Cranio & saddle fitting: part 1

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This is the post I was supposed to write on Thursday.  I had a really lovely Thursday morning with a local-ish saddlefitter & craniosacral lady.  I think she’s excellent and well worth the cost, she doesn’t rep a particular saddle, and she didn’t try to talk me into anything.

For reference: a semi-square, sort-of straight conformation shot.  I think her back has dropped over the past few years; I don’t know if that’s an age thing, a topline thing, a saddle fitting thing, or a combination of all of the above.  She has more wither than she used to.  (But on comparison to a 2013 photo, not very much more, so I won’t panic.)

We started off by looking at the Eurolight.  She acknowledged that she’s not a Specialized fitter, I admitted I’ve never had an actual Specialized fitter come out to fit the saddle, and we carried on fiddling in various directions.  Previous shim/pad setup: no shims, 3/4″ fitting pads, slight outward flare to pads in front.  Sweat patterns have been good.  Saddle moves 1-2″ forward AND 1-2″ backward during any ride with substantial hill – so at the bottom of a downhill, I can fit my whole hand in the sweatmark behind the saddle.  Not ideal.

I was actually quite impressed by the difference shifting the pads up a half-inch, back, or forwards made.  No shims, just the same pads.  Moving them alllll the way up top (essentially narrowing the gullet) led to excellent shoulder clearance

I feel like the front-to-back balance isn’t entirely correct here.  I know I felt like I was sitting WAY back – while it looked to be a good fit for the horse, it was not so much a good fit for me with the way the pads were.  This might be fixable with thicker or thinner fitting pads, but the conclusion we pretty much came to was that I should readjust it back to how it’s been.

Unfortunately, she also had me try to point me knees and toes forward in a proper neutral seat rather than the outward-pointing I default to in the Eurolight.  My knee hits the front D-rings.  It really is too small for me. This is not good news. 

In a sense, though, it is good news.  I’ve been fighting to canter correctly in this saddle all year.  Even just sitting, my knees rotate out and my toes correspondingly rotate out. I’m not physically capable of getting my thighs onto the saddle.  My lower leg ends up unstable and unable to easily support me in a balanced canter.  The trot is fine, but I’m sure it’s not doing me any favors long-term, and it might come back to bite me over a longer distance.  It’s not me.  It’s not something I’m doing.  I’m fighting the saddle, and I cannot win.

So.  Anyone have a 16″ Eurolight – heck, I might even go for an International if I had to – that they want to trade for a 15″ Eurolight?  I love this saddle except for the part where it doesn’t fit me.

I will admit I disagree slightly with the fitter on this next one.  (EDIT: after posting, shifted a few things, no longer disagree with fitter! Another post coming.) She felt the saddle was, if anything, a hair too wide, and fit quite nicely with the Woolback.  Good: I’d always hoped to add the Woolback if doing serious trails with it.  I think it does fit the horse pretty well, but I think with the addition of the pad, it feels pommel-high.  I’m going to switch out the gullet plate for one size wider to see if that makes it a more comfortable ride, and if so, will evaluate sweat patterns with a proper trail ride.  Fitter also said I should drop my stirrups, and was spot-on with that assessment.

As I keep going back through this and re-writing, I’m now wondering if perhaps the saddle iss too far forwards?  I didn’t think it was, but I’m barely seeing the third braid from the front of the pad, so maybe I was wrong.  (Third braid is reversed and runs up her neck to the top of the withers where the neck starts to move; the braid itself tends to fall about mid-shoulder.)  If the saddle was really too far forward, that might explain why it felt pommel-high, and the entire issue may simply be me not remembering to shift it back far enough for re-photographs and a first ride.  Hm.

Which brings me to.. point billets.  Maybe I switch back to using the point (or sort-of point-like) billet on this saddle and see if that helps keep it in place – and help remind me to put it far enough back??  It’s a Y-girthing option in back, can use the point billet or regular billet for the front. 

Jen wrote an excellent post about girths that I found quite enlightening about girth placement for dressage saddles, and pretty well convinced me I don’t need to buy a TSF girth for Fetti.  (Yet.)  But that, too, tells me that my photos show a saddle that’s too far forwards over the shoulder.

