Mr. Blondie & The Saddle - a quick update

[Risk-Averse Rider]

When last heard from, I had gotten a Wintec Pro Jumping saddle for Mr. Blondie, and it seemed to fit both of us... and then it got hot.

And then it got hotter.

And hotter still.

Riding pretty much ground to a standstill... at least, the kind of riding that produces considerable sweat marks.

Today, with Mr. Blondie starting to fur up for the winter and temperatures once again threatening to reach triple digits this afternoon, we went out for an early morning trail ride.

A little over an hour & a half, going up, over, around, and through assorted desert obstacles. Lisa W-B and rivenoak's sister formed the rear guard on the yellow horses, and because both of the yellow horses are loathe to walk at much more than a shuffle if food is not involved, they did a fair bit of trotting in spurts to keep up with the two "On a Mission" horses leading the way.

When we got back to the trailer, I noticed that Prozac Pony had lovely even sweat patches on his back. So I trundled over to check Mr. Blondie's back, and he, too, had lovely even sweat patches.

:yes:

(I know that sweat marks aren't the be-all and end-all of saddle fit, but I figure this is at least a step in the right direction, moving from sweat patches with dry spots to even sweat patches.)

*sigh*

I still think about those Black Mountain saddles...

Perhaps, some day.

[JB]

Yay :) :yes:

[pintopiaffe]

:D :D

There is nothing quite so lovely as a saddle fitting, FINALLY.

And yes, we mere humans might covet pretty coloured leather or a fancy cut or fashionable seat and knee pads...

Ah, but the mighty BACK has spoken, and It is Pleased.

...


...


for now <duckingandrunning>

[LisaW-B]

YAY! :)

[mvp]

If you want to know what it looks like when God says, "Bend over!" read on:

After months of time money and effort that brought be *this close* to designing my own Black Country custom thing (at some risk to wallet and ego), and which produced my "compendium of measurements" post you all will remember, I used those to good end and found a miracle saddle on Ebay.

I could not find a Crosby Victory to try because Weatherbeeta likes to give it to tack whores up the butt. You may remember my slightly more polite rants about that. But, on paper, a wide 16.5" version of this wannabe County Stabilizer was exactly the right saddle.

So this chick puts a barely broken-in *chocolate brown*-- all rare and beautiful saddle-- on Ebay. She was selling it because in between the time she bought it and last spring, her aging QH had gotten narrower, perhaps never to return to his former shape. Remember this bit.

She has a Buy It Now price on this puppy of about 1/3 of what I would have spent on the Custom Risk. But I'm cheap and a researcher, convinced that "measure twice, cut once" will save me. So I ask her for measurements. She humors me, provides them and they ROCK!

She also says she might sell the saddle locally, so we Ebayers had better buy it or lose it. Having spent way too much on shipping saddles back and forth, even reselling the Ebay County that should have worked, I'm not ready to leap.

Sure enough, someone local snaps it up and I'm SOL.

Then, the buyer's check doesn't clear. Seriously. Do I still want the saddle? Some math gets done by me and the seller and she decides to lower her new Buy It Now price to point that makes me think I could resell it for that amount if it didn't work. I arrange life to be there to buy it the second it's relisted. Saddle arrives-- with sweet light and celestial music emanating from the box upon opening-- and the saddle is more beautiful than represented.

I ride Freakshow in it once. Woman and beast are both pleased. The world is metaphysically and morally aligned once again. God has clearly rewarded me for my extraordinary effort and skill at saddle hunting.

The next day-- 18 hours later, to be exact-- Freakshow is crippled behind. Kri-pulled. No scratches on him, no heat, no nuthin'. He spent the night just as he does every other, out in a field with is buds. Neither he nor his interchangeable, non-descript middle-aged bay gelding chronies are saying anything. They just jook at you.

Freakshow has never been injured in all of his 16 years, so we have no clue. But he's also self-preserving and has been managed well forever, so, you know, hoof abscess, right?

No. After $3.5K in vet bills, several candidate diagnoses tried on for size and treated... after a move from a relatively cheap part of NY state to a somewhat high-end part of CT for a job, Beast's problem is figured out.

The animal has a bone cyst in his LH pastern that made him go from ok to "hurts like hell" when it reached the joint margin. And the even the armchair saddler, now armchair radiologist, can appreciate the huge black hole and incredibly narrowed joint space on the medial side below the cyst.

Newly saddled horse, whose topline, by the way, has rotted and narrowed during all this time off, is done. Done as a doornail, at least as far as our Olympic dreams go.

(No, I don't want to spend $2K more on injections and shock wave therapy that will tape him together for minute. No, I don't want to spend up to $4K plus a year of painful rehab on arthrodesis surgery in order to get a 17.5-year old maybe trail horse at the end. By the way, I already own a fantastic western saddle for that. The story of that saddle is another great one.)

Good thing I only spent $900 on the Miracle Saddle, I thought, because I had spend the rest of the saddle fund on R&D and some on the vet tab. Still chewing that bill down...

Good thing Beast broke because the barn where I was dictated that its clients use the area's most expensive farrier and vet practice. There was, I would discover, no way I could afford to do diddly besides feed him and ride him in his pretty saddle at home. But damn, the Miracle Saddle would have still been great, even if it never saw the light of a show ring.

Good thing for my wallet and career that Pet Horse made it clear he would have to move to a less expensive barn where we could trail ride for a while as he is.

Good thing the saddle hunt taught me so much and helped me meet this nice Ebayer, a nice COTHer who as the original pretty County, and all you guys--my partners in saddle fitting.

The saddle is clearly cursed. I still own it, love it, and will put in on other horses. Though, those won't be my own horse for the time-being! Perhaps that just as well. I will hack Horseling (who loves his new life) in it today. Who cares, he's already broken, right?

There you go. Let that be a lesson to you. Yes, this will be on the final exam.

[JB]

Well DAYUM mvp!!! That. Really. Sucks. I soooo hate that for you! And donut just figure :mad: :no:

[Mach Two]

Risk Averse,
I'm delighted for you, you really went to a lot of effort and photos and measuring and research, finding a saddle, didn't you? Lucky horse!

[Risk-Averse Rider]

mvp - I am confused :confused: but saddened by your saddle tale.

Are Freakshow, Beast, Pet Horse, and Horseling all the same horse, or different ones?

Were you really at a barn that dictated which vet & farrier to had to use? :eek:

How is Cyst-in-Leg horse now? Did you treat it? Is he sound for limited use?

RAR needs more oxygen to her brain, perhaps.

[wateryglen]

OH THANK GOD Mr. B is happy and comfy and sweating in all the right places!!! :winkgrin:
So nice to hear good news for a change.
But honestly, triple figures in OCTOBER!!! Yikes!!! Me likes ole virginny mo' betta I thinks!!

and yes that was quite a story above.......:rolleyes: