All The Learning

Puppy princess is feeling much better after her spay. She is looking so grown up!

When I decided to move to this barn, which meant no more weekly lessons, I certainly never intended to stop taking advantage of learning opportunities. It was just that I didn't want to continue to do lessons each week every week. That was coming both from a budget perspective and because after all these years of weekly lessons (mostly not riding) I'm just tired of having a weekly commitment every week. On top of that, I learned so much from Jane and then with the winter we had we took a big step back so much of what I'm working on right now is getting her back to where we were.

Of course I booked a couple lessons with S2 right away when I moved and when we decided at the second lesson that I wouldn't be going to the show at the end of May I moved my show budget to lessons and booked three more right away instead. That makes for 5 lessons with S2 in May and 4 of those were within a week. During one of those lessons she told me that Kristi Wysocki was going to be at the barn teaching a clinic and that she'd encourage me to ride with her.

My tack closet at home continues to get more packed.
I can't wait until I can move into a tack locker at the barn!

I'd taken a fair amount of time off work so I wasn't sure if I'd be able to get the time off I needed for the clinic but in the end I was able to leave a bit early and do a late ride and while it was a little tight it all ended up working out. I truly wish I had clinic media but unfortunately there wasn't anyone there taking pictures and in the rush to change into barn clothes I left my phone in my car and just didn't think to see if someone could get any media.

I had been warned that Kristi could be blunt but I do really well with blunt. I like people who tell it like it is even if it's brutal. It's just the way I learn best. However, I never even saw that side of Kristi because she liked both of us and actually had very little feedback about the things we got to during that lesson. Part of that was because Katai was busy being the spookiest pony she's been in a REALLY long time with the sound system on in the arena so Kristi spent too much time helping me work through the spooks and even feeding Katai sugar :)

However, we still did get a lot of riding done including lots of trot, leg yields, canter-trot transitions, half halts work, a bit of work on my position and posting, and on generally slowing down the walk and trot after the canter. I got complements on our leg yields (totally Jane's doing) as well as my geometry which was AWESOME to hear coming from a judge especially since it's going to take good geometry to score really well on an average moving pony.

Off topic but this is maybe Katai's 10 ride ever :)

In all honesty she had very little to say. She wanted me to keep my elbows closer to my sides (yeah I flap when I'm concentrating on things haha), and to pause more at the top of my posting. I also got a couple reminders to look up. When we went to canter it fell a bit more off the rails (other than the spooking which was already solidly off the rails) because once Katai is asked to canter she thinks only canter is a thing. She helped me just slowly work through it but there wasn't anything groundbreaking. Just good solid, patient, riding.

In the end I'm really glad I rode with her and I got some really good feedback but I continue to go back to how incredible Jane is and she charges less than a 7th of that lesson for an hour vs. 45 minutes.

At this point I'm going to take a longer break from lessons. If anything, the lack of anything really ground breaking from that lesson (which again was at least partially caused by Katai's spookiness) really makes me want to continue to push through the things I know we need to work on more before I pay for more lessons. Between the things I learned from Kristi and the things I learned from S2 I have some additional items to work on as well as all of the work that Jane instilled in me so I'm really confident that we can get a ways now ourselves and then hopefully get S2 involved again as we get a bit closer to my next potential show!

One Year With Jane

What can I say really. Jane is someone that I've learned way more from than just riding. Her way of handling things, her message about training horses (especially mares), and her support of me even with things like stressful work situations will always stick with me.

I'm so glad that I decided I couldn't afford my previous barn anymore and even more lucky that my previous BM recommended that I move to Jane's barn.

Prior to L

Jane's instruction, from a riding perspective, is something that will stick with me for my entire riding career. When I started working with Jane my position was a mess, I rode a lot with my hands, and had lots of well developed habits. Sure, I've worked hard too to overcome a lot of this but I've always worked hard to overcome those things and to learn and improve it just wasn't until I started riding with Jane that I actually started to see progress.

Really great example of how things were going before Jane.
Already much improved by L

Even more impressive to me is the subtle mental shift that's been caused by Jane and how it's also completely changed Katai's attitude about being ridden. Some of that, of course, is that I'm riding better so she can actually be more comfortable in the work but it's also the way that Jane encourages me to think about training a horse (mare) and how gentle Jane's approach is. Her message, that sometimes it's important that mares get to be right, isn't something I've ever heard from any other instructor and yet it's made a huge difference in my work with Katai.