In my frantic crowd-sourcing of information, Mel stated that she aims for her saddle to move very little with a snug breastcollar and crupper.  Dressage saddle crupper is out of commission for the moment (see: prior incident where crupper T attachment tore some staples and stitches from the panels), but the breastcollar’s been pretty awfully light.  I tightened that up a zillion holes.  I may need to loosen it one or two holes if I shift the saddle back a few inches, but that’s okay.  The breastcollar needs to be tighter than it has been.

Next post: craniosacral work & movement evaluation

Grief

Topaz Dreams Posted on by
Night ride in days past.

The adorable, bombproof, beginner-safe lesson pony (mentioned briefly in my last post) went over the Rainbow Bridge this morning. As he wasn’t mine – just part of Fetti’s herd – it’s not for me to share details, but it’s been a rough few days and he’s already sorely missed.

This is the pony that gave me my bareback trail confidence, taught me a solid sitting trot at high speeds (also bareback), and rarely put a foot wrong. Good mind, good heart. He took a little piece of mine with him.

Lesson pony

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One of the perks of having a pony is that I get to introduce friends to the joys of horses.  Fetti makes an excellent leadline and petting pony.  She’s cute, un-intimidating, and friendly.

Blonde. Pink. Usually braided. “Food, maybe?”

If I ask nicely, other ponies are often available to me for beginner trail rides.  I’m very lucky to have generous friends with bombproof, beginner-safe ponies.  Several friends have gone out on rides with me, and my boyfriend comes out a few times a year.

It dawned on me that aforementioned boyfriend, despite gamely attempting to keep up on the adorable, wonderful, bombproof, pogo-stick trotting pony on the trail, had never really had a Proper Lesson, and never quite entirely got his posting trot down.  This must be fixed.

I started his mini-lesson with him riding a bombproof pony in a Western saddle.  Unfortunately, I’m an English rider through and through.  I have drilled in the basics of alignment head-hip-heel.  This does not work quite so well in a Western saddle where the seat naturally sets one further back.  Safe trotting: accomplished.  Position: needs work, fighting saddle.

I have a perfectly good horse with a well-balanced saddle, and how hard can trotting on a lunge line be?

Hard enough that I can’t get photos while lunging – it took two of us in the round pen to get video for boots.

To my credit, I did lunge Fetti without a rider first.  She was fine.  Put the rider up.  She was fine.  Bunch of polite circles, both directions, only mildly fussy until the reins got dropped and then all was well.  If I were smart, the blog post would be ending there, her career as an occasional lesson pony secure, her halo appropriately transparent and sparkly.

Another dear friend of mine came out recently.  He’s been on for a few tiny trail rides, but less experienced and recovering from some injuries a while back.  Bombproof ponies are unavailable, but Fetti should be fine.  This time, I stuck her in the round pen first, knowing she’d been full of herself lately.  It took thirty minutes for her to settle into a reasonably polite semi-beginner trot.  Maybe she’s just forwards today, I thought.  Usually once she’s settled, she stays settled.

Tacked up.  Added rider.  Back in the round pen, ask for a trot, acquire a FLOUNCE into five steps of trot and some threats at canter, interspersed with the occasional solid 7-10 steps of trot.  The assumption is made that the rider is somehow cuing incorrect – after all, horses are honest, we know there’s an imbalance from an old injury, she’s already been worked and unlikely to go forwards, that’s not her normal.  To his credit, the friend managed to work out a fair bit of posting trot and balance even as Fetti is not making it easy.

I hopped up to demonstrate the difference between western pleasure jog and serious endurance trot, and found that my generally sane horse was a raging snotty bitch. Leg? OMGIHATEYOU. Canter? FLOUNCE. Trot politely? CANTER.

A dressage whip was retrieved.  The pony and I had a Serious Discussion about how such behavior is unacceptable (and in which I deeply regretted not turning her out in the arena within the past week).  I apologized to beginner friend for doubting his balance and told him that he was (probably) fine and it was just Fetti being obnoxious.  He’s a little bit crazy, too; he got back on and we did a bit more work, slightly more productive, slightly less attitude.

Lesson pony halo status: seriously tarnished, possibly confused with devil horns?

I know she needs turnout.  I know she hasn’t worked hard enough this week.  Honestly, I’m really grateful that this is the first day in ages that she’s thrown this sort of full-blown hissy fit.  It used to be a regular event!  Nonetheless, let this serve as a reminder to me: Fetti is never going to be 100% beginner-safe.

