Another Day of Saddles

  

Let me tell you about this filly of mine. She is dirty. So dirty. Caked in mud and hay and manure, full of dander - she is so dirty you can barely see the white markings on her leg. And she stinks! I can not wait for spring weather to hit 70 degrees so I can wash this dirty, dirty horse.

She even snarled her mane.

However, despite her appearance, Ava is healthy and happy (the rain rot has cleared and new hair is growing back). The stink and dirt are just a minor inconvenience. She is enjoying being a horse and I am too thankful to have a horse at all to mind her scrappy state.

The 40 degree thaw arrived right on time to try (and retry) saddle fit. 

She wasn't sure what to think of the CSI pad. I bought it for my mom as a gift, but I had to try it on the pretty filly. It's too long, and as you'll soon see, the western and aussie saddles don't fit. Doesn't it look delightful on her though?

What this?

Next I tried the Aussie, which is a beautiful saddle, but definitely too wide for Avalon.

The western saddle wasn't too narrow or too wide, but the angle seems to pinch her shoulders.

I took a closer look at the wintec that I've ridden her in once or twice. It didn't fit her as well as I thought before. Like the western saddle, it seems to pinch her shoulder blades. 

The saddle that continues to offer the best fit so far is the wintec lite dressage saddle. At least I think that's what it is . . . it's a dressage wintec and it seems much lighter than the average saddle. I don't know what the official name is.

It's well-used; perfect for a young horse in training.

It will be interesting to see if any of these saddles fit in the future, as Avalon develops muscle along her topline.

She's so cute as a teddy bear! Not quite as elegant as she looks in her summer coat, but still adorable. The weather is crazy lately. I've never let winter keep me away from horses, but this is my first winter at this particular barn and the danger is real. We had a lot of snow, then a weekish of warm weather, then a freeze. This resulted in some pond-sized ice skating rinks . . . basically everywhere. Yay Wisconsin! In retrospect, it was dangerous and stupid to walk Ava across the ice, but I had a new saddle to try and I might be able to return it. I didn't want to wait too long to contact the people I bought it from if it didn't fit. Herd-bound fillies that aren't in regular work and sheer ice don't mix well, but we managed to make it across the ice to the hitching post with only one serious slip/near fall.

This is the newest saddle. As I suspected, looks too wide.

I put an extra saddle pad on in case there was any rain rot bacteria left. Didn't wanna get anything on the pad that came with the saddle.

Here you can almost see how the pommel lays too close to the withers.

This is my dressage saddle. It fits better . . . not perfectly but better.

Lil better

The dressage is a Wintec Lite with an easy change gullet system. It is missing a billet, which I will have to get fixed before I use it for any riding, but I was able to test the new dressage girth. It's a little big . . . so I just need to decide if I want to keep using it or return it and purchase a smaller girth. I don't think it's too big to tighten, so it might be worth keeping as she grows and gains muscle. So many decisions (and run-on-sentences)!

I have a couple more saddles to check. Tomorrow is supposed to be 35 degrees so hopefully I can safely lead Avalon across the pasture. For now, here are some old saddle-check photos. 

This is the saddle I used on Gambler. It fits decently, but it's too long and wide.

If I remember correctly, this saddle fits her pretty well but the blanket changes the fit to be a little awkward.

I could have sworn I had more pictures . . .but I don't know where they are hiding.