flirting with disaster

Amid the fallout from Plantation, I've been kinda systematically checking through all facets of Charlie's and my riding habit. Including reviewing all gear, esp fit.

17" medium tree beval monoflap. foam panels. knee and thigh blocks. she's real purdy

My Bates jump saddle has been dearly beloved since the very first time I sat in it. I love it. Deeply. But it was never a perfect fit for Isabel, and isn't really perfect for Charlie either. The adjustable tree, wool flocking, and my shimmable Pro-lite half pad have allowed it to get pretty close tho.

yea haha one is decidedly sexier than the other

After Plantation Charlie's massage therapist thought he had some soreness related to the saddle. Considering he's gained a metric ton of weight since his surgery, rehab, winter, and subsequent spring filled with luscious grass, it might make sense that the tree is pinching him a bit.

aside from the cute charlie nose cameo (top left!), the biggest difference i see is in the twist of each saddle

Charlie's proportionally not a wide horse. He is, however, size Large. So I decided it was time to size up in gullet plates for him anyway. Meanwhile, tho, I got to wondering if possibly it was time to rethink my Bates altogether.

The main issue with the Bates being: the panels aren't quite the right shape for Charlie, and it's possible that a wider gullet will just exacerbate that issue. I'm not sure yet if that will be the case bc I haven't tried the new plate tho, since Maryland Saddlery happened to have this lovely Beval Monoflap on hand that looked ripe for a trial.

not perfect, but no glaring deal breakers

I ran a lot of financial simulations in my head and figured out a path wherein I could afford it.... But to do so, it would have to be PERFECT. Like, beyond a shadow of a doubt. Esp considering I'd be switching out an adjustable tree with wool panels for a fixed tree with foam panels, there needed to be a strong feeling like this new saddle would work.

better with half pad

And honestly it looked prettttty close on the horse. I wasn't thrilled with the amount of clearance, but the panels were nice and even down the length of his back, the balance looked good, and there were no tight spots. If anything, the front of the saddle was a titch wide - meaning there was room for some shims that would also improve clearance.

looking reasonable all kitted up

I tried it the first time with just a regular half pad, and no extra shims. Right away the saddle felt very different from mine: It has a visibly wider twist (which I noticed when I first picked it up) and kinda a hard, shallow seat. I wondered if I would feel secure in it.

But after riding around for a while, I decided that I actually quite liked it. The wider twist naturally made me sit back more on my seat bones instead of rocking forward onto my crotch like I do in my Bates. This had the waterfall effect of changing my leg position from putting a lot of weight into my knees (causing pinching and the habit of swinging lower legs), and creating a more natural drape in the leg with weight in my thigh and heel. This also meant my calf hung long on the horse, even when I was putting leg on, instead of wanting to curl up.

i liked what it did for my seat and how my leg hung down. don't mind the headless horse and rider shot tho haha

Overall my feeling in the saddle was pretty good. So I was eager to keep testing it - opting to next ride with added corrective shims up front to further improve clearance. Again this made it look prettttty close for Charlie, and I felt pretty good in the saddle and eager for a chance to jump in it and get feedback from coaches.

The only issue is.... Charlie's not really been as sound as I would like lately. I've been continuing to ride him lightly trying to stretch and build strength (he's not really the kind of horse you want to let sit if you can avoid it - motion is lotion and all that), but am not totally satisfied with how he feels. At least, not satisfied enough to jump him.

there's that sweet charlie face!!

Plus I had some nagging concerns with how he felt during those trial rides. Specifically: we were continuing to have some issues with forward. Which like, it's Charlie. That could be due to literally any of thousands of potential issues. Not limited to his NQRness, general malaise, or just being kinda blah. It didn't necessarily have to be the saddle.

Just to try to control for one factor tho, I did our next ride in my Hulsebos dressage saddle. Again, there's a lot of uncontrolled factors too (like he had a day off in between) so who really knows, but he felt a lot better in that ride. More forward, softer, more supple, more relaxed. Still NQR (grr) but reasonably happy throughout the ride.

So..... On one hand I could ask the consignment shop to extend my trial (they're pretty flexible usually) and see if I can hang on to it long enough for Charlie to feel well enough to jump again. But.... Realistically I already know it's not really perfect. Possibly workable enough... but I already own a workable saddle, I don't need to blow my budget on another one when this summer already has some seriously major financial expenses looming on the horizon (thanks, moving!).

So yea. Gonna have to pass on this pretty little Beval. It was a nice flirtation while it lasted. But ya know. I'm so soured on saddle shopping haha. And even more so on professional saddle fitters... So let's just hope adjusting the gullet plate in my Bates gives Charlie the space he needs in that one dimension so we can keep chipping away at everything else. Uh, including getting him sound again... Sigh.