I came into the year with some very straightforward and simple goals.
- Get the left lead
- Get a saddle (or two) that fit both Stanley and I
- Travel 2-3x/month
We spent the beginning of the year grieving for the mare we lost at my house, dealing with ulcers, a kick to the hock joint (with metal shoes), and demoing a saddle. My amazing saddle fitter was super patient with me. It seemed every time she came to make an adjustment and give me a week something happened. A snowstorm. A tough loss. Stanley had ulcers. Stanley got kicked. Patricia was kind and patient during the ENTIRE time. Ultimately despite everything she did for us, we couldn’t say YES to the saddle. It just never felt right for me (HE loved it).
Since Patricia represents one saddle brand I had to find an independent fitter to help try some different brands. I nearly got ulcers through this process. To know who to trust and get schedules to align was a lot more difficult than I originally realized. And I was too afraid to commit to an appointment a month out if I could find someone to come out sooner. Traveling TO someone was out of the question because I wouldn’t know if his tension would be saddle or just the stress of travel. One of the fitters just couldn’t grasp that and kept asking me to drive the 2.5 hours to her (she was also very kurt). I noted that fitters varied drastically and expected me to have done this before despite telling them I had not worked with a fitter to get the right saddle. I was saddened at how few reputable independent fitters there were with good used saddles to try.
Finally, I had a fitter out. She watched as I led Stanley around the field so she could see his way of going. We put a bunch of saddles on his back and I rode in about 6 or 7.
I was given a week with a Fairfax mono-flap jump and a mono-flap dressage saddle, in that week I took Stanley to a schooling show and a clinic with Tik and Sinead. After the week I decided to pull the trigger and order them. I ordered black leather and an 18″ seat for both. YES. They were able to get me TWO saddles within my budget (I asked for under $5k for jump or under $6k for both).
The Fairfax Saddles have the same trees as Thorogood and Kent Masters, of the three brands they are the top. My dressage saddle was slightly more as the 18″ only comes in deluxe. I feel they are very good quality. The leather is nice, attractive, and fits me well. It also fits Stanley well. He has a nice free shoulder. The gullets are adjustable and the panels are wool flocked.
After experiencing the different balance between jump and dressage I am so grateful that I got both. I’ve come to hate riding dressage in a jump saddle…and the mono-flap has a calf block that hits me even when the stirrups are short…dressage would be impossible.
The jump saddle arrived in a few weeks. I was daunted by it as it looked SO NARROW. I sat it on his back and Stanley looked angry. The gullet is Medium Narrow and it was flocked for him, but seemed odd. Being new to the world of saddles I immediately panicked. After speaking with my trainer and letting her see it, she had me girth up and get on.
At first, I hated it. I was trying to ride dressage in a mono-flap jump saddle and the calf blocks were bruising the FRONT of my calves. I was thrown into a forward position and found it difficult to get my balance. I was all over the place when I cantered. We were having a bad day. We raised my stirrups (We had to roll them) and that seemed to improve things but for dressage work I was not happy.
I was told the saddles would arrive in 4-6 weeks. The jump was only a couple of weeks but the dressage saddle took 7 or 8…I guess the deluxe delayed things.
My goodness, friends. It was night and day.
I loved my dressage saddle immediately. It wasn’t flocked because of my initial panic so it ended up being slightly too wide (oops). With a shim, it rides better until we can flock it. I feel so secure in this saddle. I move well with Stanley, and he moves well under it. I can feel him and if he throws any partyboy antics my position stays pretty solid.
Having the dressage saddle now changed my mindset with the jump. I bought shorter stirrup leathers for it and it stays in a short stirrup. It feels MUCH better now that I only have to use it for jumping as it was intended.
August was a tough month for me as I fought this and struggled with seasonal depression and several heat waves. I had no desire to ride. I opted to give both Stanley and I August off from traveling. It didn’t make sense to stress about traveling and going somewhere for the sake of going.
That’s all I needed. With the depression, saddle woes, and heat waves gone, my desire came back threefold.
I suddenly had a western saddle, a dressage saddle, AND a jump saddle. We were ready to tackle the world!
Last week we were slated to leave NY for Kentucky at 3am Wed morning. On Monday I had a wonderful dressage lesson in my dressage saddle. Tuesday night I had a ride in my jump saddle that I’ve been dreaming about for months.
I tacked Stanley up and opened the pasture gates. I opened the arena gate and the back arena gate. I got on, opened my Equilab App, and got started.
We warmed up in the arena. Walking around, we walked out of the arena and around the barn. We trotted. We trotted out of the arena from the other direction and around the barn.
I trotted for a good long while. We ended up departing the arena and up the backside of the barn, around the backside of all the pastures. We walked through the woods where the footing was a bit more tricky. We walked across the stone driveway and picked up a trot down the lane to the other barn. We jumped the faux ditch and made our way the the farthest backfield. I gave him a breather as we walked the rest of the field. We trotted again through his pasture and down the lane back the way we came to the red barn and arena, trotted into the arena and took a crossrail, then made a turn to a tiny vertical.
We took another breather.
We walked through the woods to the backfield, trotted a few circles back there, trotted behind the paddocks, around the barn, through the back of the arena, left the arena and trotted down the lane towards our home barn once more. We cantered a hill, and trotted around the backfield once again, this time not taking breaks. We trotted back out the backfield and jumped the faux ditch picking up a canter and keeping it while we left home down the lane toward the arena. We cantered through the arena and out the back all the way to the back of the paddocks where we came back down to walk. We were both tired but I had no indications that either of us pushed too hard. Stanley was willing and very happy to be doing such a fun and different session. He listened to everything I asked and stayed focused on me.
For the first time in a long time, it felt like we were working together as one unit.
He doesn’t love the arena work, and this stamina/endurance session was SO MUCH FUN.
We traveled 4.2 miles in about an hour (I forgot to stop our ride until after I gave him his bath).
Stanley had a good vacation while we were away. I didn’t get much time to ride at all this week so we will begin back to our training in the next week.
The sun is shining, and though we are approaching the end of summer, we are on track.
The Green Horseman 
Leave a comment