Saddles and Lessons

Finally, I am getting around to writing an update!  On April 25th I took Jay back to Rocking B and got a Collegiate Sr. Event saddle.  Between Jay's needs and my budget, my options were limited.  I opted not to pay more $$ and try saddles there, but I am still thinking of this as a trial because I can exchange it if it really doesn't work.  Also, Weatherbeeta did replace my Wintec 2000 AP with a brand new one, they just sent me the wrong color so I have to send it back for them to switch out!

Evaluating a new saddle is hard, especially when not comparing different ones...well, actually that is probably hard too!  Anyway, I am trying to sort out how it is working for both me and Jay.  Dennis did have a good point about how the horse will react, though.  He said not to judge it by Jay's immediate reaction too much, because if the saddle he has been being ridden in hurts he is going to like a new one better even if it does not fit perfectly (as long as it is somewhat close, which it should be!)  He said it is like wearing a pair of shoes that hurt y

our big toe, and you get new shoes and they feel GREAT...you just don't know yet that they are going to hurt your little toe after you wear them a while!

Jay did seem to liked the saddle.  He had not been ridden in almost three weeks though between my schedule and the rain, so it was a little hard to judge whether he was really liking the saddle, or was just feeling good from gaining some weight back and not having been ridden.  Then there is also the above caveat about judging his reaction anyway.  He was more forward, and I was able to keep him cantering MUCH easier.  It also felt like my cantering issues were getting SO much better, but more on that in a minute!

The saddle does seem to work for me, too.  I am just worried because it is a big purchase for me and I want it to be right.  The first day I forgot to fold a hand towel under the cantle, which Dennis told me to do as a 

temporary measure while trying it until it could be re-flocked to fit Jay better.  It needs to be lifted in the back just a little bit.  I didn't think a folded hand towel, two thicknesses of towel, would make that much difference.  Apparently it does, because that first ride I had a hard time finding the "sweet spo

t" and felt like I was sinking to the back/having to climb the saddle just a bit.  It was better with the hand towel.

I don't know that this saddle is helping me as much as the "perfect" saddle could, and it would be REALLY nice to have separate dressage and jumping saddles, but I don't think it was hurting my position and working against me either.  I was a little concerned about the straighter flap and the potential limitations for raising my stirrups to jump higher.  I don't want my knee climbing over the block.  I did raise my stirrups a hole, and it seemed OK.  My right ankle will not tolerate very short stirrups anyway, and I feel like that is close to my limit.  I don't *think* I would need to go any shorter than that anyway, as Novice is the upper limit on my aspirations, LOL.

I need some opinions here, though.  When I saw a picture of me with the new saddle, I was concerned about how close my knee is to the bottom edge of the flap.  It feels fine, but is it too close, or is it "within normal limits" so to speak?

Now on to my lesson.  Remember that I thought my cantering issues were so much better?  That disappeared!  My instructor wanted me to do a walk/canter transition.  WHAT!?!  I so didn't feel ready for that, but I knew there was no use arguing.  I asked for it, and Jay delivered in a big way!  Relative to what we have been doing, he TOOK off!  I was almost shaking by the time I got him stopped, and he was missing some mane, LOL.  Upon discussion, though, I had to admit that he did what I ASKED (rather than what I thought/wanted...imagine that!)  For whatever reason, I didn't think he would pick the canter right up, and I had swept my leg back and dug my heel in.  When I reviewed the video, it didn't look that bad, but it felt bad and scared me at the time.  Of course I had to do it again, though.  My instructor pointed out that she didn't care if he trotted a couple of steps, and to just ease him into it. The second one was better.

I was super tense for the rest of the lesson.  When we trotted the rails before she even set up a jump I was just very tense, which caused Jay to be tense and rushing, which caused me to be more tense!  We did progress to our little cross rail, though.  It felt like Jay was landing and going super fast, but I again had to admit that it didn't look that bad on the video.

Coming off the jump Jay was consistently landing on the wrong lead, as I was looking straight ahead and not looking through my turn at all.  (I really just wanted him to TROT the rail, but I was so tense that THAT wasn't happening!)  He got his lead change, though!   (And without me asking since I am so not there yet!)  It felt very forward and I felt like I was much too far forward, but that is because he was dropping his head and having to really work to get the change since I was no help at all!

I rode Jay Wednesday back in the field at home, the first time in a long time.  I just didn't canter!  After the anxiety in my lesson Monday, I just didn't feel ready to canter in the field yet again.  I have not memorized the Intro walk/trot tests yet, so I made up imaginary dressage tests in my imaginary dressage ring.