Still, it's a good solid little saddle - I bought it used a couple of years ago when I was riding a half-Arab gelding that bucked if his saddle didn't fit. (I always knew when he was uncomfortable, at least!) I didn't really love how it fit me then, but after going through all of the ones I have (I've somehow managed to inherit, or otherwise accumulate several, so I guess it was time I had to buy one) and a couple I borrowed to try, I finally broke down and bought this one. And on Dodge, after solving a slippage issue, it worked well.
Unfortunately, where Dodge was a big, tall, narrow-withered Sport Horse-type half-Arabian, Sunny is a little, round, mutton-withered, Arab-y half-Arabian. The Simco saddle fit Dodge to a T when used with a reverse-wedge pad. Or at least, he was comfortable enough in it that he didn't buck! I was never completely at home in it, but it wasn't awful to ride. Truthfully, on Dodge, I had more important things to think about than the way I felt about the saddle!
You'd think that since the Simco has an Arab tree it would fit an Arab-y built horse. But I have a couple of problems with it:
- a) it doesn't have a back cinch - not critical when it's flat, but for hills & moving cattle, nice to have...
- b) I'm just a tiny bit suspicious that the way the back is shaped and it ends up sitting is putting a lot of pressure on his loins, and
- c) I'm not really comfortable in it.
I could live with c - if Sunny was really comfortable, I'd deal.
But b, well, b bothers me.
I've checked Sunny's back for heat, soreness, and dry spots immediately after rides and on the day following. After some initial experimenting I did finally manage to find a pad that doesn't slip on hills, doesn't creep when he trots, and seems to fit him - at least well enough that I'm not seeing dry spots from bridging or pinching around his shoulders. He's not sore anywhere, even after particularly long rides like that twelve mile jaunt. And I'm not finding excess heat, bumpiness, or any rub marks.
But a couple of things are pointing to him having some discomfort. He's getting bad about standing when I mount - bareback he plants himself like a rock no matter how much I wiggle and hit him with knees and elbows climbing on, but saddled he shifts and starts to walk away as soon as I'm halfway on. He's never been obnoxious about mounting, and still isn't, really, but....
Unsaddling after a working ride, the sweat marks on his back aren't uniform. Okay - I do have a bad habit of leaning into my right stirrup more than my left, which explains part of it. But the back of the saddle from directly underneath the cantle out to the end of the skirt is very flat. I was taught that there should be a dry line down the horse's spine when the saddle comes off (unless they're really working). If Sunny's at all sweaty, he never has a dry line down the complete length of his back. It always stops under the cantle.
Perhaps most tellingly, he's getting more and more hollow trotting and cantering. I'm not hanging on his mouth, and bareback he's not as bad, so....
I've been putting off making a big decision for a while now. New saddle = $$$ so I want to make sure I get it right. At least wait until Sunny was done growing. But at six, I think he's about as big as he's going to get, and he's probably done filling out, too even though his musculature will alter with riding. Maybe it's time to get serious.
Before I get too carried away, I'm going to do some research and try a few things. I ordered a book, The Western Horse's Pain-Free Back and Saddle-Fit Book by Joyce Harman. After reading through the first couple of chapters, it still looks promising. Commonsense stuff, but practical. If I can figure out exactly where the problem actually is, maybe it won't actually take a new saddle to fix it. And if I do need a new saddle, I want to know what I need to look for and what to avoid. Haven't gotten to it yet, but there's also a lengthy section on pads, how and what they're made of, shapes, etc. It looks interesting in light of all the nifty new "fix-it-quicks" populating tack catalogs.
In the meantime, I'm going to try using my English saddle for the next few sessions and see if things improve. (This should be fun - haven't ridden English in several years except for a few brief rides to accustom a horse being sold to English tack for the prospective buyers.)
Wish us luck - may have to have T handy with the video camera to document the occasion.
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