Last night I went riding with my friend A at the arena to try out our new gear. She got a new synthetic saddle to fit her big Connemara, and I had new vienna reins to hopefully help Celtic with her contact evasion. Sadly it was a no-go on both fronts because both items didn't fit our horses! SO angry about the vienna reins, was really looking forward to working on contact with the reins, but will now resort to some creative alternative for now. If anyone uses vienna reins that are long enough for your horse, could you let me know where you got them?
Anyways, so my lunging day turned into a ride day, and boy it was an eye-opener. I was working on keeping my elbows elastic, to keep the weight of my rein consistent and it was working well with Celtic at the walk. Go up into a trot, and it was alright, but if I got behind her motion and pressed/pushed down on the back part of my saddle, things got... exciting (for lack of a better term). At one very bad moment while cantering, she threw out a buck (first time ever for her) that un-nerved me a bit. The second time around at a canter, I could feel it coming and lil miss princess got down to work rather quickly.
This tells me two things:
1) I need to work on my seat being softer and loosening my hips to allow them to follow her movement.
2) The most dreaded realization of all: my saddle DOES NOT FIT!
Now usually this wouldn't be SUCH a hassle since I have no problem using a saddle fitter, etc. but since I live in an extremely isolated area, we're going to have to do this through distance.
Anyone have suggestions for a distance saddle fitter? Please keep in mind I live in Canada, so not sure how cross-boarder would work with a company like Trumbull...
For now I'm going to try and keep off her back, plus A has a Wintec that I'll try next time out, see how it goes. Who knows, if it fits I may be able to buy it off of A! Sigh...
My sympathies. Saddle fitting is the worst.
ReplyDeleteI'm going through the wonderful world of saddles right now. My symphaties, too. It sucks!
ReplyDeleteYeah, just talked to the saddle fitter, am armed and ready to make a template and send it in to him on Monday. I'm also thinking about playing with her bit some more because of the contact issue... she LOVES to curl, but was happier when I was focusing on rubber elbows, keeping the contact absolutely consistent, but am wondering if a double jointed bit may help. Her tongue is fairly large for her mouth...
ReplyDeleteoye.