Katai's thrived from the new work as well

I will study with Jane for as long as I can and I hope that her retirement from teaching is far out on the horizon. She has even caused me to be less enthusiastic about looking at relocating out of state because I can't quite imagine leaving her program. Right now, the thought of trying to find another instructor in a new place that can meet her ability to make changes with Katai and myself makes me feel slightly overwhelmed and ill.

I don't know what the future holds and I do still plan to relocate at some point but no matter where I end up or when, Jane's instruction has made a huge impact on me and for that I'm truly and completely thankful.

For the present I'll continue to enjoy every single lesson with her and absorb as much knowledge as I can. Here's to another fantastic year!!

Starting to look almost as good at a show as we are at home :)

Also, this sort of makes it sound like I'm planning to leave but that couldn't be further from the truth. I'm positive that I'll be working with Jane into the near future and will likely push my plans to relocate out even further so that I can continue to work with her. I'm just hoping that she doesn't have any plans to retire any time soon.

Summer Reading List: Favorite Horse Fiction

I've been wanting to do a post like this for a LONG time now but it feels like a lot of work to do a book review for some reason. Also, I have SO many fiction and nonfiction books and I was going to try to put everything in one post but it just got too long so I kept giving up.

Instead I've decided to do a couple of posts. In this post I'm going to share my two favorite fiction horse books/series for summer and some of the runners up. The reason that I classify this "for summer" is that these two books are light and fun, easy reads so perfect for summer.

The House at Worlds End

This is my second favorite summer horse book. Even though it isn't specifically about horses the main character is a horse crazy girl and most of the book is focused on horses. It's also just a fun read about four kids who end up living on their own on a farm and they all have lots of fun, animal related, adventures. I love the writing (which is a bit dated in places) and there are lovely quotes like;

She had always wanted a kitchen where there was a saddle on the back of a chair and at least one bridle on the knob of a cupboard door.

Which is exactly how I dream of my kitchen. Unfortunately I think this book is out of print but if you can find it, I HIGHLY recommend it. Oh, and yes the author is Charles Dickens' great granddaughter. 

Another Kind of Cowboy

My absolute favorite horse book of all time and one of my favorite books in general. I'm not sure what makes this book so perfect but there are a few things that stand out to me. First, it's one of the few fiction horse books about Dressage. The only other books I'm aware of are the Dressage Chronicles (which I also really like) but most seem to be about jumping or racing.

Second it's a YA book but  I never feel talked down to or pandered to by her writing style. There's a lot of depth to the writing and her humor is dry and absolutely perfect. It's also a stand alone and fairly short so it's a perfect summer read.

Third, she NAILS dressage culture, absolutely nails it. Her description of the dressage clinician is humorously accurate and  she really seems to get dressage and the people who ride it.

Fourth, the location is in Nanaimo on Vancouver Island. I haven't been to Nanaimo but I have been to Vancouver Island and it was GORGEOUS and I'd love to visit again some day. The location of the book and her descriptions of the boarding school and dressage barn are fantastic.

Honestly I don't think I can accurately sum up what makes this book so perfect so I'll just highly suggest that you read it. (Now I feel like LaVar Burton "But you don't have to take my word for it")

Runners Up

The Dressage Chronicles - I LOVE this series as well but Another Kind of Cowboy is just a little better (and a little lighter) in my opinion as far as a dressage book and The House at Worlds End is just such a fantastically light summer book about adventures and farm life that it beats this out as well. 

Star of Shadowbrook Farm - This one is another YA book and isn't nearly as strong as Another Kind of Cowboy but it's also really good. It's written by Joanna Campbell (who started the Thoroughbred series) but this is a standalone and about jumping rather than racing. I also think the writing on this is stronger than the Thoroughbred series. 

Shadow Horse - This one is by Alison Hart who apparently also wrote some of the Thoroughbred series books. This is the first of a two part series and is also YA and also about jumping. This one is a mystery with a great twist. 

