saddle saga continues!

So this is part photo dump (for my own record) and partly seeking input. Short story: I went to the tack shop last night!!! Long story: I went to the tack shop last night!! lol

We hung out for about an hour and a half, looking at - and sitting in - everything they had. 

The woman helping us was super helpful, and stayed with us the whole time - discussing the merits of each saddle. She was quite knowledgeable about both how a saddle ought to fit a horse, and how it should fit us. And apparently she's got a similar build to me - short not particularly tall, but with most of the length located from hip to knee. 

2 bates (wool flocked), pessoa, toulouse, and county

We settled on five saddles to take on trial (above) - as both Wick and Isabel are getting fittings. 

I'd love if this pretty little county worked out!

Confo-esque shots:

So obviously I headed straight to the barn - primarily to move my trailer, which was apparently in the way (and oooh boy did it take me a hot minute to re-park that puppy in the dark...), and to stow the trial saddles in a safe place.

And naturally I pulled Izzy out of the field to play around. First up: trying to grab some photos intended to illustrate what I'm working with here. 

Tho I suck at photography, and, uh, I don't really understand the finer points of conformation. 

So it's entirely possible that these photos are zero help at all. Eh, I tried!

Next up: trying the saddles on!! I had some technical difficulties with my phone - it REALLY wanted to die in the cold. I insisted tho and it *mostly* cooperated - but there are no pictures of either Bates saddle. One didn't really inspire me when I sat in it anyway, and the other has the wrong gullet size in. 

Again - my photo skills here suck in part bc it's dark out and in part bc I don't really know what I'm looking for. So -- for those of you who actually CAN assess saddles via photographs, I have no idea if these will even help. But here they are anyway! 

Pessoa

I liked how it looked up front... 

But not at all in back... Is it just me or is that totally the wrong shape for Isabel? In any case, I was so uninspired by this that the saddle was pulled off with no further pics. 

County

I'll be honest with you - I was not totally impartial here. I wanted this saddle to work. 

But... 

The fit actually reminds me a lot of my wintec - a little low up front, not a lot of contact between the rear panels and Isabel's back... Our problem is that the Wintec rocks around and moves a lot. This saddle looks like it could do the same.. but maybe adjusting the wool flocking would help?

Toulouse

This was not a saddle I picked - B thought it might suit Wick, and it's a nice saddle. So we took it. The above picture doesn't really show it - but the fit around the shoulders looked a little questionable. 

Looks ok from the side?

And maybe better than the county from the back? But idk - the area around the shoulders seems to come into and out of contact a lot when I walked Isabel (again tho - I really am too ignorant to truly know what to look for...).

So - uh, thanks for reading if you got this far?? Lol - it honestly wasn't a very motivating dress-up session, as I'm thinking that none of these five saddles will work out. But maybe you see something differently than I do? Or have further insights?

Regardless, we'll take them on Saturday and see what the fitter says. And maybe she'll have some other demos or sales saddles that would work better? Seems more and more likely that we'll have more shopping to do after the fitting... but that's ok I suppose!