Monday, February 9, 2015

we have a winner!!!!

I officially own a saddle - the Bates is mine!! Yay!!!!

We had our appointment with the fitter Gina Perilla yesterday for the final 'pre purchase exam,' if you will haha. She shared some of my concerns about the length of the saddle on Isabel's back, but felt like it was jusssst inside the acceptable range and therefore worth a shot, especially since I like it so much. 



She noted that the saddle seems to be only recently converted from CAIR panels to wool and the panels are still pretty squishy. This means that the panels can be expected to compress and flatten out a bit in a fairly short time frame (2ish months, probably). 



She stuffed 'em up with wool and spent quite a bit of time going back and forth from Isabel to her tool kit trying to get the balance just right. Isabel (unsurprisingly) has uneven muscling from side to side and is sore and tight in areas - esp along her right flank. Hopefully a properly fitted and balanced saddle will start to help that! 



The fitter recommended continuing to use a folded up no-bow wrap up front to ensure there's enough clearance. We'll have a follow up appointment in about two months, at which point the panels should have compressed and settled more into their post-CAIR shape and Gina can build the front up so that the no-bow isn't necessary.

She also chided me on the importance of a *tight* girth. Essentially I'm not doing Isabel any favors by leaving the girth loose enough that the saddle can move around while I'm mounting or riding around. Point taken. 



In any case - I'm super excited about the saddle!! There was zero movement during our test ride - AND during our celebratory post fitting trail ride :)



I obviously had to break out the new-to-us hackamore for the trail ride too... and poor Isabel wasn't thrilled about having her pic taken lol.



She was good tho - I still have excellent brakes in the hackamore, which was a relief haha. The ponies got a touch excited around one section of the trail and Isabel got acquainted with the curb chain. Yep those brakes work. Sorry princess!! 





All in all, it was an excellent weekend and I'm super excited to have this whole saddle situation resolved!!

58 comments:

  1. Iz has completely new outfit! Looking snazzy as hell!

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    1. haha thanks!! :) who doesn't love dressing up (even if parts of the outfit are ridiculous lol)

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  2. Woo hoo! Glad the saddle worked! Trail ride looks like a blast :-)

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  3. So excited for you and Iz! Having a saddle you love is paradise :)

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    1. thanks! i'm really excited about this saddle :)

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  4. Yay for new saddle!
    When I was younger I had a pair of the roping reins with snaps on the end that were crazy colored and I used them all the time. I'm always shocked looking back that my trainer actually allowed it, lol.

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    1. haha i actually saw a few pairs like the ones you described - and kinda loved them!

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  5. So excited for you with the new saddle - I hope it brings you many happy rides :)

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  6. That is awesome about the saddle! Finding a good used saddle can be quite a challenge :)

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    1. it was certainly more of a challenge than i expected, but i'm very happy with the results :)

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  7. Congrats! Glad it's going to work for you both!

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  8. I feel like this is a very 'happily ever after' post :) Yay for you!

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  9. That's awesome! I'm glad you found a saddle that works for you and Isabel!

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    1. thanks - i'm pretty pleased about it - thanks for your recommendations too!

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  10. Yayyyy saddle! So excited for you :)

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    1. thanks!!!! i'm so excited to start lovin on that leather too -- first conditioning happened yesterday lol :)

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  11. Huzzah! And what an adorable hackamore and rainbow reins set that is. ;)

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    1. lol thanks!!! i'm not sure isabel would call it 'adorable' ... but who cares, she'll live haha

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  12. Yay!!!! Hope for many good rides to come! Glad it didn't take you months and months to find a good one!! :)

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    1. thanks!! i'm super happy it didn't take months and months too -- haha i doubt i'd survive that kind of torture!

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  13. Yippee congrats on the new saddle *clap*
    Wishing you well wear & many happy adventures with it & Miss Iz and whoever comes to use it later ☺☺☺

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    1. thanks!!! i'm hoping to put a lot of miles on this saddle in very short order :D

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  14. everything is coming together!!! WHOOPIE!

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  15. Yay for new saddles! It feels glorious to know you're riding in the right saddle, for you and your pony! :)
    BTW - I had a saddle fitter out for Gav about a month ago. I also got reprimanded for the loose girth. Oopsie! ;)

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    1. glorious is the perfect word for it haha. and re: the loose girth thing, i always thought i was being kind of nice to the horse, but didn't consider that the looseness = moving saddle, which the horse absolutely does NOT like... oops!

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  16. I'm totally guilty of not tightening my girth enough sometimes... and it really does help! -head desk- lol

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  17. I'm late to the party here, but CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!! (Also, I love the red hackamore!)

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    1. thanks!!! and it's hardly super late - still feels like brand new news to me, seeing as i can count on one hand the number of times i've ridden in it. still soooo stoked tho!!! :D

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  18. Congratulations! I know just how hard that process is, so I feel the relief right along with you.

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  19. YAYYYY Congrats!! Many happy rides to you!

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