OK, The New Saddle Is Here!

The new Black Forest Shasta arrived today! It was shipped two-day priority, but still took three days. And I had to chase down the mailman and ask him to hand it over since I could not wait another hour till he got to our street! He didn't believe me that the box contained a saddle--it wasn't heavy enough he said! I unpacked the saddle and was so happy it is not heavy! Woohoo! I loaded the horses and headed to the arena with my fingers crossed to try it out.

I rode Keno first. I know him and his gaits so well it's easier to feel what's what with a new saddle on him. He felt wide. He is wide, of course, but after multiple mounts/dismounts to adjust/readjust stirrup length and saddle placement, we got everything right and I was comfortable. (Mounting a 15.3H horse from the ground is a stretch, but this saddle was completely and totally stable. Not even a millimeter of slippage which is actually more than I can say for my treed Stubben!) I think Keno was comfortable as well, although I believe I had the saddle too far forward on both horses. (More on that in a minute.) I only rode him for a few minutes, then hopped off to try it on Flyboy.

Other than adding the breast collar, I used the same saddle and Equipedic pad on Fly. Even the same girth amazingly enough, although it was like five holes up on the billets! He is not the bulk that Keno is that's for sure!

Oh, wow. Comfy, comfy, comfy! I felt totally with him--not sitting on him, but with him. As I warmed him up, Fly blew ten or twelve times, which I took as a good sign. He moved out willingly, and after making a few adjustments to get myself settled, we worked on the circle at the trot for 10 minutes or so. My husband came down and shot some video and took a few photos.

However.... when I asked Fly to canter, I met resistance! That was a new thing; this guy likes to canter. But to the right, he broke to a trot several times. He bulged out his shoulder toward the gate as we passed, tossed his head, and was just generally resistant. Hmmm. To the left he was better and kept the canter. I didn't have a lot of time today, so I'll need to ride again and see if I can figure it out. But check out these photos:

Maybe my still-green Flyboy wasn't mentally warmed up? Maybe he needs a trail ride and a break from arena circles? Maybe his rider's position was not right? Maybe something about this saddle was bugging him? Bingo. This evening I called Vic, the owner of the Black Forest Saddle company to talk about a few questions I had. I asked about wither clearance, since there was not much at all on either horse. (Treeless saddles don't need the same amount of clearance as a treed saddle, but they do need some, of course.) We talked about saddle placement and determined that I had the saddle too far forward. I emailed him a couple of photos including the one at the top of this post, and he said I should definitely move it back. (I am used to my Aussie saddle, which has to go very forward.) Hopefully tomorrow I will get a chance to try it again. I want this saddle to work for Fly! I can already tell it will work for me, but it has to work for him, too, of course. Vic also suggested I may need to change the foam inserts in my Equipedic pad to a closed cell foam that would provide more stability. We'll see. I'll play around and see what works.

As far as the saddle goes, I am impressed with the quality; the leather is nice and soft and I felt very secure and stable in the "grippy" seat. The size is right for me. The weight is definitely right for me at around 15 piece-of-cake-to-pack-around pounds! I love it and will see what I can do to help Fly love it, too!