Saddle Search - Part I

There is a 1/8" to 1/4" of ice coating all of outdoorland right now so there will be no driving to the barn. Instead, I'm working on my saddle search. There are previous musings about this HERE and HERE and in other random posts.

Mission: to replace 2 Western Saddles of very different styles with ONE saddle that can be used for small local open shows, cowboy challenges, and trail riding. Must fit HIM, of course first and foremost, which also means the skirt probably has to measure less than 29" front to back, as the awesome Chiro pointed out my training saddle is too long for his conformation. I want a low horn, moderately deep seat. Not too fancy, but not too plain. Not too expensive, but not a cheapo one. Suede seat and/or fenders preferred. I think the medium to darkish oil will look best on Junior, even though that's not "in" right now. I do have a budget and can't buy anything new until the old ones are sold. I've found that Reining saddles are the closest I'm finding to what I want both visually and in functionality. They are more workmanlike in appearance which I like, but they are close to the equitation seat of the current show saddles.

Right now I have this:

And this:

Which is listed, as of this morning on Ebay because I found a similar but not as fancy saddle without the matching tack that sold for $1,300 and had 22 bids on it, so onto Ebay mine went. If Craigslist isn't helping maybe Ebay will. I sold a saddle on there once and miscalculated the shipping costs so I made very little $ off of the transaction after paying for the box and packing materials. I was avoiding the Ebay for that reason, but if I can get it sold then it's done with, and I am more informed this time.

I initially thought having two saddles would be a huge benefit but after a few years of it I have changed my mind. I don't like showing in a saddle that feels differently than when I'm riding at home - but you don't want to ding up a show saddle so you have to be careful. The show saddle is stiff and wide compared to the work saddle. And I never really fell in love with it. I don't really love the super-fancy contemporary show saddles you see now, either. They look like machines or medieval furniture or something. Example 1, Example 2. I used to drool over them, but now they look COLD and hard to me, I guess.

Here are some of the prospects I've mulled over:

This one is at a local tack store called Keith's, and as much as it has almost the perfect look I want, the skirt's too long and too expensive. It's a Billy Cook 16" reiner. Even with the trade-in they'd give me on my show saddle I'd still be over budget. It's a nice saddle. Good color, good amount of silver and tooling, very pretty and not too masculine for me, but not too feminine either.

This one is at the same store in their small Used section.

I think it's sort of hideous. It's a used Rockin' R Reining saddle and it's a 15". I sat in it and it felt kind of small but my 16" show saddle feels too big. Maybe I really do need a 15.5, but they are all different between brands. This one has a 26" skirt. It has about the right amount of silver but it's too light, basket weave and I am not a fan. I hope this does not end up to be my best option.

This one is at Rod's, but I haven't yet gotten over there to ask if they do trade-ins and to measure the skirt. It's also a Rockin' R brand. I've heard very good things about the brand for the price range. I actually like the look of it. There is a very similar one HERE that has the addition of some floral tooling accents. I even like that one better. The one at Rod's might be a teense too masculine, but at least it's not barbed-wire tooling like THIS ONE.



They also carry this one. It's a lot like the ugly Rockin R with more silver. The only thing about it I like is that it's a Silver Royal, the same manufacturer as my training saddle which I find comfortable, but this one is 27" in the skirt. It IS a show saddle, but it's still pretty basic and I like that it has rough out seat, jockey and fenders. This one is quite affordable if I order it from somewhere rather than buying it at Rods. I WOULD like higher quality than this.
I was looking at other ones of this manufacturer since I don't dislike my Royal King. Other than the above, the only thing they have that is close to what I want is also FUGLY and probably too big:

How can a company that makes such a contemporary looking training saddle NOT make the same style for pleasure/reining and instead make something that looks like THAT!?!?

I know the best option is always to get a good quality used saddle instead of buying new, but with something as pricey as a saddle I'd hate to get screwed on Ebay - yet here I am trying to be an honest seller of my own saddle on there!

I don't know where all the used saddles go in this town. There were only a small handful at Keith's, and I only have seen one or two at Rods.

Anyway, that's where I am now. The search continues...

Anybody want to buy a saddle? Or two? :)

Not Broken!

I'm happy to report that my pony is not broken after all. Two weeks ago I posted that Junior was having issues with weight and balance. Though the issues are not completely resolved, he is very much on the road to better times. He is showing improvement all over and increasing muscle in his hind end. I did increase both his grain and his hay rations but I won't get into the details just now. The biggest steps have actually been in the way we've been working. I've been riding more frequently, and have switched back to my english saddle and a snaffle bit. We've been trotting for 25-35 minutes every other day and have been working on keeping his back up and increasing impulsion. I don't suppose that sounds like much, but remember how lazy I am and how it's winter and how f*ing busy I am with work right now - it's my busiest time of year. But improvement is visible and palpable.