Other Books

Ambition, book 1 in the Eventing Series - This one is a bit darker and the writing is very suspenseful but, for me, not in a good way. I felt like I was going to freak out because it kept feeling like something really horrible and dark was going to happen and it just KEPT NOT HAPPENING. Well something really bad does eventually happen and then it gets worse, and then it gets a little worse, and finally everything is ok and there's a happy ending. 2/10 do not recommend.

Riding Lessons (and subsequent book(s)) - This one is also really dark. I read both books awhile ago and then picked up this one at a Half Price Books so that I could have my own copy. This one isn't suspenseful because bad things just KEEP HAPPENING and it's only a page turner because you keep waiting for things to get better. Spoiler, they don't really get that much better but somehow there's a happy ending. Great book, but not a light summer read.

The Mare (only partially a horse book)- my mom got this for me for Christmas this past year and I finally got through it. It's not a bad book, it's really well written and the parts at the barn and about the horses are fairly interesting but it's also fairly dark and it's written from different people's perspectives where it shifts back and forth all the time. As you can maybe tell I like light happy books where good things happen to nice people so this just wasn't my favorite. It did make me think though and was very well written.

Home to Woefield (not a horse book but written by Susan Juby who wrote Another Kind of Cowboy) - I also LOVE this book. It's a bit different, not about horses, and I don't think it's YA although technically I guess it could be. It's another light, fun, positive book about a young city girl who ends up on a farm. There's some suspense and some dark parts but it's got the same great, dry sense of humor and overall it's a really quick, fun, positive summer read. Think Another Kind of Cowboy crossed with The House at Worlds End ;)

A Bit More Info

Obviously not my barn but very cool picture

I’m hoping to make my decision about barns this week but thought that I’d share a little more about each because I know I always find this sort of thing interesting when reading other people’s blogs.

Current Barn

Current Barn ($760):
$600 per month for stall board
$160 per month for weekly lessons This includes a semi private paddock (the only option except for a private paddock which would cost more) and is a heated barn with a connected heated arena, outdoor arena, really no trails (although that’s getting better), nice wash stall, two amazing boarder tack rooms, THE most amazing care that Katai has ever had, really nice lounge with a fully stocked fridge including wine, beer, K-cups and a Keurig, microwave, toaster oven, and water cooler. The arena footing is amazing, the facility is very nicely looked after, they add or remove one blanket each turnout/turn in and fly spray, add fly mask etc. They do a great job at feeding time including soaking beet pulp and putting together sometimes very complex diets for each horse.

Barn Option 1

New Barn Option 1 ($535):
$425 per month for stall board
$85ish? I’d either take 1 lesson per month with the more advanced dressage instructor (who is really an eventer) or a couple with the lower level dressage instructor
$25 per month for semi private paddock (large public pen has 24/7 round bale so I need to avoid that with Katai).
This is a heated barn with a connected heated arena but that arena footing is deep and it’s quite small as it’s meant more for western riders. There is another non-heated indoor arena in the other barn on the property. There are multiple (3-4?) outdoor arenas, 1 mile gallop track, TONS of trails, lots of events going on all the time (both good and bad since it would be amazing to have the Schramms have a clinic at my barn but all of the chaos all the time might get old) and nice tack rooms. The arena footing isn’t amazing but isn’t dangerous, the facility has been operating a long time so they know what they are doing and run it as a business. Because of that there is much less individualized care but you also know that your horse will be looked after and that no stupid decisions will be made, I’m definitely trying to avoid that after the crazy barn. One of my favorite things with this barn is that the horses only come in for feeding times in the summer, otherwise they are out 24/7. I actually boarded here previously when I "fled" from J's barn and left because I was looking for that dressage show barn that I've mentioned.

Pictures soon!
 
New Barn
Option 2 ($430):
$350 per month for stall board
$80 per month for weekly lessons which are required to board there
This is a heated barn with a heated arena (although it sounds like the heat is only turned on during peak hours since there aren’t many boarders). There isn’t an outdoor but there is a nice outdoor “lawn” to ride on. There aren’t any real trails but this property is on a dead end dirt road so there’d be a place to go on an outdoor ride. There are large paddocks or pasture (which of course I wouldn’t do with Katai) and the owner is used to feeding horses that don’t need many groceries. I believe there is one other boarder currently and then three of the owner/trainer’s horses.