Bale bag update; convention notes; ACTHA year #2

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If I don’t write something now, I’m never actually going to get around to posting, and then it’ll be time for the monthly recap with nothing having been said.  Oops.

The dam is still up.  Our conditioning rides are still trucking along, and we’re still not hugely enthusiastic.  Not much to say on that front!

Bale bag/slow feeder: we seem to have reached our happy point!  Confetti is now going through a bale a week, or approx 130-150# of hay.  It took about two months.  I’m still using the bag for 2-3 days of hay rather than putting in the entire bale; right now that’s an entirely satisfactory solution.  In the future we may revisit the idea of bagging the entire bale in one swoop.  One perk to filling a third of a bale at a time: it’s possible to mix in a few grass/alfalfa flakes with the straight grass.  I may up that to 50/50 grass/alf and straight grass.

Convention: was most excellent.  I’d never been before, and it was a lot of fun.  Lots of vendors, chatted with the Renegade folks, got some neat Renegade swag (photos hopefully forthcoming), chatted with American Trail Gear, sold some stuff, bought a little bit of stuff.  I also got to meet Aarene – pestered her with various questions and bought a paper copy of her book.  One can never have enough good books.  One of my questions for Aarene: how to speed up a slow horse?  Her answer – which I think she’s given on the blog, too! – is to sing.

Shiny mane!

I put some music on my phone and we headed into the arena yesterday.  The music should be excellent motivation to keep going with arena sessions rather than getting bored ten minutes in.  In fact, we managed to sustain trot/canter circles and serpentines and direction changes for probably 25 minutes.  Woohoo!  My choices of music need to switch to those with a faster tempo.  Even so, they served as an excellent mental preoccupation and it’s an experiment we’ll keep working on.  (Aarene gives song suggestions here, now that I thought to look.)

Other convention notes included reassurance that some alfalfa is good for helping with ulcers (no, I do not want to switch to only straight grass), slowfeeding is also good prevention, turnout is ideal.  There were way, way more topics covered and things I took notes on, but migraines have left my memory a little bit lacking.

It was really lovely to get to see/talk to/socialize with all sorts of people, drop in on interesting seminars, and generally feel like I got something out of it.  Very worthwhile.

“Tied to a tree. Whatever.”

ACTHA:

This year I judged an obstacle rather than drag riding. Way better for Fetti’s sanity even if she was full of herself on the way back to base.  She stood, well-behaved, tied to a tree for a bunch of hours. Except when she rolled with the saddle; then I was not quite so happy with her. Overall, though? Pretty good.

February recap, March goals, convention!

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First off: I will be at the AERC convention this weekend!  I would love to meet up with folks if anyone else is going – comment, email, whatever.  (It’s harder to recognize me without the Haflinger.)

February was a pretty dull month.  Serious slump.  Unmotivated.  57 miles, two serious works, just the one where we stayed near 5mph.  One incident with the tree.  Blogging should step back up as we start actually doing stuff again!  I won’t bother recapping goals.  They didn’t happen, or if they did, they just managed to happen by themselves.

March I have higher hopes for. 

Mounting practice.  It’s funny how anxiety is.  I used to hop up on giant horses in an English saddle with short stirrups weekly, sometimes daily.  That was totally fine.  Then I got used to just sliding onto Confetti (who needs stirrups when you’re already higher than the horse?). 
I tried ground-mounting in a dressage saddle a few years ago.  The saddle started to roll.  That fear, unfortunately, has stuck.  Intellectually, I know the saddle is not going to roll.  Emotionally, it still feels like it might.  I have a 14hand pony and I’m too afraid to mount from the ground.

So.  This month, I want to work on using stirrups to mount.  I can use stirrups to mount from low mounting blocks, or high mounting blocks, or fences, or whatever.  There’s fear about putting all my weight in one stirrup.  I want to fix that.

Tied in with that, we’re going back to giving treats after mounting.  She needs to stand, not walk off, even if I’m anxiety-ridden and not holding her in one place. 

Long trots.  As was mentioned in the last post, it feels like it should be beneficial to continue our ‘trot at any speed as long as possible’ training, and gradually amp up the distance.  I can already think of ways to add a mile or two to the 8-mile loop. 

Rasp hooves weekly.  This didn’t happen enough in February.  It needs to happen in March.  It’s important to me that we start training in boots again, and to do that effectively, I need to be maintaining the trim between paid farrier visits.

