I had been thinking of getting a new saddle, an all purpose instead of the dressage saddle that I now have. But now??? not sure what I am going to do. I thought of taking the large knee block off of the under flap of my saddle so I had a little more knee room. I really like this saddle, the deep seat is really comfortable, so I was almost ready to get my seam ripper and take the stitching off the leather and remove it. Then I thought, well, maybe I should call someone who knows something about saddles before I do this.
I called
Trumbull Mountain Tack Shop and talked to Kitt Hazelton the saddle fitter there, check out her blog for tons of great information,
Saddle Fitting-The Inside Journey. I wanted to know if I really could take the knee block off, she said yes. But then she said maybe what I wanted was to get an all purpose and sell the dressage saddle. If I take the block off, no one else might want it. So another thought but since Gilly needs work on his back, I will wait and see how he looks in the spring. What Gilly is doing in the picture above is what I have heard called long and low, he needs to do this to work those big back muscles.
Monday before I started working him in the round pen I put his saddle on him with only a thin quilted pad that I had made for him so I could see just how the saddle sat on his back. It actually looked pretty good.
Gilly looks like a big butter ball with his velvety winter coat, and he isn't done growing it in yet. When I put the saddle on him I didn't tighten the girth all the way up at first and just let the saddle find it's own place to sit. When I did tighten it up this is where it wanted to be. As you can see though it is still a little high in the front. I hope that with work his back will come up and it will be fine.
View of saddle from back, this one was a hard one to get. I had to stand on tiptoe and hold the camera up and just click and hope I got the shot. That's one big butt to lean on, and pretty fuzzy too! LOL
View of saddle from front, looks like he has room there too. This is a wide tree for a wide boy. So now I will just have to work Gilly when I can and weather permitting to build up his muscles. I ordered a couple of books from Amazon.com (my favorite place to buy stuff) Longeing and Long Lining The English and Western Horse: A Total Program by Cherry Hill and 101 Longeing and Long Lining Exercises English and Western: A Ringside Guide by Cherry Hill They both sounded like good books, lots of pictures it said. I like lots of pictures!
Will let you know how it goes when the books get here. I love doing ground work with Gilly boy, he is fun to work with. Maybe Pokey can learn something too. Then he will be a smart ass! heehee
Jane and the boys
7 comments:
Smart ass..lol! Love it!
I think it's great that you're making lots of plans for Gilly already for next Spring.
I appreciate educational books with lots of photos, too, especially for technical stuff. I have a problem picturing exactly what a book is talking about unless there's a picture or illustration.
Gilly looks so cute in his warm fur coat. His fuzzy butt reminds of the Velveteen Rabbit. I just love to bury my hands in a horse's fur.
I've had to stem it a little with Apache until I can get some anti-static spray because we are so crazy dry here that the static is almost dangerous (can see sparks!).
~Lisa
It does look pretty good - I guess the question is, does it fit you and him? If so, I'd be inclined to keep it, at least until you find one you like better.
Lisa, yes, little Pokey is a "smart ass" he actually learns things quicker than Gilly!
I sure am looking forward to spring, I already am tired of this weather, sigh, only four more months to go! LOL I LOVE books, have way too many but what the heck?
Velveteen Gilly, the big red fuzzy butt!!!!
Kate, yes, it looks good on him and yes, I love the saddle but would like to have smaller knee blocks so....I am seriously thinking of taking the knee blocks off. Even with them off it still will have substantial knee rolls. But I will hold off until spring.
Not that I am trying to talk you out of your dressage saddle, but if you do end up looking at all purpose ones. I really like my wintec 500. It has removable knee blocks has a deep seat (for an all purpose) and as the removable gullets for sizing.
But I thought you bought an Aussie recently?
Gilly looks good "long and low"
Jeni, thanks for the info on the Wintec 500, I am still undecided. No, I didn't get the aussie saddle, after thinking about it more, I decided not to. Maybe down the road but, it's a lot heavier than the English, way expensive so it's on the back burner.
Thanks, Gilly does look good in that picture! :-)
Gilly is definitely getting furry! All of our horses are, too. Piper has finally stopped rubbing her mane and there is about 2 inches of growth -- of course, standing straight up! Oh well. :)
Fuzzy wuzza Gilly horse!
He's perfectly cozy for winter, huh!
Hiya...been running around not blogging. We had some incredible sunny days, so of course, had to get in them!
The only problem I can see with the Dressage saddle used for a jumping one, and correct me if I am wrong about you wanting to do that(COOL!)..is...the tree is still straight and so is the pannel. So your stirrup length will come up substancially so..and the pannel will not be there for you. And though you love the deep seat security..and pommel..it will bite/bump you as you jump correctly. Making it harder, I think, to remain balanced and flow.
Mainly, because I have tried it with a Dressage saddle and it was hard! It is inhibiting for movement.
To me, and sorry if this seems negative Jane, the saddle does look like it tilts back on Gil. If you put a tube of chapstick on the seat to roll where the center of gravity is, it should roll to the center. This is where you'll be in balance best. This seems like it would have you behind your leg, instead of over it. The lowest part looks (from the photo) to be at the furthest back, away from the pommel.
I will do some more research on the tree cut differance for Dressage vs Forward, as I am so NOT an expert ...so you can look stuff up too, if you differ from what I think.
What size seat is your saddle? And make?
It looks really nice. I also liked the gullet channel in the back, as it seems to be wide and not narrow off.
That is why my Dressage saddle is not working now, the bilets make it move forward, being set too far back and the gullet channel narrows, so it sits way too close to her spine, in the back.
Hope this long a comment was okay?
Kac
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