Is It Possible? Could It Actually Be True?

As promised, my saddle arrived on Saturday afternoon at about 4:00 PM. Mike and I were already at the barn, but we were listening hard for that Fed Ex truck. Since we were already involved with our barn stuff/horse grooming, I didn’t open the box until we were back inside.

My first impression was, “WOW!” The pictures on the web site and in the catalog certainly don’t do it justice. It’s beautiful – gold stitching on the black Nubuck leather, and horseshoe dee rings. I thought you had to pay extra for those. There is gold stitching on the fenders and stirrups as well. As for the all important tree – well, it certainly looked wider than the Wintec or Abetta, and not only that, the angle of the bars was obviously much flatter than either of the others. Hope!

Yesterday was the first trial – just the saddle, with a sheet over Indy’s back to keep it pristine – just in case. I was a little concerned about Indy’s reaction since he was not standing well for the Abetta any more. The sheet of course was a big ho-hum for him, but he got a bit tense when I heaved the saddle onto his back. Mike steadied his head, but he calmed right down and went back to munching his hay while we were evaluating the fit. That told me volumes right there. Indeed, the fit did seem excellent, with the saddle nestling down around his back instead of perching on top of it. I was thrilled with my impression and even more so with Indy’s. He will have the final say after all.

Today, we tried it with the sheepskin pad that I ordered with it – again with the sheet underneath. The fit still seemed just right, and Indy was totally Mr. Cool – after giving that pad a thorough sniffing, that is. He decided the whole thing was OK though, and went back to munching.

Now, I have to figure out how to use the Bates rig so I can try girthing it up. As for riding, the weather has been awful, first day of Spring or no. It’s cold and windy. Still, spring is here, and surely we’ll have a halfway decent day before too long. Meanwhile, I can be applying the Leather Therapy Conditioner to the smooth leather parts to fight the war against mold.

I think Indy is going to be a lot happier with this saddle – and if he’s happy, I’m happy.