Cob Jockey

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.