New Digs

Well, Indy, here we are in our new digs – looks great, and I will try my best to keep things up to date.

Not that much has happened since my last post at the old URL. Except of course the fact that the Abetta saddle with its Full Quarter Horse Bars didn’t fit Indy either. In fact, it rolled around on his back worse than the Wintec. It even seemed uncomfortable to him. Oh well, so much for that idea…

I’ve spent a lot of time since then trying to figure out what to do. I had a saddle custom built for DJ – the first one I tried that didn’t fit Indy – but that was in 1985. The price of custom made saddles has since far outstripped my budget – and how! I spent a great deal of time searching, but there is just no way.

Then I considered the flex tree type saddles, and seriously considered the Circle Y Flex Lite Western models. I was hoping that the flex in the tree would enable the saddle to fit Indy’s wide round back better. But, there was no guarantee that it would, and I have also read that some horses dislike the feel of the flex trees even when they do fit.

After still more research, I ended up considering a type of saddle I’d always not seriously considered – the Australian Stock Saddle. I had stayed away from them before because of the more forward position of the feet in the Aussie riding style. After all, I was a “dressage person,” and I didn’t want a saddle the threw me out of head-hip-heel position, even for pleasure hacking.

However, the Aussie saddles had a large factor in their favor – the claim that the traditional Aussie steel and wood tree could be adjusted to fit “any” horse. I couldn’t afford a real made-in-Australia-by-a-saddle master, but in the last 20 years or so, some very creditable copys have been produced that look great, last well and are affordable. Also, they are difficult saddles to fall off of – a biggie for me personally since I seem to be having a huge crisis in confidence for no good reason at all. Granted, Indy is still green, but he’s never done a single thing to make me think I’m taking my life in my hands every time I get on his back. Just the opposite in fact, regardless of the screaming of my goofball nervous system. Anyway, to make a long story short, I decided to go for the Wizzard Poley from Down Under Saddle Supply, http://www.downunderweb.com/downunder.htm .

I snail mailed the order last week – snail mail because Indy’s withers tracing had to be on legal paper it was so wide, and I don’t have a way to scan/fax legal size documents. So, we shall see…