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Saddle Up
The day dawned again of the saddle fit, I was more than a little nervous that my pony would magically appear unsound again the very day of the fitting. Typically the weather was absolutely abysmal and went from 80 degrees one day to snow the next. Of course that meant all the horses were fairly nuts with the cold. Well, Axel doesn't actually do nuts but a little fresh for him.
The lovely Jen from Happy Horse Tack came out again, armed with a load of saddles. This time we could actually play in all paces to see how he was. He started well but with a head swish going into canter, it made me a little worried as that is how the pain manifested itself before, but I ignored it for the time being and pushed on and actually, he got better and better so I think it was a yeehah rather than a ouchy. Jen started off with me riding in my current saddle so we could get a baseline of how he moves. We know it doesn't fit him so wasn't an option but Jen wanted to see how he moves in it. After that we played with a Stubben, Axel liked it but sadly (and somewhat painfully) for me, in rising trot, the pommel hit certain areas that don't appreciate being smashed by a saddle. I dub this saddle the lady garden killer. Next I tried a Amerigo that Axel absolutely loved but didn't offer me much in the way of support, being an older model it was also somewhat hard and my bum didn't love in in sitting work but it was an option (I name this saddle the bumbum basher). I then tried a Car Hester PDS which Axel liked again and I quite liked, the only issues was really huge knee rolls, which held me in a bit too much, I still quite liked it and put the 'knee knocker' aside as an option. All the saddles we were trying now were a more forward style dressage saddle, they put the rider in more of a place that you would sit in a jump saddle and less behind. It does mean that sitting deep is a very different feel but Axel doesn't like any weight further back in the saddle which eliminated Countys, Customs etc. After the PDS we switched back to the Amerigo Vega, even through it offered the least support for me, I felt balanced on top of him. It wasn't so deep that I couldn't trail ride and jump in it and it didn't lock me in at all. We decided to take the bum basher on a trial and go and have a play with it!
The lovely Jen from Happy Horse Tack came out again, armed with a load of saddles. This time we could actually play in all paces to see how he was. He started well but with a head swish going into canter, it made me a little worried as that is how the pain manifested itself before, but I ignored it for the time being and pushed on and actually, he got better and better so I think it was a yeehah rather than a ouchy. Jen started off with me riding in my current saddle so we could get a baseline of how he moves. We know it doesn't fit him so wasn't an option but Jen wanted to see how he moves in it. After that we played with a Stubben, Axel liked it but sadly (and somewhat painfully) for me, in rising trot, the pommel hit certain areas that don't appreciate being smashed by a saddle. I dub this saddle the lady garden killer. Next I tried a Amerigo that Axel absolutely loved but didn't offer me much in the way of support, being an older model it was also somewhat hard and my bum didn't love in in sitting work but it was an option (I name this saddle the bumbum basher). I then tried a Car Hester PDS which Axel liked again and I quite liked, the only issues was really huge knee rolls, which held me in a bit too much, I still quite liked it and put the 'knee knocker' aside as an option. All the saddles we were trying now were a more forward style dressage saddle, they put the rider in more of a place that you would sit in a jump saddle and less behind. It does mean that sitting deep is a very different feel but Axel doesn't like any weight further back in the saddle which eliminated Countys, Customs etc. After the PDS we switched back to the Amerigo Vega, even through it offered the least support for me, I felt balanced on top of him. It wasn't so deep that I couldn't trail ride and jump in it and it didn't lock me in at all. We decided to take the bum basher on a trial and go and have a play with it!
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| Horrid Weather, Brilliant Saddle Fitter! |
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