This sounds fishy from the low cost above but the instructor is actually an upper level rider capable of getting other people to the upper levels. The other boarder is currently showing 3rd on her small Arabian and I know of at least one other person that she trained up through Grand Prix as well as the fact that at least one of her horses is a Prix St. George school master that she brought up the levels herself. This is not only the cheapest option but also the best option for me being able to make progress towards my goal of getting my Bronze Medal. I wish there were more trails available (since I was originally planning on option 1 before I knew there was an option 2 and got all excited about the trail riding and gallop track opportunities) but this fits much better with my goals, both financially and riding wise.

2014 In Review

I figured that before I do a 2015 goals post it would be good for me to do an overview of 2014 especially since I think I gained the majority of my readers this year.

Here we go!

At the beginning of the year I was boarding Katai at a small trail barn with a coverall arena and wood footing. I rode 1-2 times a week but spent more like 3 days per week at the barn with her. She was extremely green so when I did ride it was not for very long and mostly in straight lines or 20 meter circles at a walk and sometimes a trot. 

February:

In February I started taking weekly riding lessons with J on a school horse and in April I FINALLY got to start taking lessons on my own horse for the first time since I was 14. It was glorious but that glory was short lived as I started to realize even in June and July that this was not the right trainer for either myself or Katai. However, despite that I continued to learn and make progress as I filter what she said into what worked for me and Katai.

March:

April:

May:

June:

July:

August:

In August and September I started to think about moving to a different barn and actually had one set up but after a really empassioned discussion with J I decided to stay a little longer. Things started to go from bad to worse and I really wish now that I had more videos and or photos but I guess I tend to not want pictures of the bad. The problem with that of course is that then it's tough to see just how far I've come. It did get so bad that she was basically gaiting whenever you asked for anything faster than a walk and would be so tight that she was both trotting and cantering at the same time.

October:

Finally at the end of October I stood up for both of us and took the month of November off lessons and then this happened.

November:

At the beginning of November I announced that I was moving Katai and finally on November 30th moved her to a barn without all the craziness. 

December:

My Overview:

- started to figure out how to keep my leg back

- began to remember how to ride properly

- learned how to properly use my elbows

- gained some courage

- FINALLY got to take regular lessons

- boarded at three different facilities (I'm really not barn hopping I swear)

- ran a long distance competitive race for the first time!!!

- lost 15 pounds

- survived another year at this job

- learned how to be a partner

Katai's Overview:

- went from a green baby horse to one that is now starting to learn some more sophisticated things

- started to get some rhythm

- stopped rearing!!!!

- moved barns twice and only slightly lost her mind on the first move, didn't at all on the second!

- learned about crossties

- learned about stalls

- is receiving a better diet

- gained strength and conditioning

- learned how to move off a single leg 

- is now consistent at forward

- loaded into two strange trailers in less than ten minutes and rode quietly to a strange place

- learned how to be ridden around other horses and that she will survive if they leave

- learned how to be a partner

Stay tuned for my 2015 goals!

Two Pony Years

Yesterday Wednesday, October 1st was me and Katai's 2 year anniversary! Very fittingly we had a lesson and even better it was incredibly wonderful but it didn't start out that way. 

It was cold and wet out and Katai was acting like her back was stiff and sore. I warmed her up slowly long and low but she was still cold and that led to a tight hollow back when we did start riding. She was also chilly so she was bouncy and spicy to ride which made dressage tricky.

J fixed things in my riding position and timing and within the first 15 minutes I had a pony that was listening and moving soft, relaxed and through. We had a couple of rough points but the good thing was that she was throwing some things at me that J hasn't seen before so she was able to help and show me how to deal with it. 

Then, at the end of the lesson we cantered. It was brilliant I just gave my vocal cue and she started right off balanced, slow and listened beaultifully. I think J was impressed at how natural and easy it was for her but mostly I'm extremely happy to have passed that hurdle. I have now ridden her at all basic gaits in a lesson!

Because of things like the above and a couple of red flags at the barn I had planned on moving to I decided to stay. I did have legitimate reasons to want to move but I was able to get through to J finally about two weeks ago and things have continued to get better. I'm sure I'm going to have to address it again in the future but when I did talk to J about moving she even agreed to put up another line of fencing to keep her in the pasture next year. The two things I'm really missing out on are the heated arena and the trails as well as the ground work type training from an instructor. Haley has agreed to help me with things like the clippers and trailer loading and I can figure out a way to do more trail riding even if it is just riding around the property. I can handle not having the heated arena and it wasn't like that was the main reason I was moving. 