Happiness is…

Topaz Dreams Posted on by
– three strides of cantering in the arena, bareback *

– bale bag lasting a full week **

– cleaning out spare tack and clothes, then listing them all for sale (sales post coming soon)

– 8 miles at 4.9mph. ***

a momentary photo-pause, then back to trotting All The Things
Happy happy.
Scruffy winter pony’s still got it!

– Mount Diablo photos from last year!  I checked the NATRC page again and happened to see.. a link to the photos that I’d given up on finding from last year.  Woohoo!

LOVE.

One friend commented that she looks like a Santa Cruz hippie in this photo with the braids.  I can totally see it.  I want to get this framed.
I think this must have been at the start of the ride, even before we mounted up, and after she was declared sound to start.  Channeling our inner relaxed Western Pleasure selves… just standing and de-stressing right before we mounted up.

Through the mercury pond, I think?  Ears forwards, still trucking along.
It really did look like that most of the day.

I’m not sure where this was taken, except that it must have been coming into a check since I had my stirrups dropped! Trot-trot-trot.

—————

* I can ride the other Haffies w/t/c whereever with no fear.  I lost a lot of my confidence last year when I came off, though, and working Fetti in the arena still scares me.  Three balanced, non-bolting, non-bucking strides absolutely made my day.

** We’re still working on the whole bale bag thing.  Current status: one bale of grass, approx half a bale grass/alfalfa per week.  Great progress over two bales a week.  I do think she’s gained some weight.  It’ll come off again quick enough this spring/summer, so that’s fine.  End goal is to get her to approximately a bale/week again – that’s what she was eating prior to the bale bag switch.

*** This is so exciting, y’all.  It’s so often said that you should be doing 10-15 miles in 2-3 hours before you try your first LD.  It’s been quite literally months since we last did a 5+ mile workout at a 5mph pace, and even then, we’d only get one of those occasionally.

My plan for this ride was to trot everything trottable at whatever speed she wanted.  Jog?  Fine.  Supertrot?  Fine.  But she had to keep trotting and not break to walk after every burst of speed.  We ended up at just a hair under 5mph for the whole ride.  I think this is what we need to work on right now; this is closest to how we go at rides, and it’ll help condition her for the sustained trotting even if it’s not at great speed. Her walk is pretty terrible, so we’ll work with what we’ve got.

I assume that the more we do this 8-mile loop at a mostly-sustained trot, the easier it will be for her and the less recovery time she’ll need between trots and/or the quicker the trots will be.  I’d welcome thoughts from those of you with more experience conditioning (either for eventing or endurance!) – am I totally missing something here?  Does this sound reasonable?

Trees.

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I went out to the barn Thursday thinking we’d do a brisk 10-mile ride and try to throw some balanced canters in there.

About a mile in, I scratched the entire distance plan and settled for trying to find the pony’s brain.  Canter sets don’t mesh well with a pony that’s behind my leg and looking for things to spook at.

About two miles in, we met a tree.

Let me highlight the tree:

The tree was obviously terrifying. Confetti was reluctant to move forwards. Two steps forward, five back, three steps forward, pause to contemplate.  Naturally this section is effectively a singletrack with the erosion, so hopping off to longe or working in circles was not an option.  Forwards, back, forwards, spin with her front end off the trail, forwards, back all the way to the foot-tall log across the trail, and back over that for good measure.
I wish I could say I won the battle.  Sadly, twenty minutes later a pair of hikers showed up coming towards us. Since they did not get eaten Fetti deemed it allowable to walk nervously past them and the tree.
Human: mentally exhausted.
Horse: still picking fights with too much energy.
We briskly made our way up to the top, where we found a car and a bunch of folks with chainsaws.  Fetti decided this was totally fine, and looked hard when they dropped a tree.  That was it.  Crazy stuff with trees? Whatever. Fallen, already cut tree? OMG GOING TO DIE.
I limited my chainsaw photos due to residual anxiety that she’d lose it.  Next week: better photos.

I jogged a bunch of the downhills on the way home.
posing pony

She wasn’t convinced she really totally had to come with me, but once I snapped some photos she was willing enough.  Hooray for pony jogging partners.

Spoiled pony

Once we got home I was completely wiped out – as if we’d just done a LD – but it was only six miles and one battle.  I’m not really sure what to make of that and I’d happily take suggestions.

