Closing in on the Answer - The Saddle

Alright, I kind of went over briefly how much better TC is doing but I wanted to dedicate an entire post to it. 

Tracks are a little overgrown but still
remain my favorite thing I've done at
the ranch in a while

Essentially, things somewhat took a turn for the worse in March just because of the winter and my travel schedule. That's totally fine, I wasn't too bummed about it, but it made me realize that I need to give TC more consistency when I am out of town, so I decided to try to find someone to ride TC during those times. 

Basically what happened was that he came out a bit lame one day on his left hind, which is normal when he has been out of work, and especially if it has been raining and he's been locked on his paddock (which is 50' long, it's not a small paddock, but he's used to moving around a lot in his pasture). Normally, I give him a couple days off with some bute on board, then I kinda just push him through it and add hill work. Typically he's better within the week. But this time, pushing him through it resulted in him feeling WORSE later on in rides vs better. So rather than just taking a little longer to warm up, he was getting progressively more uneven throughout the ride. 

So that warranted starting our rehab over a bit and dropping from 15-20 minutes of trot back to 30 second trot sets adding up to like 5 minutes of trot. 

Hill work: required

Meanwhile, Kate and I were talking saddles. She learned SO much at her Stubben training and I was in Uruguay in the back of a van being schlepped across the country when she downloaded most of it to me. It blew my mind, specifically the following with regards to TC:

- The shorter tree points of my previous saddle (not the old Custom, but the non-Custom custom one I'd ordered a few years ago) definitely were what destroyed his shoulder. He was going well in fall 2021 and then that saddle came through and cut into his shoulder blade. Poor boy. That made the balking much worse. 

- My current saddle, the Pegasus, is fine, but it is still probably a bit too much pressure around the withers, TC has humongous withers (not super tall but just a lot of surface area) and most saddles sit way too close to his spine/withers. When there is pressure on the sides of the wither, there is a bundle of nerves that gets crushed and this causes horses to want to stop. It's the same bundle of nerves that stallions bite when they breed mares. 

- There is a bundle of nerves probably right under where my girth lands on his side, which can also be irritating to him. He's always been funny about girths, he wants his girth quite tight, and I wonder if this is why.

- TC is actually quite narrow, I feel like he's been in trees that were too wide for him a lot of his life. This can also put pressure on the wither area, which again causes horses to want to stop. 

He loves an audience

A few weeks ago, Kate was in town and I wanted to kill two birds with one stone, so she brought a client's saddle out AND one of her advanced riders. We put the saddle on TC and I took the first half of the lesson, then her rider got on and we did a quick evaluative ride so that when I was in Ireland, she could ride TC for me so that he didn't get a week off. 

I got on TC in the saddle and immediately felt a huge difference in the contact, TC was RIGHT there, which was a really good sign. He's never just... in the contact. He's been a really complicated horse in the contact for a long time, he struggles to reach evenly to both reins, he likes to retract the neck, and he drops through the base of his neck quite a bit. Except not anymore, because apparently ALL of that was caused by saddle fit. And it's not like he hasn't been in well fitted saddles (at least, fit professionally) for most of his life. 

We picked up trot and he was quite happy to do so without contorting his body. Just a week before, I was lamenting to Kate that he was getting stuck in a new corner, balking a bit, but in the new saddle, he was happy to step right through the corner.

It's just EASY what the hell

We put her rider on and he was... so unbelievably smug. First of all, he loves an audience, and second, he loves a kid. She's an adult, but a young adult, and I could tell from his facial expression that he thought his dreams were coming true, that she was going to be his new kid (young adult). His ears were pressed very far forward as they do when he is excited, so far forward that they were almost facing each other. 

And Kate had her ask him for some more advanced movements than I had in a while - shoulder-in, half pass, haunches-in - and TC was definitely having fun taking her through the movements. It was almost like he was trying to be super duper professional with her, like if I asked for half pass, he'd have been like, seriously? we haven't done that in ages, jeez. But when she asked, he was like oh yes, half pass, I am very trained and you are just a small child (young adult) and I will show you how. She is riding at the PSG level by the way, he's such a mansplainer. 

When we got done, I led him back to the barn, but instead, he stuck really close to her, as if to say "okay cool, when is the vet check? can you take me home today or do I have to wait?" ready to totally abandon me. Bro, I raised you!

Look how happy he is

I was really excited about the saddle, but obviously it's owned by a client of Kate's, so it left with the new love of TC's life (her student and just generally an audience) and I immediately messaged the local Stubben rep, who happened to be in town the next day!!

She came out and I got to try a few of the saddles. Again, TC went SO well in them, but I was really having trouble deciding between them. I told her that I was a little nervous to commit right away for a couple of reasons. 

1. TC is hopefully (and can confirm this is true 2.5 weeks later) going to positively explode with muscle now that he can move properly, so ordering a saddle when he's at his most undermuscled feels like a recipe for having to bring the fitter out a ton and maybe him outgrowing a tree.

