(sorry about the dark pics but its very dark in the indoor, with lots of shadows and everyone seemed a little irritated with my pic taking so I was trying to rush : ))
I learned that the Michael Robert saddle is a brand version of their Golden Star (? I think, will have to ask again) and the Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum is a named version (with very slight differences) of the Paris model. This was good news, as I don't even follow show riders and so could not care less about named saddles. The non-name saddle versions were less expensive.
They left me 3 saddles to try: the Arezzo, which has HUGE blocks and is said to be preferred by novice riders, the Golden Star and the Archimede their cheapest (snort) saddle. Of course, they were very much trying to up-sell me, which I frankly hate, but what can you do. It was really good of them to explain about the name and non-name saddles.
He had a special tool which he used to take measurements of Semi's back and he made a template on some drawing paper.
He was very knowledgeable about fitting and gave us lots of pointers. They also do re-fitting if your horse changes muscle shape dramatically. he said many sport horses change their saddle fit twice a year, depending on their workload. They can do the re-fit in 48 hours and it is less than 100 euros.
I was advised strongly, by them and by another rider friend, to absolutely take the double calf leather as it has miraculous non-sliding properties and will keep you in the saddle but good. I will check it out as the saddles they left have a selection of different leathers....
These saddles are very Italian in that there is alot of 'style' to them with fancy white stitching, italian flag coloured leather keepers etc. I am more into plainness so I will see if I can get unadorned versions. I was laughing at the Michael Roberts as it was so very masculine looking. Somehow they have made sections of the leather look (to me anyway) like carbon fiber! A known man-pleaser! The saddle looked like a little black porsche! It was very smart but def not for me.
Hopefully my bank account has not caught wind of this as it will roll up tighter than a hedgehog when it hears about these prices : (
Make sure they don't pinch in the shoulders - a lot of close contact saddles do as the bars are very forward. You should be able to get your hand in there both when the horse is standing still but especially when moving - otherwise the horse's shoulder motion will be restricted. You can also tell a lot about how the saddle fits from the horse's reactions to the saddle when girthed and ridden in - do a lot of trotting and see if the horse seems happy and able to freely move forward. Good luck - saddle fitting is the worst - I've got two horses right now and neither of them yet has a saddle that fits as well as I'd like.
ReplyDeletegood advice, kate. Thanks. I will def pay special attn to the shoulders...this seems to be an area of speciality for this saddle brand. They seem to have the sport horse in mind and talked about shoulder clearance when they came out.
ReplyDeleteSomeone recommended I go a size up to allow for jumping muscle development as Semi will start jumping work next week after being off for almost a year. (she just started training again when I got her in late Jan.)
what do you think about that?