Ginn
Well-Known Member
So today we had the saddler up, he was up for over 2 1/2 hours and was absolutely brilliant. Tried loads of different saddles on her, narrowed it down to a NOT off the peg Albion K2 jump and a K2 GP - NOTHING OFF THE PEG FITTED!!!!
Sat in the GP and it almost would have done as a dressage saddle as my thigh was right up against the knee roll with stirrups at hacking/schooling length and waaaayyyyyy over the knee roll at jumping! Then sat in the jump - ultimately if I want a jump I'll probably have to go with something even more forward cut but I could comfortably hoik my stirrups up in it and feel secure. The problem - I couldn't drop my stirrups down to a proper flatwork length as the thigh block was sat under my knee!! D'oh!!! Lovely saddler took a look, said not a problem as there is enough flap for flatwork so he will make me a special thigh block that I can remove for flat and put exactly where I want for jumping!! Woooo!!!
However, it also means that I am now looking to fork out £££s for a shiney new saddle
Spent a long time discussing second hand ones but basically due to Tilly's very unconventional shape and needs and Kiri and I's stupid long legs
by the time we'd tracked one down second hand, removed the pannels and had new ones put on to fit T and then made the adjustments for me it wouldn't be worth it financially.
So me thinks it will be a case of fishnets and a short skirt down the local docks for the next month to pay for the damned thing! On the plus side he thinks I should be able to get about 2/3 the cost from selling my Bates and the Barnsby and the saddler is more than happy that there is enough adjustability that with 6-8 month checks she shouldn't need to change saddles again.
And the best bit - the difference in her when ridden was unbelieveable, I never realised a saddle could make such a difference but when I first stuck her in trot I felt like I was riding a 17hh warmblooded beast, not my titchy, stuffy, flat little tb, and following a few "Whoopeeee!" bucks I still felt really secure and not like I was going to be eating dirt, so in the long run it'll be worth it
Just need to get my head around the cost *GULP*
Sat in the GP and it almost would have done as a dressage saddle as my thigh was right up against the knee roll with stirrups at hacking/schooling length and waaaayyyyyy over the knee roll at jumping! Then sat in the jump - ultimately if I want a jump I'll probably have to go with something even more forward cut but I could comfortably hoik my stirrups up in it and feel secure. The problem - I couldn't drop my stirrups down to a proper flatwork length as the thigh block was sat under my knee!! D'oh!!! Lovely saddler took a look, said not a problem as there is enough flap for flatwork so he will make me a special thigh block that I can remove for flat and put exactly where I want for jumping!! Woooo!!!
However, it also means that I am now looking to fork out £££s for a shiney new saddle
So me thinks it will be a case of fishnets and a short skirt down the local docks for the next month to pay for the damned thing! On the plus side he thinks I should be able to get about 2/3 the cost from selling my Bates and the Barnsby and the saddler is more than happy that there is enough adjustability that with 6-8 month checks she shouldn't need to change saddles again.
And the best bit - the difference in her when ridden was unbelieveable, I never realised a saddle could make such a difference but when I first stuck her in trot I felt like I was riding a 17hh warmblooded beast, not my titchy, stuffy, flat little tb, and following a few "Whoopeeee!" bucks I still felt really secure and not like I was going to be eating dirt, so in the long run it'll be worth it
Just need to get my head around the cost *GULP*