2. I'm not sure what will happen with his gaits and how much support I'm going to need from the saddle if he is going to get his big gaits back. His trot and canter have definitely gotten smaller over the years just because he can't support the bigger gaits. I was worried about ordering a saddle with a smaller block and then a few months later being like... cool I can't sit these gaits anymore.

Luckily, Stubben really does seem to want to do what is best for horse and rider, so I was left with a demo saddle for as long as it takes me to figure out the answers to those questions. My goal is to get him back to full work and start to sit his trot. That will allow me to buy a saddle for a fit, somewhat well muscled horse (or at least we'll know what direction we're going in) AND to make sure that I give myself the support I need to handle his hopefully enormous gaits. 

Look how good he looks!

I think I've done a good job not letting myself go down the "if only I had..." rabbit hole. Maybe it'll come later. But I did the best that I could with the information I had at the time. 

I've spent a lot of time thinking about how much you can just trust a saddle fitter (or any equine professional, or professional in general), like they can be a good saddle fitter, and STILL the saddle might not *actually* work BEST for the horse. And it's hardest when the horse is going pretty well in the saddle - the concept of like, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

But at the same time, there's that other saying where like, good is the enemy of great. I think both of these little sayings get to me at work - I really do like my job, it gives me a lot of freedom (unlimited vacation, which I've been taking advantage of this year, I think I'm at 5 weeks of vacation so far and it's only April lol) and I enjoy what I do and the people I do it with, but I also know that if I really push myself, I could improve my salary quite a bit if I moved companies. Luckily they sensed me getting squirmy so they promoted me so I don't have to revisit this for a while. So I get to think about it with TC instead!

Basically since the saddle situation was mostly pretty good over the years, I didn't really put a huge amount of weight into it as the primary driving force behind his balking. But it turns out, it might be most of the answer. Only time will tell!

Riding in the TCS

So as you know, Kate handed me a small strip of leather a couple of weeks ago and I fell in love with it! I was very skeptical... I figured TC would go relatively well in it because I'd seen how many of Kate's horses loved it, but I really love myself a good... seat and flap. 

But I actually really liked it! 

Crazy looking thing

It really is a small strip of leather. The company has a lot of info about some pressure analysis and all of that, but I figure I'm about 10% of TC's weight at the very most and he's been quite tolerant of my bareback saddle. I was also not going to switch fully over to the TCS as my main saddle, it was at least something to borrow and at most I figured I'd get one to use when my saddle needed to be worked on. 

I decided to put my sticky pad, my thickest saddle pad, and then my Lamicell half pad on before putting the TCS on. The billets are a little shorter than a normal dressage saddle, so poor TC was subjected to the pony's long girth for the kiddos' saddle and the pony actually ended up using TC's dressage girth. 

Feeling so good, this was just the second ride, I
need to grab video from more recent rides

It was honestly more comfortable than I expected, that Lamicell is no joke, it's so squishy! I had to adjust my stirrups a little higher than I normally would want them for dressage because there just wasn't anything keeping my leg anywhere and I felt more comfortable laying against his shape with that length. Plus, the stirrup bars are lower down (to distribute pressure better). 

I don't feel all that unstable, except that I am 100% falling off the first time TC leaps through the air. He's bolted in it and I think thought about leaping and then was surprised when I nearly fell off the back as he went to bolt so he stopped. 

Look at how much he's reaching even though I'm
struggling to not fly off the back of him

The rides have been STELLAR. I can feel absolutely everything. I can barely describe in actual words what I'm feeling, but I'll try.  

1.) TC uses his long back muscles in completely different ways and I've been working on getting those to be more even by switching my posting diagonal here and there. When they are more even, he is way better in the contact (especially stretching to the left rein). 

2.) TC does not fill the left side of his body, especially his shoulder, and especially in left lead canter. I've remedied this in the past by imagining that the right side of his body is over stuffed and pushing the stuffing to the left. I'm feeling now that the right side is stuffed a normal amount and that I need to generate more stuffing. What that means? How to do it? No idea, but it's really improved his canter and his connection. 

3.) At the canter, I couldn't get him to connect evenly to both reins so easily, some of this was the two points above, but some of it was the connection from my leg to my hand. I realized how much I have been sort of relying on chasing him to my hand vs having him step to my hand. The tempo has slowed way down and the quality feels completely different. I'll try to get some new video this weekend to see what it looks like! This second ride (the pictures in this post) was mostly about my survival hahaha

Such a good boy

I definitely have ordered one of these saddles! I still LOVE my actual saddle, but it's needing some more adjustments than just the one we did last week so it'll be nice to have something to ride in while it's out getting that done. 

I also might ride in the TCS once a week just to work on the connection/evenness of the long back muscles and to keep both of us accountable in terms of my saddle. If he feels a million times better in the TCS, probably time to get my saddle fitter out! 

Womp Womp

Last week I was very excited to buy my not entirely perfect saddle. But then TC said no thanks. Whyyyy TC??? 

