I don't think I can describe saddle fitting any better than I did here: a form of torture akin to holding one's hands in a campfire while being poked in the eyeballs with sharp sticks. If you have any special needs whatsoever, it adds an extra layer of "fun," like a rabbit slowly chewing off your toes while your hands roast.
Encore and I got to spend three hours with the fitter today. Oh, did I not mention that he's a different shape than Solo? Of course he is.
It's not so much width -- comparing their tracings shows that Encore is only a bit narrower than Solo, which will no doubt change as the former continues to gain muscle and weight. It's the longitudinal profile, withers to hips. Solo is very scoopy, with a big dip in his back and hollows behind the withers. This is a saddle fitting nightmare. Don't buy a horse like that! Encore is fairly flat and short-coupled. Saddle fitters love horses like him, lots of saddles can sit there nicely with relatively little effort.
In case you didn't figure out the nightmarish part yet, it's the fact that I bought saddles, especially my beautiful dressage saddle, to fit curvacious Solo, with obligingly scoopy tree. That doesn't work so well with flat horse. Naturally.
The jumping saddle wasn't too bad, we switched to the medium-narrow gullet (Encore's giant withers!) with the understanding that as he develops more, he will probably end up in the medium by spring (Solo was medium-wide, just for reference). I'm not a fan of the changey gullet trees anymore, the tree points are so short, they made lots of pressure points on Solo, plus, we can't quite get the wither clearance we want, but it's what I have, the saddle fits me well, and it rides well, so I wanted to try and work it out. I've just ordered an Ecogold half pad and we think it will provide enough lift and cushion to tide us over till his back develops enough to lift the saddle a bit more. We think. Only way to know is by doing, so once the box arrives, the moment of truth shall come!
My beautiful, wonderful dressage saddle that fits me perfectly? It will probably need to be replaced at some point, but I'm not willing to let it go yet. Not only does it fit me perfectly, I still need to ride Solo in something and he sure as shootin' isn't going in a medium-narrow jumping saddle, LOL! So, I told fitter to see if she can buy me some time.
Turns out even time has a price. $130 to be exact. Apparently there is some worldwide sheep shortage that has driven up prices (I am not kidding, she actually told me this). Perhaps I should invest in some Merino lambs?
At any rate, between flocking shifts and front and rear shims in our fancy new pad #2, we were able to flatten out the saddle enough that it no longer rocked on Encore's back and he was once again willing to lift and come round.
As my horse is now the proud owner of a small fortune's worth of saddle pads, I fully expect him have mastered at least the Beginner Novice dressage tests by the end of the week. Since they also had a Herm Springer Duo bit (which I've been dying to try on Encore) on super bargain sale, I further expect extended gaits and shoulder-in by next Tuesday. Little bugger better get cracking.
Encore and I got to spend three hours with the fitter today. Oh, did I not mention that he's a different shape than Solo? Of course he is.
It's not so much width -- comparing their tracings shows that Encore is only a bit narrower than Solo, which will no doubt change as the former continues to gain muscle and weight. It's the longitudinal profile, withers to hips. Solo is very scoopy, with a big dip in his back and hollows behind the withers. This is a saddle fitting nightmare. Don't buy a horse like that! Encore is fairly flat and short-coupled. Saddle fitters love horses like him, lots of saddles can sit there nicely with relatively little effort.
In case you didn't figure out the nightmarish part yet, it's the fact that I bought saddles, especially my beautiful dressage saddle, to fit curvacious Solo, with obligingly scoopy tree. That doesn't work so well with flat horse. Naturally.
The jumping saddle wasn't too bad, we switched to the medium-narrow gullet (Encore's giant withers!) with the understanding that as he develops more, he will probably end up in the medium by spring (Solo was medium-wide, just for reference). I'm not a fan of the changey gullet trees anymore, the tree points are so short, they made lots of pressure points on Solo, plus, we can't quite get the wither clearance we want, but it's what I have, the saddle fits me well, and it rides well, so I wanted to try and work it out. I've just ordered an Ecogold half pad and we think it will provide enough lift and cushion to tide us over till his back develops enough to lift the saddle a bit more. We think. Only way to know is by doing, so once the box arrives, the moment of truth shall come!
My beautiful, wonderful dressage saddle that fits me perfectly? It will probably need to be replaced at some point, but I'm not willing to let it go yet. Not only does it fit me perfectly, I still need to ride Solo in something and he sure as shootin' isn't going in a medium-narrow jumping saddle, LOL! So, I told fitter to see if she can buy me some time.
Turns out even time has a price. $130 to be exact. Apparently there is some worldwide sheep shortage that has driven up prices (I am not kidding, she actually told me this). Perhaps I should invest in some Merino lambs?
At any rate, between flocking shifts and front and rear shims in our fancy new pad #2, we were able to flatten out the saddle enough that it no longer rocked on Encore's back and he was once again willing to lift and come round.
As my horse is now the proud owner of a small fortune's worth of saddle pads, I fully expect him have mastered at least the Beginner Novice dressage tests by the end of the week. Since they also had a Herm Springer Duo bit (which I've been dying to try on Encore) on super bargain sale, I further expect extended gaits and shoulder-in by next Tuesday. Little bugger better get cracking.