Since I’m so late in posting this, I actually do have a followup!  We went back this weekend and did battle again, but the battle was relatively minor and I was pleased.  The following day we went with friends and.. the lead horse also objected to the tree.  Thus the pony earned some points back, since it clearly wasn’t all in her head. 

Hopefully we’ll have more interesting things to post on soon!  If the sunshine holds, my riding mojo has returned, and we’re back out and at it again.

January recap, February goals

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I feel awful for saying it, but I am so done with winter.
Even when my winter has sunshine and 70-degree days, I want my long days back!

So.. we’ve been puttering, and schooling, and puttering some more.

January trail miles come to a grand total of… 33 miles. One ride per weekend.  Yuck.

Jan goals:
Continue to focus on off-side mounting – accomplished!  I even hopped on another pony bareback from the off-side while on trail.  No grace, but it got the job done.
Lesson?? – inquired, did not happen, it’ll come sooner or later.
Focused arena session once weekly – check!

Good news: we are getting in an arena session once weekly, and a solid round pen session the other day, and toodling bareback another day.  I just cannot be bothered to do more work in unfocused circles right now.

February goals:
– offside mounting still.
– solo ride at least once
– speed work on the back trails? It’s incredibly boring, but gets the job done.
– arena work OR speed work once weekly, ideally both
– rasp feet approx once weekly

I ordered a blanket after the chilly windstorms of December

if it looks a little funny, it’s because none of the straps are actually clipped

and we are in the middle of a heat wave now.

Girls still generally getting along. 65 and kind of cloudy.
The bale bag experiment continues.  Currently they’re lasting a full five feedings.  Confetti is still not entirely convinced this is okay, and she ought to get food at every mealtime, please.  In theory they start eating less after a few weeks.. she didn’t read that manual either, so we’re still waiting.
Mom.  Breakfast?  Please?  Seriously.
Did you know that if you leave strings on the bale in a bale bag, and your pony manages to get the strings tangled around the netting, said pony can make a nice nose-shaped hole in the bag?  Yep.  I have no photo, because I discovered the strings at 6:40am when I needed to be on my way to work.  No more strings for her!  (Except I think I left them on today.  Eek!  Well, they’ll come off this weekend.)

In bonus injury news, she appears to have a spider bite of some kind.  Note the weird pocket of fluid and such at her chest.  It does not appear to be bothering her, and I did find the wound, so I’m not stressing (yet).  It’s always something.  One and a half week post-photo, it’s still there, but rather less; still not worrying!

Dec recap, Jan goals, progress!

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In Dec: pitifully low mileage with two trail rides. Also, beach ride!

Good news: I stayed on!
Jan goals:
Continue to focus on off-side mounting
Lesson??
Focused arena session once weekly
On an early Jan trail ride, I felt her switch gears jnto a true power trot. For the first time There was someone behind us that could verify. It isn’t just an extended trot.  She’s engaging behind and really powering through into a true frame.  It seems we’re lacking in true forwards most of the time… Yep, y’all called it in comments last year.  I’m not quite sure how I want to address this and a lesson is in my future.
I do find she goes better when I get her off her forehand and really actively sit back, thinking along the same feeling as riding a gaited horse.  This is not a new concept, it’s just one I seem to lose periodically.
We’ve been doing regular arena work because of the limited trail access.  Fetti rushes jumps.. Fetti also rushes poles.  This needs to be addressed.  Our round pen session over poles had her cantering trot poles, and rushing any set of poles 90% of the time. She does know how to trot them like a normal horse, she just rushes and accelerated in instead.  No video, but picture a normal trot – halfway around, a tiny collected trot with lots of power waiting – quarter of the way to poles, she looks at me, then ZOOM accelerates into giant canter leaps.  Oh pony.
Other updates, so I feel less guilty about all the half-written posts and go back to regular writing:
Bale bag.  

The recommendation is to start with 2″ nets, decrease to 1.5″, if needed decrease to 1″.  I borrowed a friend’s spare 1″ bag and skipped the first two. She understands hay nets and eats plenty. Week one: full bale (granted, a light one) lasted five days, along with an extra flake or two of grass/alfalfa in a smaller bag.

I do think she gets frustrated some by the small holes, but I also think she’s frustrated no one feeds her at the right times anymore!  The ‘eat whenever’ idea has not gotten through yet.  Instead, she eats at breakfast, and at dinner time, and at lunchtime when I came by I caught her napping.