Bareback saddle

The saddle fitter came out early on Friday morning. TC hadn't had all of his breakfast yet (I normally ride him a little later after he's done eating), I didn't have time to do his exercises, he had a day off the day before, it was kind of cold... 

We fit the saddle to him and I got on and immediately felt like something was up with him. But again, there was a lot of things that could have been causing him to be iffy. When we picked up trot, TC was a bit balky and with his balks/props, he shifted the saddle pretty aggressively forward. I did get him trotting but it didn't feel so great. 

We stopped and the fitter changed the fit so that it would be more stable, we moved it back into position and I hopped back on. TC was still acting a bit funny, but by this point the saddle fitter had moved to the rail just inside the arena. TC is the *weirdest* about people watching him, and for some reason people standing on the rail are doubly weird. So TC was a bit tricky to get going, but now he was less balky and more just trying to low key mow down the saddle fitter (or run up to him and stop??? What is his deal?) when we were on that side. 

Saddle

I decided to just move forward and ride him in it later in the day and the next morning. I really can't focus with saddle fitters around, I've learned this about myself in this process. We went back to the barn and discussed pricing but I explained that TC was iffy in it so I'd be letting him know. The saddle was a tiny bit more expensive than we originally discussed but it was fine. 

Because he hadn't done much in the morning, I went to get breakfast, had a job interview, then got him out again over lunch. With no distractions and riding him at his normal time and in his normal way, I was hoping he'd be better. We still had the additional variable of him being ridden earlier in the day though. But I figured if he was good in it, that would be good enough for me. If he wasn't good in it, then I'd ride in it again on Saturday. 

He said maybe... he wasn't terrible in it but man he was not great. He needed a lot more coaxing to get forward than he has recently. Remember how I put down my whip last week? Yeahhhhh. 

Bareback saddle

Saturday morning I headed out to the barn feeling iffy about it. I decided that if he went perfectly in it, I'd ride in it again on Sunday and then buy it. If he didn't, I'd probably just pass on the saddle. 

Unfortunately on Saturday, he wasn't great in the saddle. He wasn't bad, but I couldn't settle into that easy trot we had all last week after the clinic. I also noticed the saddle was kind of hitting me in the butt as I sat down, which was not so good. 

I swapped to the bareback saddle and he was better, not perfect, but much better. We found a nice swingy trot and I felt like I could shorten and lengthen my reins and he'd just shorten and lengthen his frame vs coming against me at all. 

Bareback saddle

At this point with the changes after the clinic, I'm pushing out all of our lessons and shows until the spring anyway. My hope initially with this saddle was to snag it now and be able to be back to work and show ready in January or February. Now I'm hoping to be back to regular work by then and then go back to showing maybe in April or May. So as frustrating it is to have found such a great saddle and then have it not work out... it's honestly fine. 

My plan is to hold off for a couple of months. I'll try saddles if I can find them, but I want to just focus on rehabbing TC's posture (man this is becoming just what I do with this horse ugh) and take the pressure off of myself and him this winter. I might not even move him, as we can do a lot of this stuff on the road when the arena is too wet to ride. But we'll see. 

Then once it's apparent that this stuff is working and he's getting ready to go back to normal dressage, I can figure out a saddle situation. By then, I'm hoping his topline will have recovered enough to fit him to a saddle. And maybe some of the issues we are having fitting him will be gone (like would a saddle slide forward into his shoulder if his longitimus dorsi muscle were properly developed? not sure!). So, kind of a bummer, but it'll be fine. I once again need to refocus my energy from dressage/showing/lessons and into posture work. 

Saddle

The good news is that since the clinic, his body has genuinely felt the best it's felt in years. He's always given me this weird feeling in his body that he's just not 100% comfortable. Never enough to make me really worry about him (and all vets/chiros/etc have pronounced him very sound and comfortable), he's always been in the 80-95% range. I always blamed it on his breeding and that I'm asking him to do a sport he isn't bred for (and that was backed up by vets and trainers). But he now feels just so solidly comfortable in his body. So I'm really hopeful that he'll continue to improve. This feels different than everything else I've tried!

Along these lines, we are officially signed up for a clinic with the clinician from two weeks ago in November! Just four weeks to go. And maybe she'll have some insight on what saddle would be appropriate to put him in and when. 

Goodbye Saddle, Temporarily

The saddle fitter who gave us the saddle for August came by on Sunday to pick it up. I'm about 90% wanting to buy it but I told him that I was a little skeptical only because the saddle keeps sliding forward. I like everything else about it, the block is a good size but isn't restricting my leg at all. The seat is comfortable (even when the fit isn't perfect). The leather is good quality. It's a fully modular saddle so if I decide to change out the block or the seat, I won't have to buy a completely new saddle. But ugh, this forward sliding thing. 

