April 5, 2017

My Dressage Saddle Unicorn

I have spent so much of my Connor-owning life trying to find a (used) Dressage saddle that fits my small self and his wide-and-curvy-but-not-broad back (on a budget), I feel like the tagline of this blog could be changed to "Saddlefitting the Welsh Cob".

A history of the Dressage saddles Connor and I have owned:

16.5 W short flap County Competitor
JenJ's old Wintec which met a sad end when a mouse made a nest in it.  I still have this, in my garage, because I was so grateful to her for giving it to me, and I can't bear to throw it out.
Thorowgood T8

Devoucoux Makila

And those are just the ones I've owned.  I've also tried a newer County Competitor, a Prestige 2000D, a Prestige something else, an Ideal Jessica Pony, a Stubben Juventus D, an Albion of some sort, and my barnmate's Adam Ellis.  None of those fit except that Adam Ellis, which fit surprisingly well.

(Of course it did.  The first Adam Ellis I ever rode in was JenJ and Paddy's Adam Ellis, and JenJ and I are twins.  In everything except getting a 10 on a movement in a rated test, DAYUM GIRRRRL!)

Trying the barnmate's Adam Ellis last summer.  #foreshadowing

With that in mind, part of the reason I finally agreed to do a proper saddle fitting was that I had found a 16" MW Adam Ellis on eBay, and when I did a Google search on it, I found that the same saddle was actually also listed for consignment with, you guessed it, my trainer's remote saddle fitter.  I was so tired of trialing saddles though, I wanted some validation from a pro that it might fit before I spent another $100 on two way shipping.

Long story short...

I feel like the texts between me and my personal saddle fitter/best horse friend Mary say it all:


I'm waiting to make a final decision until my lesson on Thursday so I can give it a fair shake (homeboy got his spring shots yesterday, so I didn't ask for much), but I'm 99% sure this is The One.  And it's cheaaaap.  Pinch me, I feel like I'm dreaming.






16 comments:

  1. Hooray! Always great to find something that fits both of you well -- and for it to be under budget! It is in fact a saddle unicorn! haha

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    1. Definitely! The CWD was a unicorn, but I paid dearly for it even used. This one is less than half the cost of the CWD.

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  2. WOW that looks pretty damn near perfect! Fingers crossed!

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  3. Hope this is the one! I feel so very lucky that my County Perfection (XW 16.5 short flap)fits Ffergie as well as Riva. I tried 3 different Bliss of London saddles on Ffergie, of which I loved when I sat on them at Rolex last year, but Ffergie said No, No, and No...

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  4. Well, the Ellis also fit because Paddy and Connor are basically twins too. I mean, what do you expect since they are both Haffies?

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  5. I'm glad that you found it! It does look good on him.

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  6. oh man I forgot about your mouse! Yay new saddle!

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  7. 🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞

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  8. Yay! I've tried so many of the same saddles! Luckily the newer short flap Competitor in XW was our miracle saddle.

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    1. Yeah, I think if that original 16.5 W short flap County Competitor had been an XW it might have worked. Countys really do run narrow. Glad it worked for you!

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  9. Yay!!! Wow, that really does look great. I've been so curious about it since I saw it on your Instagram. I'm so happy for you that you found something that fits and it's in your budget :)

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  10. How dare a mouse make a nest in a saddle?! XD

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  11. How dare a mouse make a nest in a saddle?! XD

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  12. Yay! Saddle fitting is quite possibly the worst

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