eximo kiss

I wrote in last week’s Friday Foto Finish about an upcoming saddle fitting appt — it finally happened yesterday, and I’m excited about how the whole experience went! 

arrived early to hang out and chill while the fitter worked on other horses

It was serendipitous actually how it came to be… We’ve been having a nagging pressure point issue with Doozy’s lovely County Solution monoflap jump saddle, and despite the local rep being super helpful and attentive, the issue hasn’t resolved. 

So at a recent lesson I asked trainer C who they use for fittings. It turned out they already had the Veritas owner booked for a visit — and we were invited to crash the party!

she literally acted like this was the most normal thing in the world #love

Some real talk first, tho: I am *not* a saddle fit expert. And in fact, over the course of my extensively documented and varied saddle buying + fitting experiences, I’ve only grown increasingly skeptical about the field in general. 

It is my personal opinion that you can have different fitters (esp those from different brands and training schools, all of which have their own philosophies and brand ideologies) examine the same animal, the same saddle, in more or less the same conditions, and each fitter might arrive at a different (sometimes extremely so) conclusion about whether the saddle “fits” or not. 

To me, it’s sorta like how the man with one watch knows what time it is, but the man with two is never quite sure. Typical horse stuff, guys.

holy shit, emma’s in a dressage saddle!

Therefore consider me an agnostic-cum-anarchist on the subject. My guiding principles are basically to focus first on the horse, and second on the individual professionals* themselves (to a degree), and otherwise stay open minded on brands, construction, materials, whatever. 

And in this case, I have immense trust in trainer C: she has referred me to various other specialists over the years whom I’ve also come to trust (like our longtime chiro / acupuncture guru who we might be seeing at the same exact moment you read this!). So we went along for the ride. YMMV.

(**Note: dearest reader, you may consider yourself an expert in this field and perhaps are literally brimming with advice you’d love to offer me. Please have no doubt, however, that unless we’ve had direct private conversations (and perhaps even if we have lol) you are not among the individual professionals I’m using for this experience!)

it remains true that nice tack does not solve every issue, but it certainly helps!

First order of business at the appointment was obviously assessing the County. That particular brand identity, at least in my experience, seems to include believing that horses appreciate a more snug, narrow fit. Tho, depending on who you ask, it might be said that a County “narrow” is more like a “medium” from any other company’s stamp. Again, ymmv. 

It is true, tho, that every County person (and there have been a few now) who has assessed Doozy has classified her as a ‘narrow’ horse, and she goes in a ‘narrow’ stamped saddle. But….. the pressure points, bleh. 

much closer to actually sitting the canter omg

This new fitter declared Doozy a medium narrow, however, which I personally perceive to be synonymous with a ‘County narrow’ in general… Tho he also observed that the saddle was in fact flocked snugly at the tree points. That, combined with likely side to side movement from Doozy’s and my combined biomechanical asymmetries and poor girth choices (in the fitter’s opinion), could very likely be the root of our issue. 

Ooh, and the fact that Doozy is, erm, plushly upholstered at the moment. Ahem.

might be ready to #riskit for the biscuit

Fortunately, he was optimistic he could make all the needed adjustments via reflocking the saddle. AND, in the meantime, wouldn’t ya know it but he just happened to have a couple dressage saddles with him that matched our specs, and wouldn’t I like to try them while he worked on my jump saddle?? 

Which. Obviously, yes please — don’t mind if we do!

Because, as any of you who have been following along will recall — I’ve been low key trying to get us into dressage tack for, um, a while now. We’ve tested quite a few different saddles at this point, but idk if it’s just me being far too noisy of a rider for that much touching omg, who knows, but we have not had good experiences.

first clip is the first test saddle; 

second two clips are in the saddle i took home on trial

But Doozy had clearly remembered to take her #PrincessPills on this particular morning, and was a DOLL for the rides. And both saddles felt super comfy! AND trainer C, who was in the ring with us on another horse, was able to snag some video — yesss!!

Please keep in mind while watching the video: we were not in a lesson, I was not getting real time instruction, yes I still ride crookedly and tip forward and sit to the outside and look down and do weird things with my hands and hold Doozy counter bent even tho all I’ve been talking about for legit months now is inside bend. Yes I still don’t sit the canter well and yes I still go floppy the literal second Doozy gets soft bc “omg holy shit wow we’re doing it what now omg.” Ahem. 

“does this mean i’m grown up yet??” — doozy, skeptical

But guys. It felt goooood sitting in these saddles. Omg. both of them. The first had bigger blocks, and the second had a deeper seat, so they felt a little different, but both quite nice. Obviously just sitting in a dressage saddle isn’t enough to resolve muscle-deep positional bad habits, but it’s crazy how much more attainable certain postural changes felt.

I opted to take the second home on trial (with generously flexible terms) bc let’s be real — trainer C’s barn has weird magical juju that always brings out the best in horses. I need to see what happens when that spell breaks and we’re alone at home lol — will it still feel so good? 

So wish us luck. The saddle is a slightly older model Veritas Eximo that’s so pretty I forgot to get a picture of it lol, whoops. The fitter went ahead and flocked it for Doozy too, so I’m extremely hopeful that we’re set up for a representative trial. 

Wish us luck! Ooh and also cross your fingers that the adjustments made to the County did the trick for our pressure point too…. It’s always something, amirite!