I just love this horse

But does TC just have a body type that all saddles will slide forward on? Do I buy this one because it doesn't have tree points so it doesn't matter toooo much that it slides forward (it mostly annoys me)? Or do I hold out to buy something absolutely perfect? 

If I buy it now, am I settling? If I don't buy it, am I in for a year or more of battling to find the perfect saddle only to find out that there is no perfect saddle?

Saddle shopping is the worst. 

He's going pretty well right now despite minimal
riding in the smoke

After our last lesson with local trainer, his right
lead canter has improved so much

Those were all questions I was feeling when he came by. I asked him about the sliding and he says he's 100% confident that with a different tree (slightly wider), we can get it to stop sliding. And if that doesn't work, we can move the billets forward, which may restrict the shoulder a bit, but it won't slide. I can actually do that adjustment myself, so we can basically try out different billet placements and let TC decide where he wants his billets.  

He adjusted it to rebalance it, but we didn't have the different tree to try (and the discussion of the billets came after we were all done). After the adjustment it did seem to stay put for longer, so that was positive, but it did slide, so I gave it back. 

I asked him if there was a refund policy, like if I buy it and it doesn't work, can I return it? No. Ugh. I couldn't commit at that point, so I felt really bummed as we walked back to the barn. But then I realized that there might be another option. 

The right is still super tricky, I am excited to see
what his PT thinks about it! 

Now the left lead is harder lol

I asked when he was coming back and he said in three weeks. I asked if he'd have the correct size tree then (he was saying he put in an order for a bunch of different ones because all his clients' horses are bulking up right now I guess. He said he would and then I asked if he'd be willing to let me try the demo again with the correct tree. If it worked, I'd put in my order. One month's delay is a lot on a saddle that will take 10 weeks to get here, but who knows how much I'll be riding this fall and winter anyway and I did just get my fancy bareback pad and am doing more core work, so maybe I could do some bareback boot camp when we can actually ride. 

He said that would absolutely work and he picked up the saddle. I got a pang of bummed-out-ness and then I asked him on a whim if he ever sold demos. Like could I just take that saddle if it works? 

He seemed slightly surprised that I'd want it. I think a lot of people get excited about all the fancy stuff you can do with it, fancy leather and fancy back plates and all that. I am so unbelievably desperate to have something to ride in and to save a fair amount of money and 10 weeks would mean a ton to me! I want to start riding with both trainers again the moment we can (the moment the fires go out, TC will get a lung ultrasound and then go back to full work!). I'm also not a fancy saddle person. Maybe in the future when this saddle becomes new horse's saddle and I have lots of money (I'm putting a lot of pressure on future Megan lol). 

I'll miss this saddle! 

Goodbye saddle!

So, that's where we are at. My goal for the next three and a half weeks is to get TC in as many other saddles as possible. If I can find something that we both like and that doesn't slide or get in the way of his shoulders, I'll let this saddle fitter know that I'm not interested. If we get to the saddle fit appointment, then fingers crossed it works and I can buy it! 

Changing Up the Routine

I've decided to put TC on a fitness schedule with some postural rehab exercises sprinkled in. My acupuncturist thought he needed to be fitter to start to see the improvements we've made. We are still battling some stuff, one being his neck apparently bothering him (he sees the PT on September 7th so we will get some answers there), the other being the saddle fit issues. The saddle I have on trial IS letting him build muscle, so that's great news, but it's not a perfect fit. Local trainer thinks it's low behind, which is something Mary said would be a thing with him, but my main issue with it right now is that it slides forward aggressively. 

The bands help keep the saddle back at least lol

I'm not sure if it's the saddle or his conformation, or maybe both. His girth groove is right behind his elbow and his shoulder comes back further than that. So everything slides forward into/onto his shoulder. My sticky pad doesn’t seem to be helping that anymore, I’m not sure if it’s because with more downward transitions, there’s more opportunity for it to slide forward or with more work, he’s getting sweatier and my sticky pad isn’t working so well. I'm going to get another sticky pad and see if that one works better. 

I'm considering buying a crupper just to see if that's an option. I mean, obviously the best option is to have a saddle that doesn't want to slide forward. But I'm starting to think that such a thing might not exist unless I go with a point billet. Maybe this is why my last saddle didn't slide forward, the point billet pinned it behind his shoulder. But that's not good either! I may end up finding that I can pin a saddle behind his shoulder with a point billet (restricting the shoulder) OR I can have a saddle that slides forward over the shoulders. Neither are ideal. 

Obviously TC says that sliding forward over the shoulders is better than pinning a saddle behind the shoulders, but I'm not interested in buying a saddle that slides forward until it is made very clear to me that EVERY saddle is going to do this. The saddle fitter comes next weekend so we'll have a chat about it. From there I'll either let him adjust it and we'll try it for another month, or we'll be back to the drawing board/bareback saddle. 

Clicker training square halts

He was very proud of himself

The saddle thing feels outside my control, but what is in my control is what TC and I are doing each day. I'm implementing some things for the month of September that should improve his fitness and hopefully strengthen his topline now that we (hopefully) have that ability. 

