Saddle Musings

For the non-horse-people that read my stuff....what follows may not make much sense. Consider yourself warned.

So for the past *counts on fingers* ten or twelve years, I've had the same saddle for the horse. There's really nothing WRONG with it...it's just old and the more I look into saddle fitting, endurance/trail riding and the like, the more I realize that it really doesn't fit either the horse or me. 

(I got this shiny new book to help me with all of the above; doesn't it look authoritative and amazing? *glee*)

 

(I can vouch that yes, it IS authoritative and amazing and 320 pages of usefulness. It's been a fabulous investment.)

For example: the left fender (that piece that holds up the stirrup) has a slight tork to it that twists my leg ever so slightly. For anything less than an hour, I'm fine. But riding for an hour or more makes my knee absolutely scream.

It also has poor contact with the horse's back. See, ideally a saddle should have even pressure over the back and not rub, pinch, gall, etc. The saddle I own has a tendency to leave dry patches the size of my palm on either side of the withers; according to a bit of research that means it has excess pressure and is actually shutting down the sweat glands. 

What it all comes down to is: I want a new saddle. :p

Originally I was leaning towards endurance (for lightness), but the more I look around the more I think I'd prefer an Aussie saddle. For the uninitiated, an Aussie saddle looks like this:

The knee pads and deep saddle ensure a nice, deep seat (useful for cattle herding and going up and down steep terrain, from what I've read). We used to have an Aussie when I was much younger...but at that point we had a brat of a gelding named Woody that destroyed it. I was very sad when that happened.

Anyway. I've been drooling over saddles for the past week and deciding if/when to take the plunge. I'm leaning towards the one pictured here (the 'Kimberly Superior), with the thought that I don't want to have to buy another saddle for decades, ideally for the rest of my life. That may be wishful thinking, but what's an $800 saddle if it lasts me for the next 50 years?

But before that...the other two saddles have to go. I've ordered neatsfoot oil to give them a good drink--their leather is so dry. I didn't really notice until today what poor shape the leather is in. I mean, I soap and clean them a couple times a year, but have never oiled them. The soap dries the leather out a little bit each cleaning, and they're showing the lack of upkeep. The weird part is, I've never oiled a saddle and am so excited at the prospect of doing so that I have to force myself not to go outside and wash both saddles until I get the oil. Is that strange?

So the other two must be sold. The money from those goes towards a new saddle, and everyone's happy. And I'll be able to start long-distance riding in earnest, without killing my knees and the horse's sweat glands in the process. XD