Saddle Search - Part IIII - The Trial

I went to Rod's yesterday to pick up their Rocking R Border Reining Saddle to take home and try. When I got there I noticed that they had a 2736 at the store!!!! Sadly it's a 17" and not the shortened skirt I need, but I was able to get a good look at the tooling and color and I took them both home. I wanted to take advantage of our brief stint of sunlight in this bleak and dreary Ohio Valley springtime. Tip for color matching show clothing/tack: sunlight is the best test. Mostly since most shows are outdoors, but also because fluorescent light makes things look funny so sunlight gives you full spectrum or "true" color. You can see in the photos later how different the outdoor vs. indoor flash vs. indoor no flash photos show the color.

The saddle seemed to fit as well (or better) than anything I've ever had on him and he was calm and stretching/licking/chewing during the brief walk/trot ride. I was thrilled to find that I could hold my rein hand where it's supposed to be. In my other saddles I always felt that the horn was in my way. I guess it truly was! The saddle did not bounce when I posted the trot. Overall I approve the fit for me and for him. And he didn't seem lame at all, as we all expected. Tomorrow he gets back into work so I'll be keeping an eye on it.

So I'm pretty solid on tree(FQHB)/size(15" - Yes,You-Know-Who-You-Are, You were right)/shape(27" skirt), but for color I'm still on the fence. I don't like the color of the darker one in real life, but I know it can darken up with some oiling and after feeling how stiff the leather is on a brand new saddle I will HAVE to condition/soften whatever I get. On the other hand, the light will darken with time/light/conditioning. I kind of feel like the light isn't light enough and the dark isn't dark enough. I guess it's a hue issue.

It seems that the folks who don't show like the dark, and the folks who do show say to get the light. The nice Ginger Cowboy that helped me today thought I'd look less out of place with the light at a trail ride/cowboy challenge than I would trying to do western pleasure in the dark one.

In my mind I don't want the "light" oil because it ends up looking like THIS. But is that just me wanting the color of my hunt saddle? Am I the only one who doesn't like this look? My attraction to dark could also be from my history with Arabs. We liked dark. But is using a darker colored saddle going to be as bad a faux pas as when I had a black hunt saddle? THAT was a poor choice in soooo many ways. Have I not yet learned from that mistake? That being a little "different" just makes you look stupid?

Anyone know if THIS works? Or what advice do you have for keeping light leathers soft but not darkened?

Border Reining Saddle in ??? Chestnut???

See the color of his headstall? I thought this saddle would be that color. I believe it's Circle Y's "Walnut". The reins are Rod's show reins that have been oiled with neatsfoot.

2736 in Light:

Close-up of hand tooling:

My plan is to order on Monday..... gulp!

Saddle Search - Part III

Junior is enjoying his rest. He was up to more shenanigans in turnout this morning and came in with a new cut on his neck... just another one of the countess he's had. I've stopped worrying about those. They heal. No one will ever be able to make boots out of him, that's for sure. He did seem overly cuddly today though, and stood with his head over his gate and let me clip his goat beard off and clean up the outside of his ears and acted like he enjoyed it.

On to the saddle saga...

I am on a path to a saddle. I may yet switch paths, but here's where I think I'm headed....

Rod's carries some Rocking R saddles. They have Steele brand fiberglass reinforced wood trees, and are made in the USA by hand, one at a time, are hand tooled and have stainless steel hardware. When I first was saddle shopping way back in September of '08 I nearly bought one of their training saddles. My trainer had one and loved it. I liked the look and feel of it. The tack salesman highly recommended them. The only reason I decided NOT to buy it was because I was able to purchase a used and MUCH cheaper saddle along with the horse. I was actually under the impression that Rocking R meant Rocking Rod's, I now know better. I personally know two people who have their saddles and love them, our friends over at Cedar View Paints spoke very highly of their Rocking R Reining saddle, and the very cute cowboy I met this morning at Rod's has one that he loves, too.

I am attracted to the different designs they have. I think they make a good looking saddle and those that I have felt and sat in are of very high quality. It's going to be heavier than my current training saddle, but quality sometimes makes it heavier.

I'm essentially ordering a custom saddle through Rod's. Because I need a shorter skirt length, my options are somewhat limited as far as saddles go. I'm not sure yet how short I need to go, but I know that 29" is too long. They can make this saddle shape, which is a 27" skirt and that seems about as short as I can find without being a barrel or gaited saddle:

But in this design/tooling and a suede seat:

And it'll still be a price that's within my budget. I'm waiting to see if they can get the former in stock within a week for me to take home and try since they just added it to their web inventory in the last few days, but don't have any currently in the wearhouse. If they can't get one within the week, I'll take one of their other saddles for a test ride and make a guess on the skirt size. All of their reining saddles and training saddles are with the same tree/seat configuration so if one of those fits us, the one we order should as well.

A few things to consider: Seat Size & Color. I asked the nice fella to take a picture of me in the 15" seat and in the 16" seat. I know that seat size is more about feel than looks, but I'd like some opinions. Can you even tell a difference and which looks better. I thought the 15 felt fine, but so did the 16. I'm leaning towards the 15 because my 16 Circle Y felt huge. I had a bout 4 fingers comfortably between my thigh and cantle on the 16 but could still get 4 fingers in the 15, just touching my thigh.