I tend to go through phases of implementing something and then changing things too quickly to see whether the things I implemented worked. Yes, I did go to graduate school for experimental and research psychology, why do you ask?

So I wrote a checklist down on my whiteboard and gave myself a schedule to follow. 

Schedule: 

day off x 2

dressage ride x 3

trail ride x 1

long line x 1

I tried to do a Monday-Sunday schedule but my current schedule changes too much. I think when/if I start a new job, I will be able to set up a schedule, but for now I am still on my highly flexible but also highly variable schedule. 

He was tired from my lesson (this was the day after)
but he still felt pretty good!

This is my grooming checklist:

- stand on balance pads in front while I curry/brush

- stand on balance pads behind while I brush out tail 

- pick feet

- do PT exercises x 3

- do sternum/shoulder lifts (I've taught him to lift his shoulder when I scratch under his sternum) x 2

- belly lifts and butt tucks x 2

Riding checklist: 

- walk down the road and back in bands

- warm up for 5 minutes (working up to 15 minutes) in bands

- trot over trot poles during trot work (I'm leaving them out in the ring) 

- 30 steps of rein back x 2

For the trail riding I will just let him relax, we have tons of hills behind the ranch but I'd like to take him out to the trail facility when I have time to! 

And for the long lining, it'll be a lighter day, about 30 minutes of clicking for posture and working on balance in downward transitions (because it's tough to do them in the saddle with it sliding forward). 

It was kind of a stretchy day

I think I’ll implement this for a month and then start brainstorming changes to make in an intelligent way. For example, maybe I want to try a new bit, maybe I want to add an exercise from Jec’s book on equine fitness (right now the only one is the reining back). I then want to experiment with reducing the exercises to figure out what is necessary to do when. I'm sure it'd be best to add one thing at a time but I am not that person. Plus, none of this takes up a huge amount of time (tacking up takes a bit longer now but that's about it) or does any damage so it should be good. 

Aaaand we'll see about the saddle. The fitter for the saddle I've been borrowing should be coming out next weekend and if he thinks he can get it to not slide, I'll definitely give it another shot. If it's sliding because he's grown out of it, that'd be amazing, it's a fairly easy saddle to adjust (I could do so on my own actually). But if it's sliding due to gravity/conformation... well, maybe I'll just have to order a crupper. 

The Results

So, on Monday, I rode in my own saddle again to see if TC still felt amazing or if it really was Kate's saddle, then Tuesday I rode in Kate's saddle to compare. 

And... I'm buying a new saddle! 

TC was VERY adamant that I get the saddle. He seemed almost... sad? that he couldn't move as well in my saddle when I rode in it on Monday even though he had a day off on Sunday. He barely wanted to move and I ended the ride after like 10 minutes of work (enough to get walk/trot/canter on video). I put him back in it on Tuesday, could barely control him, and I'm placing my order with the company this week. 

There's just no comparison to how he moves in
this saddle vs mine. There's a lot to fix, don't get 
me wrong, but I can fix these things. 

I'll do a comparison post with video eventually,
it's a fascinating change that isn't entirely viewable
on this blog given that I wasn't posting the worst stuff

The company has been great. I touched base with them last week and they have some great policies with their saddles. First, they only charge $50 shipping to get the saddles out to you! Second, they will take any saddle back and exchange it... and not charge anything additional in shipping! Third, there are a ton of models with lots of custom options, which are all exchangeable! I felt super safe buying one and seeing how that went, knowing I could send it back and get it exchanged. 

I love Kate's saddle for its forward flap, but I definitely want to see what they can do about the seat. My butt is very particular and my biggest concern is that I'll take away TC's pain and postural problems and give myself pain and postural problems. 

But, we have to start somewhere! So I'm ordering the same saddle in a monoflap and one size down hoping that this will help with the seat issues. If it does, awesome! If not, I can either work with a biomechanics instructor to figure out what is going on or I can exchange the saddle for another one. Once I have it, I'm going to take it over to Anne, who is an expert biomechanics instructor, and have her give me a lesson to fix up my position and I'll chat with her about things I can do to learn to ride in the saddle. At the end of the day, if TC doesn't feel good to ride, I may as well just not ride him, so if I have to figure out how to hold myself in the new saddle so we can do our thing, that's fine. 

I love it when he makes me look like a very small
person (I'm 5'6), he's just so beefy suddenly!

On the TC side, I'm trying not to get too frustrated about the fact that this has been a saddle fit issue this whole time. There was honestly no way to know given that 1) TC has never once gotten girthy or sour to the saddle, 2) TC hasn't shown any back pain, 3) visually my saddle looks fine, not obviously bridging or rocking, 4) I had a saddle fitter look at it and they said it was fine. 

So, I'm planning on keeping my saddle just in case I can get it fitting later. It fit him for years and then something happened in mid to late 2019 or early 2020 that caused his postural issues. Was it that he started muscle wasting due to another problem and then my saddle didn't fit and therefore didn't allow him to build his muscle back? 