We had a session with an equine chiropractor/massage therapist on Friday morning. We'd been trying to get her and she happened to have a cancellation. I can clearly understand why she's in such high demand. She spent over an hour with us. He was "out" in his poll, neck, both shoulders, a couple of ribs, and his pelvis was twisted. Though she said none of that was "scary". She attributed most of his left hind issue to his pelvis. When she was done working on him he was incredibly calm. He even stood by his open stall door while I put his blanket back on and didn't move an inch even though there was a pile of lovely hay in his stall. He was super chill. She also took a gander at my training saddle which I've always questioned whether or not it fits him. She said it seems fine, but that the skirt is too long for him considering how far back his shoulder slopes. So my hunt for a new saddle has a somewhat limiting new factor. I WILL do a post on that eventually, I promise.

Today we had a lesson with Monet. Yet again my mind is completely blown. She says our biggest issues are increasing straightness and impulsion. Which in a way means that we don't know jack sh*t because straightness and impulsion are kindergarten. But I'm okay with that. In the 17+ years I've been riding I've had to accept that I will probably always be in kindergarten. I'm very comfortable with our reality. I didn't think that way when I was about 17 and thought I was the queen of the ring, but we all thought ridiculous things when we were teenagers, right? But I digress. The lesson was great and exhausting for both me and Junebug. But he was such a champ. I did feel his LH go ONCE but it was when I brought him to a walk improperly because I needed to take a break from all of that standing and pushing and releasing and swinging and half halting and whatever other 200 things I was trying to do all at the same time. And I learned today that he DOESN'T lose the LH when he's USING his LH, only when he's NOT using it. So I have to keep him using it. Kindergarten again.

Here's two clips from today. The first is Monet riding him. She mentioned that he feels much better to her now than the first time she was on him back in late summer. Then it's some of the last 10 minutes of our lesson when I finally started putting things together and he (because Monet had been on him) had started to figure out what on earth all my in-saddle shenanigans were all about. You'll notice I look completely ridiculous and flappy. Snicker away. I sure did when I watched it! But just like teaching a horse to steer, you have to exaggerate in the beginning. Don't watch me, just watch him MOVE!




I do love him.

Junior's Weight - The Never Ending Saga

One year ago I began drastically changing Junior's ration. As you know, this was based on an Equine Nutrition Class project. I took TJ's data and made some choices. Our goals at the time were to:

• Lower his BCS with a low starch/low sugar/high fiber concentrate. The digestibility of the hay was very low so this would help the digestibility of the hay, too.
• Not lower his busy-work feeding - he was stalled too much - he had begun cribbing out of boredom and frustration.
• Somewhat affordable because there was no discount on board if I stopped feeding the 12% barn grain - so the feed costs were additional. AND I had to pay for any hay over the 4 thin flakes/day. This was MY goal, TJ did not factor in cost, only suitability.

The whole "Plan" is HERE, but due to some questionable grain storage practices I ended up switching entirely to the Safe N Lite instead of the 50/50 mixture I had listed.

We seemingly met our goals in the Spring. The barn move greatly helped with a number of things including increased pasture access (from random less than 5 hours to up to 12 hours/day.)

However, as the winter began we noticed weight loss and I believe some energy loss as well. I don't mind having this calm, collected guy, but his BCS is too low. So it's back to the math.

I can't (thankfully) make this Rocket Surgery type science this time because I'm estimating the DE in the hay rather than having it analyzed. I think we were, in fact, underfeeding him this fall. When he was getting all that grazing (1.5 lbs/hour estimated) he was fine. The BM thinks he currently gets an estimated 18-25lbs grass hay per day. He gets a good 18-20 in his stall, but some hay is fed in the pasture so it's hard to accurately guess how much he's getting of that. I can't really do math with 18-25lbs, so I'm using 20. He had been getting 2lbs Safe N Lite each day. Then in fall it was upped to 3lbs/day. With that ration he SHOULD have been fine on DE of 21.48 Mcal/day, but apparently not. NRC guidelines list 20 Mcal/Day for adult horses in light work.

He is currently getting 5lbs S&L/day bringing him up to 23.4 Mcal/Day. This SHOULD be enough... wasn't he an easy keeper!?!?!

A new puzzle piece to this problem is that I will now be going through 1 BAG EVERY 10 DAYS!!! That is a lovely $52/month for 3 bags. When I made the choice to move him to S&L it was cheaper per bag than now and we were feeding so very little. I get an $18 discount on my board for providing my own grain. If I switch to one of the barn grains: Strategy or Kalm N EZ, I can pay only $18/month for grain AND not have to make trips to the feed store.

So what next? Some more math and research. Kalm N EZ was one of the grains TJ analyzed for me. She was looking for low starch low sugar feeds so she did not analyze Strategy. Max is on Strategy Healthy Edge, but that has to be bought by the owner.

A possible switch to KNEZ will be feeding him 2lbs/day giving him 21.44 Mcal/day. I just bought 3 bags of S&L, so when she's at the last bag I'll probably start switching him over. If the 23.4 Mcal/day seems to be helping over the next few weeks (he's been on that a few weeks now) I might do 3 lbs/day which ups it to closer to the DE he's on right now.

Sigh...