I suppose I could have smiled or something....

Can you even tell a difference? I'm not sure if I can even remember which was which. I think the 2nd one is the 15.

Next is color. I want to use the saddle for small open shows (maybe a small breed show someday), occasional trail riding, schooling, and Cowboy Challenges. The light is the clear favorite of show saddles in Stock Horse breeds. Will I look like a newb if I have a darker saddle? Should I get the Light (the 2736)? Will I be afraid to "hurt" or stain the light? Or should I get darker?

Thanks to the wonders of photoshop, here's a guess (lighting could be different in each picture so it's a guess) at how they'll look on Junior and with my black outfit...

Again, I like the first one better, but will I look out of place in the show ring with all the light saddles?

They take 6 weeks to make so the sooner I order the better. My first shows are on May 7th and 8th and I'd like to have a few rides in it before then. This means that I need to order it March 12th at the very latest. The sooner the better, but not sooner than I can make an informed decision.

And if I take one home and ride in it and don't like it, well, then we'll head down a different path.

Hobby Horse just launched their own line of show saddles and I'm really excited to see they have two versions without silver corner plates. They call them "understated." Luckily, my big bay roan Overo Paint usually sticks out in a ring really well by himself and I don't need shocking colors or twinkly lights to help the judge remember us.... though sometimes it might be better if they did miss a few things...

Anyway, any thoughts about color, size, the saddle I like, etc.? Pour it on.

Equine Ownership Rite of Passage: The Lameness Exam

I've now added "Lameness Exam" to our ever growing list of "Things Horse Owners Will Inevitably Have to Deal With" right along side "Fall off" and "Emergency Vet Call."

In true Junior fashion he presented himself 100% sound this morning, purely as a ruse since his friends were outside and he wasn't going to let anything stand in the way of his outdoor enjoyment. He wasn't warm and wasn't lame either direction. BO watched him too and we all agreed he looked totally fine. So out he went. Then Max's Mom came to the barn and says "I saw your boy limping around out there, how's he doing?" so my heart stopped and I walked briskly out to the field to see him. He walked easily over to me I felt his legs again. Nothing. I was about to be late for work. So guiltily I left him out with instructions for EVERYONE I could find to bring him in if they saw anything odd because Dr. J. would be there at noon to check another horse. So I worried about him the whole time I was at work. After work at about 2pm I couldn't help going to check on him and found that Dr. J. was running late and hadn't been there yet.

So we lunged. Dr. J. was busy with another horse and HIS lameness issues so I just worked him. Still no sign of anything at any gait in either direction. Eventually I took him back into the barn and groomed him until Dr. J. was ready to take a real look. Agreeing that he looked fine whenever he glanced over at him, but wanting to have an actual look, he did the flex tests and the hoof tester tests. I've never actually been part of this before so it was somewhat freaky to watch your horse suddenly be SUPER lame for a few steps. Nothing was remarkable. The only thing that gave Dr. J. any information was that he was sensitive if he squeezed his heel side to side and he jogged the lamest after that one. He thinks it's in the hoof, but that it probably isn't a serious issue, more likely another puzzle piece of how he ripped open the front of his blanket and has a wound on his left upper gums: Shenanigans.

So 6 days of Bute and Conquer and keep his routine the same so no riding and normal turnout. If he gets worse or if after 6 days he's not out of it, then I should call. How convenient that tomorrow will be my last day at the barn until next Friday. So now I have a week withOUT the guilty feeling from not riding.

We also discussed the possible stifle issue and he palpated the stifle, but since there is a recognizable lameness in the LF and not one in the LH, we're going to let that be fixed before moving on. Of course, reading in my new book about how important and often overlooked stifles are I'm only a teeeeeeeeeeensy bit freaked out.... in true Overanxious Horse Owner fashion....

Dude, You're Like, so Totally Lame

Today was to be my first barn time in a whole week since I worked 8-12 hour days every day since Saturday when he refused to be caught and it was too muddy for me to chase him and all I did was clean stalls with a baby migraine - that day doesn't count as the kind of rejuvenating/recharging barn time I am in desperate need of.

So when I got out to the arena to ride, what do I find? I find a head-bobbing-lame-at-the-trot pony. Ugh. Thankfully my BO was there and helped me determine it was his left front. He was fine at the walk and didn't seem in any pain and was perfectly willing to trot even before I really asked him to. It was warm but not super warm, and since I was wearing gloves while grooming I didn't notice. It doesn't seem super serious so I hosed it and will check him in the morning. Dr. J. will be out at noon to check two other horses so I gave him a heads up that we'd like to be on the list, too. Unfortunately I have to be at work when he's there, of course.

Oh and this morning I got a text from the BM of THIS:

And for your entertainment the text thread the followed:

And no he wasn't sweating when I got to the barn, the BO wouldn't have actually let that happen, I was just being dramatic. Sadly it was no where near warm enough to make him sweat. It's a pretty easy fix, thankfully. He can wear his big coat for a day or two. That's the edge binding you're seeing around his neck. It's a closed-front blanket and he somehow ripped the front seam open and ripped the side out of the edge binding. And the "u" in the text was supposed to be an "I." I can type, really.

Sigh... I'll keep you posted.