But, if I do try my saddle out again, it won't be until he's more than recovered from whatever went wrong this time around, it will only be after it's been fit by someone else, and I will be RELENTLESS that he feels the same in both of them. And the moment he seems iffy in it, he goes back in the other saddle. 

Need help with my biomechanics, I was very 
attached to the specific support my saddle gave me
I guess!

TC: pls buy this saddle thx
Me: yep will do

Even though I have hopes that my saddle will fit him again one day, I am still stoked to have this new saddle. It fits everything at the barn and will fit my new horse for sure. I've ridden Sunny in it a couple of times and it's nice to have an english saddle to ride him in (vs the western saddle or bareback). They'll send me a pad for it to fit Rico. And I don't ride Riot much but I can ride him in it too instead of his endurance saddle if I feel like it.

Until the new saddle gets here, I'm going to borrow Kate's whenever she'll let me! Luckily she has a couple of others at the barn so she said I could borrow it when I ride. On the days I can't snag it, I figure I'll long line him or ride him bareback on the trails. Unfortunately he hates me trotting or cantering him bareback, which is fine because he's honestly miserable to ride bareback (too big of a mover), so I can't just switch to riding him bareback until the new saddle comes. But long lining is great and so is trail riding! 

What a horse, so glad to have him back!

I'm SO glad to have finally FINALLY figured out the issue with this horse. I'm giving myself three months of working at a low level to help him build the strength back, then this summer we will be back to Third level and we'll glance back at our goals. It might be better to just not show this year and make the move toward Fourth, although I would really like another giant ribbon for All Breeds... it'd just represent so much hardship we went through in 2020 to come out the other side. So we'll see! 

He sees the chirovet next week and a new physical therapist type bodyworker in mid-May, hopefully they (along with my acupuncturist and his new supplements and his new saddle) can help us get back on track. More on those as they happen. 

The Worst Experimenter

For someone who studied experimental psychology, you'd think I'd be a better experimenter! But I made a mistake this week. 

Feeling really good!

Those neck muscles, we have so much to do but
I'm glad to see him using muscles he hasn't in
a long time! 

I've been trying to figure out why TC's been muscle wasting for a while now. Things are definitely getting better, he seemed to be getting a bit better since moving to the ranch and I committed to riding in working gaits for the last month trying to help him build up the strength. Then last week I tried riding him a liiiitle bit more collected and everything fell apart. So better since the move (and why, no idea), but definitely not back to where he was. 

Kate and I were chatting on Thursday while I was over at her barn and she offered me her saddle to try. It'd make sense if his saddle was pinching him or ramming against his shoulder, can't have good posture with that issue. Kate's got a really unique saddle, it's a Pegasus Butterfly saddle, it has a tree with two hinges so it adjusts itself to fit almost any horse. We figured that it would fit him pretty well (it did, it was a beautiful fit) and if he went the same, then it was clearly not the saddle, but if he went better, I could look into either buying one or getting my saddle refit. 

Go pony!

Definitely could not control him a lot of the time

I rode in it on Friday and Saturday and WOW what a change in TC. He felt amazing. He felt like his old self! Super easy to connect and almost always up through his back and wither. I showed the videos to Kate and she noted that his shoulders were way more free too. He was SO excited too, he really felt great. 

By the time I got done with my ride Saturday, I was committed to buying one of those saddles. 

Then on Saturday night, I remembered I made another change on Thursday night, I switched TC's supplements. Daaaamnit. 

I couldn't really sit the canter

Feeling great, finally

He's been getting smartpaks for a while now but one of his muscle wasting symptoms is also having kind of a trash coat (he's been treated for ulcers and since then, has been on an ulcer preventative and hasn't been in crazy hard work). I decided to swap his smartpaks out for Platinum Performance CJ to see how that goes. 

I've known a few horses to go a bit nuts on Platinum. He definitely has a lot more energy on it, and I can't imagine that'd be from the saddle. So is his posture better because of the energy? Or is it unrelated and his posture is better due to the saddle? 

Remembering why I called him baby Totilas when
he was younger lol

He felt like his beach ball self in the canter

I don't want to pull him from the Platinum, obviously, but I can try riding him in my own saddle again and see what that looks like. Buying a new saddle is definitely in the cards, but if for some reason he just wanted to be on Platinum, that'd be easy! 

If he doesn't feel as good in my saddle, I'll go snag Kate's saddle for my Tuesday ride (her day off), and order TC his own saddle. 

As much as I don't necessarily want to buy a new saddle right now, it'd actually be cool to have a saddle that fits basically every horse. That means that TC and my new horse can share a saddle. I rode Sunny in Kate's saddle last weekend and it fit him beautifully. I could ride Rico in it too (they have a special pad that fits it to sway back horses). 

So really, either way it's a win! 