On a side note: I missed two days at the barn due to long work days and crappy winter snow. It's amazing how quickly 3" of snow can cripple a city that doesn't have enough plows. Anyway, I rode last night with the help of the BM telling me when he was "round" like Monet told me to make him. I'm much more of a visual thinker than a tactile one. I would LOVE mirrors in the arena! His neck was not solid but the two hard bumps were definitely there. Before and after the ride I did stretches. I broke down and did it with treats - need to go buy carrots. I was reading an article and it said to do the stretches in a special location to help prevent the horse from being grabby. His annoying grabbiness has been the reason he doesn't get treats. Can I train him to know the difference? He certainly stretched further and longer with the food reward than with the pat/verbal praise award. Hopefully we can keep him from being like this:

Update and Award

First the update...

I got some advice from my wonderful dressage trainer. I sent her the same info I gave you all, and since she's seen him do this in person I figured she's a good place to start. She said he's not using his left hind. She said he needs to get rounder and over his back so he can use his hind end. She told me to slow him down, get him over his back, get his belly swinging and keep him at the trot. I will see her on the 29th and she can do some body work with him then, too. In the mean time I'm going to do exactly what she said. I started tonight.

I did about a 25 minute ride. His neck seemed very stiff, probably from the lunging yesterday and the very damp weather. I tried to massage it and did our carrotless stretches before and after the ride. I only felt his leg go about twice. His attitude, though not excited about the work, was fine. No defiance or arguments. He did what I asked, had a soft wet mouth, and I could see him licking and chewing (in our shadow silhouette) so I don't think he's hurting or anything.

Found out I can do the Alpha Stim with a gel instead of water so we might do some of that, too. Of course the next five weeks is going to be my busiest time of the year at work, so I have some juggling acts to do about going to the barn as often as I feel I should be, even if it's just for stretches and massages.

Anyway, my dear blog-friend In2paints, over at R Lil Bit of Cash has awarded me the "Stylish Blogger Award."

As with all of these little awards, there are 4 duties to perform to receive this award:

1. Thank and link back to the person who awarded you this award
2. Share 7 things about yourself
3. Award 15 recently discovered great bloggers
4. Contact these bloggers and tell them about the award!

I'll be honest that I don't even READ 15 blogs! So I'm going to narrow that down to 5. Sorry for breaking the rules, but that's just the way it is.

1. Thank you, In2paints for thinking we are stylish! Your award was a bright spot in my recent overanxious worries! For those of you who do not follow Becca, Lilly, and AJ, you really should. There are great pictures, and though they've been having a bit of a rough year, their journey is fascinating and heart warming.

2. 7 things about myself...

• I just bought what I consider to be my first "grown-up lady" purse and I'm 31 29 years old!
• I almost completely stopped cooking when I began living alone about 4 years ago. I wascooking AND eating for 4 and I couldn't make it stop. So now, sadly, I eat a lot of "food-in-a-box" otherwise I'd weigh 200 lbs. I'm trying to cook more... but there's also that little issue of time...
• When I moved to Ohio there was a washer and dryer in my apartment. It was an old rental unit. The apartment managers clearly did not know it was there so when I moved last September to another unit I took it with me... and they never said a thing about it. WIN!!!
• I have 2 unfinished quilting projects I started in the summer of 2004....
• When I'm stressed and have major work deadlines I will clean and organize my house/tack box/car, anything but actually do the work. This is the worst when I have papers to grade.
• My recyclables really need to be taken out, but they keep moving the drop-off locations and now it's a place I never go.
• This morning I ordered 3 custom-made lime/black zebra print biketards (leotards with bike-short length shorts) for 3 college boys who do not yet know they will be dancing in them in front of the entire campus/community..... bwahaha.... sometimes my job rules.

3. Award 5 great bloggers!

1. Bexley Chickens is a blog about four urban chickens and their family. Since raising chickens was a very big part of my life for a few years, I find their pictures and videos to be a slice of home. It has also been very educational about the increasing trend in "backyard" chickens in urban environments.
2. Welcome to Joshland is a blog by a very active member of the Cystic Fibrosis community. Whether or not you know someone whose life has been affected by CF, Josh's blog is full of honesty, reality, and hope that you won't find very many places. I knew Josh in the 5th grade but my family moved away that summer. We found eachother many years later in the blog-o-sphere. It's a small world.
3. Eventing A GoGo is a blog about a girl and her extremely stylish and beautiful mare, Gogo. They focus on eventing and the barefoot horse which I as a barefoot showing horse person enjoy. And NOTHING is as stylish as Gogo's most recent clip job!
4. Musings From the Judge's Box is a blog by an open horse show judge. She is extremely kind in her answering of questions (including a recent slew of my own!) and gives honest and useful answers. I think I would like to show under her someday!
5. Side Saddle Girl is across the pond! She rides side saddle on EITHER SIDE and has lots of posts about side saddle habits and tack which really appeal to my clothing history addiction.

4. Here I go!!!

And here's some pictures from yesterday of Junior's buddy, Little Red. SOOO FUZZYYYYY! I cannot resist petting him. I want to put him in my pocket and take him everywhere with me.