More saddle fitting woes....

The saddle fitting is not going well; each saddle seems worse than the last somehow, it is very depressing. After last week, I was pretty upset because it seems that I am not doing much actual riding, just sitting in these wretched contraptions that throw me off balance and upset my horse.

The Prestige Arezzo saddle, about to be tried......meh, is all I can say for this one.

Well, a couple of days ago, we tried another Prestige saddle, the Paris. Let me say that it was gorgeous, super fine havana leather with white stitching and a brass plate on the cantle. We saddled up and went into the indoor. About 3 or 4 friends were in there riding, making the arena very cheerful. It was quite cold and VERY windy, the metal indoor rumbling, shaking, creaking and groaning. yes, you can imagine this made me nervous!! The horses were quite nervous and Semi kept running off (again her run-off is like surfing the gentlest wave in the ocean but still....). I was hating the saddle, the pommel kept bashing me every time I posted. At the time, I felt very pressured to get one of these Prestige saddles because of all the work the shop was doing letting me use them and the owner is a friend of my friend Silvia's. She told me not too worry about it though, so I won't : )

Just look at poor Semi's ears and tenseness...god the guilt! I thought she was nervous from the wind but it was from a badly fitting saddle I was trying. This one is the Prestige Paris.

I finally became so nervous that I was afraid and wanted to get off Semi! I stayed on, but just walking, due to the patience and encouragement of Silvia, who is a saint, I swear! Silvia got on and quickly discovered it was the bloody SADDLE making Semi nervous! She said I was right, Semi was very skittery, but the reason was that she was trying to run away from the pain of this saddle!  So we cut the workout short and unsaddled the poor thing.

I was so depressed about this saddle business and the pathetic riding I have been doing. Silvia cheered me up as always though : )

Luckily, the next day, the test saddles I want to try were being used and I was able to ride Semi in one of Silvia's french saddles. This is a saddle that Semi already knows and in which she is comfortable. I felt so bad because when I went to saddle her she pinned her ears and even raised a back leg! Very unusual behavior for my sweet girl! Well, when she realized it was her old saddle she calmed down and we had a very nice ride together. She even gave me some beautiful bends around the turns, although I will say that she was going quite slowly. I couldn't make her speed up much and didn't want to pick up one of the crops lying about. Maybe I will do so next time though, she goes much better when I carry a crop. I will try no crop, then if she is too sluggish, I will pick one up and then in a while place it back again to see if she will continue to go at the better pace.

I offered to buy that saddle but it turns out that it fits several horses that Silvia rides so it seems not : (

Don't know what to do about getting a saddle that will fit us both....