Next Steps with the Saddle

I got my saddle back from our local guy who redid the blocks for me! I managed to get a short ride in it with TC yesterday. It's set to be a medium, but there's not a huge amount of flocking in it and without his half pad, it was a good enough fit for a quick ride to see how I liked it. 

I wanted to get it fit to TC first, but when I saw it, I had this sinking feeling that it'd need more work. The block looked way too small and I started wondering if I should send it directly to Custom and swap out the flap completely. Our local Custom rep has been increasing their prices a bit more than I'm comfortable paying at this point, so I want to make sure that I don't want to send the saddle to Custom before I pay them to change the tree. I'm sure Custom would adjust the tree while they're in there without it costing an additional $350+++ to do it. 

Dear TC, thanks for being so fancy, I hope I can
eventually sit your gaits without the help of a giant
knee block

So, feeling a little blah about it, I stuck it on, made sure it wasn't a horrible fit, and we went for a ride. Immediately, I didn't feel nearly supported enough by the block. I am not a nervous rider, not on TC at least, but it was a little unnerving to feel like I was in a jumping saddle, like a flat one. I did get used to it a little bit though. And TC is obviously perfect so I didn't need the blocks to stay on a buck or anything. 

In walk, posting trot, and canter, I did feel like I could get my thigh on him way easier. Getting my slingshot narrowed has been really important to getting him over his back and that was SO much easier. 

In sitting trot though, it was VERY apparent that the saddle wasn't going to work. I can sit this horse's trot, especially now with the bands, but his trot is no joke. It's enormous. And I absolutely could not get my leg on him without the blocks helping me out. There's just too much scope to his gaits to not have some support on my thigh. There's a reason why neither of us like doing more than walking when I ride him bareback. 

He's the WORST to trot bareback, we both hate it

So now I'm kind of at a loss. I'm going to message the person who worked on it and see if they will make the block larger without charging me any extra (but then I would feel bad soooo yeah). If that's the case, I'll try them again and see if I can be a little more descriptive about what I want. But I also have a message into Custom asking for details of how much it'd be to swap out the flap completely. I know the block I want after all. 

If that's going to be under a number I have in my head, I'll just do that. It'll take months, but at least it'll be exactly the block I want AND they can change the tree to a medium wide while they're in there. I'll get it back and then send my other saddle. 

I won't regret sending it to the local person if I end up doing that. What they gave me was the knowledge that I did indeed want to swap out the blocks. Being able to get my thigh on my horse like that is going to be life changing. Now to just get the exact block I want so I don't create gaits so scopey I can't sit them! 

Surgical Option is a Go!

I have some good news amidst all the crap going on right now. Peony tagged me in an instagram post the other day, it was made by a saddle shop all the way out in Louisiana and it showed that they had a 17.5" Custom Versailles for sale!! I immediately emailed them and probably sounded like a crazy person, I basically said I wanted to buy it and that I'd pay shipping to California. They replied and said that it was out on trial and if it returned, it was mine.

On Monday morning, they called me and I gave them my credit card info, it's now on its way!

Shipping from the hurricane terror area to the flipping ground
moves also + on fire area, poor saddle

As a reminder, I was informed that Custom doesn't make the Versailles anymore, which I would have spent a lot of money on to get made with a different block for me. Custom has said that they're willing to swap out the flaps for me, but I was a bit weary of sending the only saddle I'll ever love (I may or may not be really dramatic about it, but my butt loves this saddle) across the world to have them rip it apart. What if it got lost in transport? What if it got destroyed on the way? What if they did a shit job with it?

So the idea was to find another Custom Versailles and do surgery on one of them while I kept the other. If the surgery worked and I loved the new saddle, I could send the old one to get the same flap put on and then have two saddles that I love. One for TC and one for my future horse/a back up saddle.

This saddle, encouraging my knee to come over the block for
7 years now

Now that I have this one coming, I'm really excited to see how it feels! I'm honestly not sure what tree it's set at, so my first thought will be to have the saddle fitter out to adjust the tree and flock it to fit TC. Then I'll figure out which one I want to send and where to send it.

I'm thinking I'll want to sit in both to see whether one is clearly better than the other (mine is a 17" so they should feel mostly the same) and also take into account how beaten up each are. Mine is pretty beaten up but it's a very old saddle, so I'm not sure how the other one will be.

From there, where to send it? Several of my friends have recommended a local saddle maker who I guess likes a challenge. He makes a dressage saddle but that block isn't going to work for me. So my question to him will be, is he up for making me a fully custom block for my leg. I like that I could support a local business, not have to deal with shipping the saddle, and having a block literally made for my exact leg position. Unfortunately this means I can't try the block on a different saddle first, and I'm not sure how much this would cost.

Or, Custom Saddlery itself has said they would be willing to take it and replace the flap for me. This means flying the saddle to England and having them work on it, then send it back. But, it also means that I can pick the block I want. When I get the new saddle fit to TC, I can ask her to bring out a few saddles with blocks that I think I'll like, then sit in all of them and pick one. That exact flap will be put on my saddle, which is great! But unfortunately it means that I won't have the saddle for a while and if there's an issue, it starts getting really expensive to fly the thing back and forth to make minor tweaks.