Somehow, magically, she actually stayed down and let me come in and take pictures and pet her.  I’ve seen her down in her stall maybe three times now in more than four years.

Anything edible?

But, back to bale bags – I opted to switch for a few different reasons.  I think it’s a good concept.  She’s barefoot, so no shoes to get caught in the net.  Only one attachment point minimizes risk.  Giant bale bag is a bit of a pain to load (although rumor has it I really ought to get a slightly bigger one and then life is easier!), but only once a week or so.  It should be better for the potential risk of ulcers and help with girthiness if that’s the cause. 
I know folks worry their horses will overeat.  That was previously a concern.  At Quicksilver this past year, though?  She had lots of hay choices and frequently chose to nap/hang out/generally not eat.  Sure, she ate, but she didn’t eat all the things as I thought she might.  She’s learned that there will always be hay at rides.  So it stood to reason that she could learn there would always be hay at home, too.  Indeed, she seems to have figured that one out pretty quickly.
Winter seemed like a fairly good time to switch.  It’s straight grass in the bag so she’s not getting a ton of alfalfa or sugars.  If she does eat a bit extra.. well, it’s not awful for a not-quite-older horse to have some reserves coming out of the cold weather.  We’ll work it off in the spring if need be.

It’s early yet, but I’m cautiously optimistic and I’ll try to update on the results periodically.

first time saddle shopping tips

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**I’ve been battling with a persistent cough for the past two weeks, so posts are a little slow right now, but I do have two more in the works.. including the January goals post, which will probably be up by mid-January or so.  Oh well.

Emma of Fraidy Cat Eventing asked for tips for first-time saddle shopping tips, and I came up with enough that it turned into a post rather than a novel-length comment.

First off:  English saddles are usually listed from Narrow to Extra-Wide.  Each brand seems to handle their measurements differently, and measures different places, so what this really means is: your horse may go in a M in one saddle, or a MN in another, or a MW in yet another, or maybe even a Wide in another.  Confusing and frustrating?  Yep, but that’s how it goes.  Western saddles seem to be a little more consistent, but my Western shopping experiences are practically non-existent, so.
That ‘size’ mainly addresses gullet width, and sometimes also affects the width of the ‘channel’ between the panels down the back.

Next:  English saddles also have a ‘rock’ to the tree.  Some saddles are better for horses with curvy backs.  Others are good for horses with flat backs.  Brands are, I think, pretty consistent as far as how they fall in this category.  If the tree is too flat for the horse, you’ll probably run into pressure points at the front and back, and an area with no contact (or minimal contact) in the middle.

Saddle balance is very important.  A too-wide saddle can tip forwards, tipping the rider forwards, and vice versa for a too-narrow saddle.  Ideally, you want even contact all the way back.
Some horses also have conformation or movement that tends to shift the saddle forwards (or backwards).  Consider if that is the case with your horse, watch the saddle, and if that is the only issue (especially if it’s an issue for most/all saddles on your horse), consider if you’re willing to use a breastplate and/or crupper full-time.

Things to consider that are more specific:
– Withers.  If your horse has high withers, your saddle choices will be more limited to accomodate that.  If your horse has NO withers (hi Fetti!), you probably do not have to worry about wither clearance.  Standard rule of thumb seems to be that you can fit 2-3 fingers at the front of the saddle before touching the top of the withers.
– Shoulders.  Does your horse have big shoulders?  Yep, Fetti again!  Between the no-withers and big-shoulders issues, I originally looked at wide trees as ideal, but then the angle wasn’t necessarily right.  I need saddles with enough flare to accommodate her shoulder movement and not just pinch.  The big test for me:  is there consistent pressure all the way down at the front of the saddle, or is it awfully tight in one spot?
– Girth groove.  Where does the girth want to fall?  Is that going to pull the saddle?  I think I have point billets on my Thorowgood that I’m using, and that helps keep things in place for me.  An anatomical girth can also help with this, but I’m hesitant to recommend that as a fix when buying a saddle.. it’s great to fix an existing one, but seems like if you’re buying you’d like to get things right to start with.

What pad do you want to use?  My Thorowgood fits nicely with a plain square pad.  It would be too narrow with a Woolback.  My Specialized fits nicely with the Woolback, but take that padding away and it throws off all sorts of things quite visibly.  If you’re dead-set on using both a square pad and a half-pad with the saddle, try them like that.  Don’t trial with a Woolback if you want to be using a dressage pad.  You get the picture.

