I'm used to having a difficult to fit horse. Solo, with his curvy back and hollows behind the withers, is enough to give any saddle fitter a case of the shakes. When I saw Encore, with his textbook TB-flattish back and high withers, I thought,
sweet, I finally have something normal. Even if it is the COMPLETE OPPOSITE SHAPE FROM SOLO. Ha.
I got a copy of his tracings and sent them off to the lovely Jay at
Trumbull Mtn, as they are always helpful and very experienced, dealing with hundreds of horses and saddles a year, trying to find the perfect for for equine and human. I also worked with my saddle fitter here at home.
This is where we started, my beloved Black Country Eden MW. A more wonderful saddle to ride in was never made, I swear it.
However, the tree was a "banana" shaped tree longitudinally, as I
talked about here, so it rocked like a grandaddy on a Southern front porch. You can see that Solo's special wither gussets didn't sit quite right on Encore either, so it was off to the "tasting room" to try and find the porridge that was just right.
Behind door #1: A Verhan Odyssey, complete bliss to sit in on "Bucky," our tack shop's patient plastic mount. On Encore, however...
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| I can see already that the tree is too curvy. |
The shape doesn't match his back and look at the upsweep of those back panels. Their shape side to side isn't bad, but the back 1/3 doesn't even touch the horse!
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| We want full contact, not "some" contact! |
On the plus side wither clearance was lovely, so I rode in it anyway, just for one go, since it felt so amazing on the shop. Turns out, on Encore, it felt like C.R.A.P. It was hard, it pitched me forward and was generally the most unpleasant, unbalanced ride I've had in a while. It ended quickly.
We moved on to door #2: A Passier Nicole Grand Gilbert. I heard so many folks rave about their Passiers and their TBs, I had to try it.
Sitting on him, it was not terrible, although still more upsweep at the back of the panel than I'd like -- you really want your panels resting evenly on the horse's back to distribute weight and avoid pressure points. But then I hit the deal killer:
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| AHHHHHH! Wither doom imminent! |
Yes, it was nearly touching his withers with no weight on it. Needless to say, I did not test ride this one and it moved to the "REJECTED" pile with the Verhan.
Perhaps door #3 would be kinder? It held a Prestige 2000D. I've never been the biggest Prestige fan; they have always seemed overpriced and of variable fit and quality to me, but I gave it a shot.
The balance was...not bad! And look at those panels, perfectly following his back! Wither clearance was lovely and, even though I have a general hatred of external thigh blocks, perhaps I could learn to live with it?
I took it out for a couple rides. My balance felt steady and Encore felt comfortable. But I couldn't get away from the fact that the whole saddle was just...uncomfortable...for me. The seat was rock hard, the thigh blocks were maddening and awkward, and I just didn't feel the love. So even though fit was decent, I rejected it too because for several thousand dollars, a girl needs to have a little bit of love for her butt (yeah, I know your brain went there too).
Door #4 (how many freaking doors am I going to have to open already?): An Arthur Kottas (made by KLM) sent to me to trial by Trumbull Mtn (the others I had borrowed from local shop). It was a lovely saddle and it had a...wait for it...subtle blue pinstripe around the seat that EXACTLY matched my eventing colours. WANT.
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| Good balance, nice panel contact |
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| Width is ok, maybe a bit narrow at the top, but not horrible and withers are CLEAR. |
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| Hmmm, panels look like the stuffing fairy got a little too excited, but perhaps with some softening, we could un-sausage them? |
It was quite comfy to sit in and rode well. My hopes were rising that I would get to keep my beloved blue stripe (oh, how shallow I can be). However, on the second ride, Encore made it clear that it was too narrow and he was being pinched. He was unhappy and the sides of his withers were quite sore after the ride, so I had to send it back. I asked Trumbull if perhaps just getting the next size up might fix all of our problems, but she was very cautious and said don't do it if you can't trial it first.
With a heavy heart, I called local fitter to see if she had any other suggestions. She offered a saddle from a new line -- the folks who make Thorowgood (synthetic and leather) and Fairfax (all leather version) saddles had come out with a new leather model called the Kent & Masters (all are made in Walsall, England, just like the Black Countries, so my heart rose cautiously). My BO had a Fairfax that fit very well on her TB, but had the external thigh blocks that I hate. The K&M was essentially the same saddle, but specifically redesigned for the many folks who had complained about the blocks. So we gave it a go.
The balance...was perfect. Wither clearance lovely, panels sat on his back perfectly. It rode very nicely and seemed designed for the TB back. It was even reasonably priced for an English built, decently made saddle, at $1595 (which I will note is cheaper than all the consignment saddles I tried except for the Kottas). I could find no complaints (other than it wasn't the complete hiney bliss of my Black Country, but it was still quite comfortable and I didn't have another $3000 lying around to satisfy my BC longing) so I said "ORDER IT!"
I've now had three rides on new saddle. Encore seems to like the fit. It doesn't have the instantly broken in magic of my BC so I'm still working on getting the flaps to lay nicely. I'm carefully watching some flap wear, but my fitter assures me that if there are any problems, the company has been fantastic about service and any warranty issues should they arise. So while it may need a flocking tweak in a couple places, I think we have found the right tree for Goldilocks and can end (for now!) the horror that is the saddle hunt.
Thus endeth Saddle Wars 2012 (at least Round 1 - I am far too experienced to think they ever really stop!) and hopefully we can have some peace for a while!
Holy crap! you exclaim, Is that a custom wool dress sheet in exact Team Flying Solo colours? Why yes, yes it is. At 1/3 of its regular price. Horse and trailer not included. Mine. The picture really does not do it justice; the colours are rich and gorgeous and I am quite sure we will intimidate the competition simply by stepping off the trailer next year.
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