for research purposes only

Okie dokie folks. It's almost Christmas. We're all seasonal and spirited and whatnot around these parts, after what was a pretty desperately sad couple weeks there. Ya know. Losing my best boy Charlie and all that. So. We are shopping.

sweet raggamuffin <3
maybe one day i'll buy you clothes that fit LOL

Owning two horses was always a pretty big stretch for me, even more so after the barn move last summer. My dollars have been intensely managed and strategically spent for a while now, even as essential equipment like my own footwear fell into disrepair. 

oooh but i actually finally bought myself some NICE boots!

But not long after losing Charlie, I spied a sweet pair of Dubarry's at Maryland Saddlery that fit like they were made for me -- and determined that if they were still there by the first price markdown, I'd buy them! Well. When an unexpected gift card showed up from work -- it was time!! Yay for shoes with no holes in them!! 

ahem, cough cough, and something else came home with me too... ON TRIAL lol

Aaaaand ya know. While I was thereeee.... I did a quick scan of the used saddle inventory and snagged an attractive looking County dressage saddle to take on trial. Ya know. Just for shits 'n giggles et cetera. As one does.

could this be the face of a mare ready for a more grown up dressage saddle????

I rode Doozy in a few different dressage saddles months ago when we were first getting going, but it was pretty clear that she wasn't quite ready for that level of me sitting down on her, that level of contact. Now, tho? Honestly, I think she's ready!

welllllll i knew the dimensions were wrong when i picked it up

And let's be real. I'm probably never going to be a very elegant looking rider with particularly correct equitation and all that. I'm getting too old and spend too much time curled around a computer on the daily... Plus I don't have enough supervision while riding to avoid reinforcing all those habits. Strong in all the wrong ways, ya know? C'est la vie. 

but still good enough for a little "active sitting," yes? for science, obvi

Having a well fitting dressage saddle for both me and the mare will help tho. Won't magically fix me (or the mare). But will make some aspects of riding easier. So maybe I'll start looking around, right? Nothing urgent, but keeping my eyes open.

the critter is ready
also omg her epic eyelash kills me

This particular saddle was kinda obviously not going to be a winner regardless -- it's a 17" medium tree, whereas I'm more like an 18" and Doozy is fairly narrow. But it is very nice, was well priced, and I figured at the very least, there may be a couple other folks at my barn who might wanna take it for a test ride too. 

"all dressed up"

A barn mate and I were planning a light hack anyway, so I padded up the saddle and slapped on the stirrups and leathers from Charlie's jump saddle (which is also offered for sale through Maryland Saddlery, price negotiable -- please consider sharing with anyone you know who is looking!) and called it good enough! 

super nice boots and saddle can't hide that we still kinda just look like hobos LOL
also, what was i thinking with all these shades of red???? 

Obvi the first order of business was dropping the stirrups by like 3 holes haha... And even so, you can see there's room to go farther. I really appreciated some of the geometry from this saddle, my leg felt very natural the way it hung down, and the saddle has a very close contact feel that made it easy to not get tempted into drawing my heel up.

lol super nice saddle and i still ride like Le Potato

It's obviously too small for me -- my knees were up against the block and I was a bit squished in the seat. Still tho, it was fairly pleasant to ride in.

emma. c'mon. shorten your reins for the love of all things holy!

We popped into the indoor briefly just so I could trot around a little bit on video to assess Doozy's soundness post-abscess but pre-clinic, just to be sure. And idk what it is about how I ride when I'm being videoed "just to see how she goes." Bc apparently I don't ride at all. It's kinda annoying actually lol bc then I watch the video and am like, "Emma wtf tho?" 

still can't manage to sit my ass up, but leg drape looks decent! lol....

Like, the mare looks fine but I'm just like... idk haha... this is why I need to get video more often of my rides LOL -- accountability, yo. There's no drug quite like the feeling of, "Omg is THAT what I look like???" Ahem. Anyway.

extremely close contact down the flaps -- something that is a MUST for me, personally

I might ride in the saddle again just for shits 'n giggles --- like to actually try to do a better job of like... Sitting up etc and taking advantage of the naturally draped long leg this saddle produces. Some other folks from my barn are going to try it too. So it'll stick around for probably the full trial period.

these full size blocks are out of fashion these days, which may explain this saddle's excellent price

And I might google around looking for other specifications of the same model -- just a quick bit of browsing makes it seem like they aren't exactly rare saddles, and many are well priced.

it's in lovely condition tho!

More realistically, tho, I'll probably just keep grabbing the occasional trial saddle from Maryland Saddlery just to test out. Everything looks nice in photos and whatnot, but nothing beats the actual physical trial IMO. So why not take advantage of this local free source, right? Esp now that I'm a little closer geographically at the new barn than previously.

"the best deal is no deal tho" -- sensible barn cat

Or maybe Santa will park a big beautiful perfect custom saddle under my tree this year??? Lol... A girl can dream, right? Anybody else dreaming of new saddles this season??