What is between you and the horse….
| August 16, 2017 | Posted by Melinda under Equine Endurance |
….actually matters.
Yes yes yes, I learned the lesson that a saddle that fits the horse still doesn’t fit if it’s dismal for the rider in Tevis 2013 when I DNF’ed due to rubbing a hole the size of my palm in my horses back…
…because I had to hold myself up in the saddle in order to trot
…because my IT bands hurt so bad I literally had thoughts of jumping off a cliff
…because the knee rolls on the saddle weren’t right for my body and the saddle didn’t fit me
…because I had borrowed it last minute to do Tevis
…because I had sold all my saddles prior to vet school
…because I’m a dumb ass.
But apparently I didn’t truly learn that lesson because here I am using a similar saddle on MerryLegs for all the wrong reasons.
- It’s cheap, easy, light, and if it gets completely effed up I won’t shed a single tear.
Never mind that every time I get into it I feel sorta…wobbly.
That’s because she’s a *scary baby horse*. ….Right?
Quick note that has nothing to do with this post – Until I run out I’m going to insert random Yellowstone vacation pictures in posts. I don’t have anything blog relevant to say about them but I want to share them anyways.
Yesterday I threw the *unnamed endurance saddle on Farley and hit the trail.
o_O
O.M.G.
We kept it down to a dull roar with walk and controllable trot because it was anyone’s guess on whether I would actually stay on her back if she bucked, spooked, stumbled, or merely transitioned to a canter.
Lower leg flailing wildly unless jammed in front of me in the oh-so-desirable chair position, upper body swinging too and fro teetering on catatrophic failure with every other step, and a proper two point just-not-possible.
I finished the 3.4 mile, 36 min ride panting, sweating, and fatigued. I would have been better off bareback.
o_O.
I didn’t get to trail run, or hike at all because of the grizzly bear warnings. 🙁
If I can’t ride the 18 year old on a simple flat trotting trail ride in it, I probably should not be trying to school a green 5 year old in it.
Can you imagine me subjecting ML to the same riding performance as I did Farley?
I think I finally got it. Saddle does not fit me and fighting with a saddle is detrimental to my horse. Period.
CA trail interpretative center is a great lunch stop.
When it was ML’s turn yesterday I tried something new – the Wintec Isabella dressage saddle. Not only did it fit her just fine, but not once did I worry about my position or stability in the saddle. Huh. Turns out we can get quite a bit done when the saddle isn’t getting in the way.
*PS The reason I’m not mentioning name/brand/model is because I don’t think it’s the saddle’s fault, and so it’s not fair to have it plastered all over this post with negative connotations. This saddle works fine for a LOT of horses and a LOT of riders, and in fact, fits both my *horses* just fine. For for me and my riding biomechanics it’s absolutely dismal. Which is a very important point to remember when going on the great saddle hunt.
PPS….. MORE PICTURES 🙂
Sometimes we take normal selfies….
…and sometimes we don’t.
Puppets are always a hit. It’s my husband’s mission to find *the* cutest one.
I also had to learn this the hard way, and did several 50-milers on the Toad with a saddle that didn’t work for me. And, because I was so unstable as a rider, hit the ground when I really shouldn’t have.
Ow.
In my defense, I only used that saddle because I was awaiting my custom-fitted saddle, which improved everything tremendously…until I started riding Fiddle, who didn’t fit that saddle at all.
Sigh.