Does It Fit?

J had some personal issues that pushed the time back when we could get together in order to have her take a look at the Crosby and tell me what she thinks. So I ended up riding in it a couple more times before she did get out.

It wasn’t the most comfortable magical ride in the world, but it definitely felt nice. I could tell the difference in the seat from it to my AP saddle. It was much easier to move around as I would need to while trotting poles and two-pointing. I tried a bit more padding by sticking my fitted pad under there but it threw off the balance a bit and I felt like I had to lean forward. So I nixed that. I did take Scarlet over some jumps in it. It was much easier to move with him. I always felt like I needed to be prepared before getting to the jump in my two-point because I couldn’t just let the jump come to me in my Wintec. It was too hard to get up and out before we were over the jump.

I think I got three rides in by myself before J could come out. Each time, before and after a ride, I’d run my hand down his back muscles to see if he had any sore spots. He didn’t react to any pressure. So, that is a good sign. It wasn’t hitting or pinching in any place a noticeable amount.

We met up during my lunch hour on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. It was 95 degrees. It was the end of November. Ah weather, you confuse the crap out of me. Since it was so hot, I was not planning on doing much with Scarlet at all. Literally just ride around enough to show her how it fit.

J showed up and took a look at the saddle just sitting on the cross tie. She was surprised at how nice it was. The price was really low so generally, you expect lower quality for a lower price. But she said it was in really good condition. The cosmetic scratch was really a non-issue. She placed it on Scarlet’s back and looked at it like that. It definitely was wide, but it wasn’t as wide as she thought it might be. We put it on with the pad and towels. She girthed him up and ran a hand underneath the tree. It was a bit looser but she thought it still would work with shims since it was working with towels.

I hopped on and we walked and trotted a bit to see how it looked while moving. She asked me how I felt. I told her that it felt fine. A little hard in the seat but nothing that was uncomfortable. It could use more forward flaps if I was jumping to the point where I needed to raise my stirrups more. I’m not so that is something I could live with.

J said, based on my budget and how it worked for me and Scarlet, it was a really good choice. She even said she kinda wanted it. (Though I’m unsure if that was lip service or if she was serious. lol) It fit me well enough and I rode fine in it. It had a large padding in the back that removed the need to put shims in the back to account for Scarlet having a slightly swayed back. Since the saddle was in good condition and fit me well, she thought I should keep it. I would need to get 1/2″ shims for the front in order to pad it enough that it fit him but the saddle didn’t move much while I was riding with the towels and the padding should work for us.

So here is my new saddle:

 

It was a lot less intense of a process for me than I thought. Part of that was me being impatient and wanting a saddle NOW! Part of that was really thinking about what I wanted to spend money on. I could have sat around looking at more expensive saddles for months. I could have found something that would have been 100% perfect for Scarlet and me. I even had a Stubben I could have purchased that probably would have been a much better fit for both of us. But that saddle was twice what my Crosby cost. I ended up deciding that I would rather spend less money and get a decent saddle than my unicorn saddle. Someday, I’ll spend a lot more money on a perfect saddle for me and Future Horse so that we can take the showing world by storm and be perfectly comfortable while doing it. For now, for what I’m doing with my horse this Crosby is a pretty great find.