Look how dark he was last year! But I just want
to be able to have my knee snugged in behind
the block without having to drop my stirrups
down so much, ugh

I sent an email to the local guy to see whether I could bring my saddle in for a consultation with him, I'll have to see whether he's up for making me a fully custom block AND work with my ancient saddle. If not, then the saddle will get shipped out to Custom Saddlery in England and we'll see what they can do! Fingers crossed!

So yay, an exciting turn to a really rather shit week. I owe Peony a drink, or at least a free lesson the next time I come up there!

Starting to Saddle Shop

Last week I began saddle shopping. I am preparing for this to be a six month long process, so with that, the first thing we did was fit my current saddle to TC to make sure that he's good in it until I find a new saddle.

She did a fabulous job, it felt way way more stable and he was much easier to get up under himself. He was clearly happy (and also he loves his LMF Gold) because he was borderline taking off with me. Just how I like it!

This trot is impossible to sit, let me tell you, but the right
saddle makes it way easier

Anyway back to my saddle search. I adore my saddle, it's a very very old Custom Versailles. I bought it in 2013 for not very much money and it has the most comfortable seat I've ever felt. When I sat in it in the store, I vowed to buy it even if it didn't fit Rico. It did! And I rode it through the FEI levels and got my Gold medal in it. Funny, just right now am I realizing that it's been TC's saddle longer than it was ever Rico's saddle.

The one thing I can't stand about the saddle though, is the blocks. And the more I realize I have to ride in a pretty aggressive flexion pattern to get TC in the right posture, the more I want bigger, more defined blocks to help me not get myself out of alignment while riding that way.

In addition, I'll be getting another horse in the next couple of years, so I'd love to keep my current saddle for that horse instead of having to switch back and forth. Obviously that's not pressing, but basically I know a new saddle is in my future, so I may as well figure out what I want now.

My wonderful saddle with me at our second PSG together

I am 99% certain that I want a Custom. I have had some really bad seat and back issues in other brands, and every Custom I've ridden in has been great for my seat and back. When I talked to the rep, I told her that I wanted something as close as possible to my Versailles. Like, if it were an option to take the seat and tree of my Versailles and put on the blocks of something else, I'd have already done it. I'd pay a couple grand to save this exact seat.

I have a client who has a Custom that I really like, so I asked to start there. Turns out, that's a Custom Wolfgang Omni and the rep had a 17" in the truck that she thought would fit TC. It fit him super well and when I got on it, I immediately loved the blocks. I trotted around and felt like I could get myself into a really good flexion pattern with my thigh against the block and didn't have to fight to keep my leg from coming over the block.

I rode Leo in a Custom! Also my borrowed
shadbelly was way too big lol

Unfortunately I HATED the seat. Turns out, the Versailles has a balance point a little further back than their updated Customs, especially the Omni. So I felt very much shoved onto my front triangle and I could already feel my back getting iffy by being pulled forward. I was told to lengthen my stirrup and just get used to the seat but like... why.

First of all, no, I ride short for a reason and that reason is that I like to have tone at the top of my rise because you're supposed to. Second, I really don't think I should have to adapt my feel to a saddle, especially because I have that "at home" feeling in my current saddle and if I'm going to buy a new saddle, it needs to be that AND more, not trading my love of the seat for my love of the block. So I gave the saddle back and ruled out the Omni as a seat that works for me.

I asked what would have a seat closest to the Versailles and she didn't know. I might contact the company itself to find out. She said that a Wolfgang Solo might work though, so that's on my list to try.

Love the block, HATE the seat for some reason

I also emailed another rep to see what she had in stock and when she'd be in my area again. I know saddle fitters are very knowledgeable and I super respect their opinions when it comes to fitting the horse and telling me things like I have a long femur or I need a certain seat size... but for better or for worse (and I'll let my trainers decide that), I ride the way I ride for a reason and I need a saddle that is going to let me ride that way. It's a lot of money to spend and I'm extremely paranoid about being told what I should buy, especially by someone who has a financial stake (this is why I hate commission for horse sales, mini rant: it's in the trainer's best interest if you buy the first horse they find you and if they over horse you because then they get the most amount of money for the least amount of work AND guarantee themselves a training horse for a long time).

So we'll see if that rep has something I could try. I honestly think I want to try literally all the Custom saddles in both a 17 and a 17.5 for me to feel comfortable make a decision. In the mean time, I'll be asking the company what saddle is closest to the Versailles. Too bad they don't make that anymore! It's honestly the one saddle I'd be happy to order brand new if I could swap out the blocks (I'm for sure looking used so I can get my money mostly back if it doesn't work).

Looking forward to the end of this awful journey! But at least I have something to use in the meantime that I love, so it's going to be okay.