostly scholarships, but not all. And I just bought my books. I don't know if I can even afford a saddle for a couple months at least. Bareback, anyone?

The Great Saddle Search

Now we're back to the beginning.

I'm emailing with a lady who might have what I need, but then again, might not. It's pretty hard for two amateurs to fit a saddle by phone and email. We both live in Idaho, albeit on opposite sides of the state. There are no saddle fitters in Idaho. It's not just a phone call away. Our best bet is the chiropractor who comes in from Montana every month or two.

So, what I think I'm looking for is this: 17.5" close contact with a wide tree. I think. I would just borrow lots of saddles and try them on, but there aren't that many people with quality saddles who just loan them out. It's hard to find stuff like that in a cowboy state. I'm also checking ebay, craigslist, etc, but it's hard to know what to look for. Different saddles fit different horses differently, and I haven't found a magical way to fix that yet.

So if you have anything that sounds right, let me know. Izzy will (maybe) thank you.