Thursday, June 25, 2009

*&%# saddles

My County Eventer, 18 inch seat with the #4 tree, the IDENTICAL tree to the 17 inch Eventer that fit Saga so very well, is an INCH wider between the points of the tree than it should be.

An INCH.

In other words, the tree that's supposed to fit him doesn't. It's too wide by an INCH. It's like having a wide tree on a saddle that should be a medium-wide.

*Insert various four-letter words here*

The options are:
  • Sell this saddle and buy the 17 inch Eventer that DOES fit him, and somehow cram my butt into it.
  • Sell this saddle and wait until the perfect jumping saddle comes along (17.5 inch Stabilizer, if you please, but who knows WHAT tree size).
  • Sell this saddle and see if I can find a dressage saddle that fits him instead, then wait till the perfect jumping saddle comes along.
  • Reflock this saddle, adding felted wool to the points to build up the tree a bit, then see if we can flock it enough to make it work. Possibly include a pad with shims.
Carol seems to think that we can try the reflocking option but makes no guarantees that it will fit him when we're done. There's only so much padding she can add, and at the end of the day, the tree still isn't the right shape for his back.

What a frickin' headache.

In the meantime, I have no way to ride my horse.

DAMMIT.

2 comments:

  1. So sorry, Jen! This EXACT same thing happened to me. I bought an extra-wide Albion but the tree was actually a medium-wide. I had to resell and ended up buying my Borne and I've been very happy. My SO has gone through six used saddles to end up with one custom-made jumping and one used dressage. Buying used saddles is harder than horses, sometimes.

    Another problem is that the same brand of saddle changes over time. So a County from 20 years ago fits differently than a County from five years ago.

    We'll keep an eye out for you if something comes up.

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  2. It's good to know that other people have had this problem, not that I would wish it on anybody! I tried so hard to make sure this saddle was the same as the one I tried out - I even called County with both serial numbers and made sure they hadn't changed trees (the saddles were made two years apart). I was so excited that I'd found a saddle that fit me and I like, and one that would work for him too, without spending a mint and waiting 4 months for a custom saddle. Too good to be true I guess.

    What makes this all totally crappy is that I CANNOT RIDE. Every time I use one of my Wintecs it just makes his back hurt. So I have this lovely new horse that I am dying to ride, and I can't. I've even tried bareback, and I have to tell you, that shark-fin wither is NOT fun to sit on!

    Bah humbug.

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