It was easy to see from the videos of him being ridden and from riding him for the first time that he wasn't comfortable under saddle and most likely hadn't been in a long time. I still can't believe he didn't act out aggressively considering the pain he must have been in at times. As soon as you try to mount he would side step or step back, but stopped if put beside a fence and mounted. But as soon as you were up and asked him to move forward he would raise his head, hollow his back, and step out at a trot and not want to slow down. His previous owner began to use a harsher bit on him to slow him down but it just seemed to compound the problem. It's hard to say how much of this was discomfort and how much of it was bad habits. But until we made sure he had a saddle that fit him well there was no way for us to know.
The first time I rode my saddle seemed to fit well enough from the ground but after a while it began to sit too low and tight on his shoulders. His habit of "parking out" also seemed due to discomfort as well. It's possible it was just his way of saying "Hey I'm done now, time to hop off", or something he was trained to do for the look of it, but honestly, it seemed like more than that. The way he over extended seemed like a way to alleviate pressure along where the saddle would sit. Whatever the reason it was obvious my saddle was not going to work and that we would have to do our homework to make him comfortable.
I had mentioned to a trainer I used to ride with that I was going to need to get him fitted for a saddle and she recommended Suzanne Gwyne with Charlotte's Saddlery. When I called Suzanne she was more than happy to help. She asked me to come in that Saturday to sit in a couple of saddles and find out what I was comfortable in then I could haul Sky to the store the next morning to see what would fit him. When we went into the store that next day mom and I met Suzanne and found out this weekend was Charlotte's Saddlery's 32nd Annual Tent Sale (talk about timing!). So I sat in several different saddles and ended up liking the WintecLite AP D'Lux and a Rodrigo Pessoa GenX I knew it would ultimately depend on what would work best for Sky but I still went home and started googling saddle reviews.
Sunday morning we loaded up and headed to Charlotte's . It was different driving a truck and trailer through the city but the challenge was fun. We pulled into an alleyway behind the shopping center that Charlotte's Saddlery is in and when Suzanne got there we unloaded and got to work. She must have tried at least six different saddles with multiple different pads to find what would be most comfortable for him. This was one of the things I was most impressed with and that has made me a lifelong fan of hers. She took the time to find what was best for him and didn't mind trying multiple combinations over and over, even asked several others in the store for their opinions. That kind of dedication is hard to find but greatly appreciated.
After looking at all the options we felt that a custom saddle would be the absolute best for him but until he filled out with regular work his shape would be changing a lot and that the Wintec with a corrective pad would keep him comfortable. The plan is to spend this winter working on conditioning for both him and myself, and getting him to relax under saddle. In the spring i'd like to trailer him to a trainer for lessons and see if he could do lower level eventing. If it turns out to be something he enjoys, great and if not that's fine to. One of the things I love about him is he has so much personality and willingness that I could be happily trail ride him for the rest of our days. I've always thought it was important to find a job that's enjoyable for both you and your horse and I intend to do that with Sky.
So we ended up going home with the WintecLite AP D'Lux and a Saddle Right Pad she let us borrow until a friend of hers, Laurie McDonald could come out and fix up a custom half pad for him. He got his hooves trimmed the next day so we rode in the new saddle for the first time two days later and it was great! (I plan on doing a product review post with more details soon!) You could tell Sky was comfortable and the saddle was a perfect fit for me as well. I hadn't realized it before but the saddle I had been riding in was actually a size too big for me. When I got off and saw that nice even sweat spot on his back I was thrilled!
We're currently still using the loaner Saddle Right pad but plan on getting Laurie out soon to fix us up with the custom one. He's still going very forward so we're starting at the walk and slowly working on slowing down each gait. It's not a very good picture but here's the setup we're working in right now. Our next challenge seems to be picking out a suitable bit. (More to come on that soon!)
What do you guys ride in? Ever had a saddle that worked like a dream or one that was a total nightmare?
Tell us about it in the comments below!
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