Also.. does the saddle work for you?  It’s easy to get caught in the saddle fitting the horse, but it needs to fit the rider too – even more important if the horse isn’t yours.  Are knee/thigh blocks in the right place, and if not, are they moveable?  Is the twist comfortable for you?  (Narrow twists work for some folks, wide twists work for others, treeless is often extra-wide twists, especially the more inexpensive ones.)  Is the seat size right for you?

I seem to switch out gullet plates in the Thorowgood every winter and again in the late spring.  Her back and shape changes enough that decreasing/increasing a size clearly makes it a better fit.  This is not actually an option in non-adjustable saddles, but maybe most horses don’t grow a ridiculously wooly winter coat that affects their width?  Who knows.  In any case, be mindful of their physical condition when saddle-fitting the first time, and be aware that it may change in a few months.

White spots are a pretty clear indicator of saddle fit not working for the horse.  Fortunately or unfortunately, depending how you look at it, they don’t show up until it’s been not-working for quite some time.
I tend to check sweat patterns to see if they’re even or if there are dry spots.  There are folks that advocate against this, but it’s worked for me so far so I’m sticking with it.  I like to see consistent sweat patterns without dry patches anywhere.  But!  Be mindful that if you haven’t worked hard enough to get the horse all sweaty under the pad, don’t judge based on a lightly-sweaty pattern.  Some areas dry faster than others and I’ve been fine with that.  After a two-hour trail ride, everything under the pad should be at least moderately sweaty, and matching dry spots on both sides raises concern for me (so, in my case, I switched to narrower cushions to make the tree a bit wider.  Specialized is complicated sometimes).

Some horses are loud and clear about not liking saddles.  Fetti occasionally strongly dislikes something, but mostly is just ‘meh’ about everything.  Until and unless she has stronger input, she doesn’t get much of a say, else I’d drive myself crazy looking for invisible signs.

So – that covered the actual saddle fitting basic question stuff.  As for shopping..

What’s your budget?
How soon do you need it?
If you need the saddle next week, your budget will obviously have to be more flexible.  The longer you can wait, the less your budget can be.
I tried lots of saddles when saddle-hunting.  I tried saddles I knew I couldn’t afford.  I tried saddles I was sure wouldn’t work.  I tried saddles that friends had.  If you can figure out that X brand and tree size fits your horse, it’s so much easier to buy used.  It’s still a bit of a crapshoot- there’s no guarantee it’s exactly the same as the one you tried – but personally, I’d probably be comfortable buying sight unseen/online based on trialing something with very similar specs locally.

Once you know what will work for you, look obsessively for it everywhere.  Ebay.  Craigslist.  US-wide Craigslist (adhuntr!).  Facebook tack sale groups.  Online forums.  Local consignment stores.  Local tack store bulletin boards.  Figure out what price it usually goes for, and then figure out if that’s a reasonable price for you.  No?  Keep stalking.  You can probably find it cheaper eventually.

Personally..
I purchased my Thorowgood from an East Coast craigslist ad.  I knew it was an adjustable gullet and that Thorowgoods historically worked fairly well for Confetti.  The price was quite fair and I knew I could resell it for a very similar cost if it ended up not working for us.

I purchased my Eurolight based on a two or three line text ad and without asking really any questions, completely sight unseen, at a really astonishingly excellent price, and paid by a mailed money order.  I think I knew that it was a Eurolight and it was brown.  I think that’s all I knew. I wouldn’t actually recommend that method.. but I was willing to take the risk because the Eurolight can be semi-custom fitted to the horse.  Also because it was a ridiculously good deal and I decided I was okay being out the money if all went catastrophically wrong.  BUT.  It took a year of casual/obsessive searching for something to come up at that price.  It’s also the one and only time I’ve actually placed a phone call based on a Craigslist ad; I hate calling people, I really hate calling strangers, and I’ll disregard an ad if there’s no email for me to write to.  No regrets on this one.

My first endurance saddle was given to me when it magically fit Confetti, after I’d gotten really discouraged with internet-searching in my price range.  This was the “there’s no way it’ll fit, but we’ll try it anyway, why not” saddle.  And it fit.  So, there’s that.