I wasn’t saddle shopping.

I own two saddles and one horse. One saddle is fitted to Polly. The other saddle is fitted to my friend’s horse and my regular borrowable-pony, a reasonable investment for when friends come over, and a lot cheaper than a second horse.

I rode LDs and 50s in the Thorowgood. It made logical sense to buy a second, near-identical one for Polly when we started her oh-so-lightly under saddle. Change is hard, you know? So it’s all kitted out, webbers, fleece, endurance stirrups, saddle bags.

We did an endurance clinic in the fall. I momentarily felt like I might need an endurance saddle again to help support me, and then I shortened my stirrups a hole the next week, and suddenly I could trot properly again with good balance. Imagine that. Also, saddles are expensive. I’d want a Specialized, and it would have to get fitted to Polly, and they never show up in my budget. I commented to my partner that I really wasn’t looking, it would have to have a couple particular specs, and the right brand, and in budget.

A week or two later one showed up on Facebook. Met the specs. Right brand. Top end of budget, but in budget. I asked zero questions, asked for zero further photos, said I’d buy it if it was available and happy to cover shipping. Thirty minutes later I was the happy owner of a saddle that was shipping cross-country to me. “So I bought a saddle”, I texted my partner, who called me and went “you did WHAT” but was also very supportive if very entertained.

Saddle showed up. It lived at my house for a month before I could coordinate getting the fitter out. It wasn’t going to fit right without shims, and it didn’t make sense to mess with it myself when I could have someone else do it. I pulled out my old set of spare stirrups in case I needed them, and my Woolback pads, and the seat cover. Being a pack rat is occasionally useful. I even knew where to look!

I guess I should also note that after my last fall this year, I was frustrated at the dressage saddle and how I felt it tipped me forward, so I solved the problem by riding bareback for like three weeks until I finally got the fitter on the calendar. I don’t know if I recommend the solution, but it worked for us.

The saddle fitting went smoothly. Walk-trot, walk-trot, fiddle fiddle fiddle, try this, try that. It’s a leather seat and I haaaated how slippery it felt, so wandered back up to the truck, added the seat cover, got back on, lost our trot. Polly said very, very clearly that she did not approve of the seat cover. She wasn’t sure what I was asking for or how I was sitting. Tried again, same result. Pulled the seat cover, trot was fine again. Oh. OK, pony.

I bought several pairs of full seat breeches over the Black Friday sales to fix the slippery, and so far those are pony-acceptable.

One would think that would solve all the problems, and one would be wrong.

I have been riding in Webbers with sometimes-turned stirrups for a whole lot of years now. Picking up my stirrups without turned stirrups really sucks. I tried turning them with the existing fenders, and it doesn’t really work. I bought regular stirrup leathers. They pinch and I hate it. I bought stirrup turners. They work great, but then the stirrups are too long and the fenders don’t go short enough. I swapped back to stirrup leathers and added fleece covers, and now my shins are low-key bruised from the buckles on the stirrups. I sighed, grumbled, ordered a set of shorter fenders, and the verdict is out on those as they haven’t arrived yet.

Overall, though, I’m feeling more confident in the saddle that holds me in a bit more and gives me something to grab in front. It might be an entirely mental thing! I will take all the mental help I can get. It feels silly to be this picky about small annoyances. But. I want to ride longer distances again. Small things turn into big things over time. If I’m annoyed now, five hours later I’ll be really bothered. We will get there!