Outfitting the Pony Part 2

As an only child now, Butterball benefited from not splitting his owner's money two or three ways and now has two saddles fit to him as well as a few more pieces of gear. (see part one if you're interested in reliving the initial updates after buying a much smaller creature)

We met with Kate Ballard, a British Master Saddler for the first time in January. She came recommended by Jen. And the reason Jen was recommending a fitter was because I bought her Patrick dressage saddle. It was a neat connection through the blogging world, and it seemed very fitting (lol, pun intended) for it to go from her Welsh cob to my half Welsh hony. 

The Patrick seemed mostly good for Butterball in that he was moving well, but I was feeling thrown forward at the canter and having trouble keeping my leg underneath of myself. I did feel very close to his back though, which I loved.

Side not, I loooooove him in brown tack and the details are just gorgeous without being excessive...

When Kate saw the saddle on him and then saw me ride in it,  she pinpointed two reasons for that tossed forward feeling pretty immediately: it was too wide and the blocks were smaller than I would like. She put in larger blocks during our fitting session and I immediately felt more upright and secure. That one felt like a duh I should have been able to troubleshoot myself, but y'know, that's why we pay the experts. Unfortunately the width issue was not one that could be fixed with just flocking. Butterball had been described by a prior fitter with his prior owner as "wide and don't let anyone put him a narrow saddle." This didn't exactly jive with the feeling I got on him though... he doesn't feel wide, which is honestly one reason I liked riding him. He feels very similar to Ben in a shorter package, and we all know Ben is very narrow and therefore tricky to fit. And then Kate took the time to show me exactly how the Patrick was too wide and why we couldn't just fix it with flocking. I put my trust into both her and Jen's recommendation and went ahead and had her take tracings to change out the tree to one made custom for him. 

Then we tackled the jump saddle. Goggle's Custom Monte Carlo made him happier than anything Forestier had done (after two tries), so that is what I had been riding him in. But that was also too wide, which explained why he was happiest with a mattes pad with front shims. And the panels were too long, which she said I was getting away with because I'm not very heavy. So we trialed one of her Westhill&Son brand jump saddles. And I actually liked it. I wasn't expecting to, TBH, I thought it would be like the Tobias saddle I had tried where I lost the close contact feel as they made the tree points longer and more comfortable for the high withered horse. Kate took videos and we sent them to JT who said my leg didn't look as secure on the flat but she thought we looked good over fences. I didn't mind that, and it is general feedback of where I need to work on my position. 

Blurry video screen shot, but you get the idea

JT and I have been doing this long enough together that I knew she was going to want a more forward flap as well. 

Straight out of the box essentially

Where the more forward flap would land

In another leap of faith, I decided to go ahead and order a jump saddle, custom made to the same tracings. I briefly asked about some of the pretty details that were on the dressage saddle, but I couldn't justify the jump in price for those details, so plain brown it was. I do wish the serge panels were offered at the lower price point because I really liked those on my Black Country and love that the dressage saddle has them, but c'est la vie. 

The saddles came in to Kate in late February, so we scheduled for a week ago Sunday to meet with her again and see if they needed any flocking adjustments. Unfortunately that was the same day BB pulled up lame, so we just did a tiny bit of walking and trotting, but both saddles fit great. She will be back in June to adjust flocking since the first few months it will compress a good bit. 

It looks so good! Also featured are the irons I bought when I finally caved to upgrading my old school irons

And the dressage saddle! With new leathers and my etsy stirrup covers that have cats on them and make me smile every time I see them

Because BB feels excellent on Equioxx and with magic cushion in his hind feet, I've gotten to do a couple of rides this week and trialed both saddles. They both feel GREAT. The dressage saddle gives me a feeling that I am sooooo in touch with his back, and I love it. After a ride we always do back lifts, and there was very little to lift after getting done with either one of these saddles. Butterball is not a complainer in terms of developing soreness post-ride or refusing to lift his back during a ride, but that change alone made me sure that these saddles were the right move. 

In other little updates...

A new bonnet, gifted from a friend with Irish horses with very large ears

And he got Ben's hand me down browband, it's just an amazon Exion, but I always liked it on Ben and like it on BB too

He also got some white Majyk Equipe XC boots

Photo by Victoria DeMore

Now I'm pondering what his show colors are going to be... I don't think I'll be changing the hunter green AA motion lite coat that I bought for showing Ben. 

Ben looked stunning in the dark green 

And hunter green can go well with a buckskin hony. So maybe it will just be hunter green and the brown tack. But the purple rhinestone accents on the dressage saddle have me contemplating adding in little touches of purple... who knows... definitely an important question though! Any input from those of you who have been kind enough to read along this far? Do you have favorite colors for your own horse(s)?