I'm actually really happy and relieved to have made this decision because J really is one of the best instructors in the area and her students have proven this time and time again. I really didn't want to move, I was hoping to stay right here for as long as possible but more than anything else I NEED to take lessons with someone who has at least a small amount of respect for both myself and Katai and who will listen to me when I seriously raise an objection about what we are doing especially when it relates to my horse's welfare. I'm still not sure what the future is going to bring but I want to stick this out a little longer.

Matter and Mature

I've had a rough couple of weeks. 

First, in non-horse-related items I let the boy that dumped me in November back into my life. Of course it seems stupid as I type it especially after how he dumped me but I believe strongly in forgiveness and he made a good case. I was only willing to let him back as a friend but after a drunk night of conversation he admitted that he was back because he wanted me back as a girlfriend. I refused to agree to that and told him he better take some time and think about it. I've behaved only as a friend with him since then refusing any advances and to his credit he has been mostly polite and respected my wishes. However it has been extremely emotionally tiring for me. I really did love him and had just really gotten over him when he contacted me and it has been an emotional roller coster for me trying to decide what I want since I have a decision to make. 

I'm still on the fence but the fence starting to lean one way pretty strongly and it is not in his favor.

With all that fun going on my time with Katai and at the barn should have been my escape but that has not proven to be the case. In my last post I wrote about how Katai in heat was a pain to deal with but I was starting to have my doubts that it had anything to do with hormones and with the new supplements really starting to make a difference in her comfort and behavior I have come very strongly to the conclusion that it has more to do with J.

I really, really, really, really didn't want that to be the case. I am not someone who questions her instructors. I've been taking serious lessons since I was five, not in riding, but in music but I gave and was taught to give those instructors my utmost respect and NEVER questioned them. If something hurt or I had questions I asked and we came up with a plan which I followed. I've had excellent instructors my whole life and stuck with all of them for 7+ years until they told me and/or my mom that it was time to move on to someone with more experience. With that being said I have lost so much respect for J after my last few lessons that I am beginning to think of moving my pony.

The issue is the trot. J wants a slow trot, with Katai carrying herself on her hind legs, and with an upright neck and head. Basically a 3rd level+ frame and carriage. I'm no Dressage expert but 

it. is. too. soon.  

and this has of course been proven by Katai's discomfort, tense back, canter/trot/gaiting mess, etc. She is not even a 90 day horse at this point and more importantly, she has an amateur rider. What I KNOW needs to happen is long and low, lifted back, slowly more uphill, and slowly changing the speed of her trot until she can carry herself properly for a few strides at a time and then build on that. J doesn't just want this advanced frame for a stride she wants it the whole, damn half hour lesson and I know it's bullshit. Even if Katai was ready for it, and she is not, I am not. I'm an amateur rider for heavens sake riding a horse that I have made slowly and with great care so as to not screw anything up. I know I take that risk since I am not an expert.

I'm mad, and have been mad, because Katai is my girl. It is up to me to protect her and speak for her and its not something I'm good at but even beyond that J is just so domineering that she will not listen to a word I say. I have been trying to not mess up my pony while J seems to be trying her damnedest to do just that plus I can't get it out of my head that it's because she dislikes Katai and just wants to prove to me that she is unsutable for this.

I'm mad that I put us in this place.

On Monday this week I got us out of the arena, away from J's eyes as she taught other lessons. I rode Katai in an open field and despite all of the things that she could have had issues with and the fact that I have not riden her anywhere but the indoor arena since I moved her to this stable she was perfect. She listened, she generalized knowledge, she realized that she still needed to listen to my leg and seat even in a different and exciting place. Most importantly she troted, fast but even with her back lifted and her head low, curved and relaxed. Her back swung. She didn't duck behind the verticle. I had steering AND brakes. She pushed up hills and maintained her pace and got only a slight bit faster going down them. She evenly and quietly changed to a canter and back to a trot off my seat. She was perfect and I do not deny that without J we would never be here but I can't ignore where she is trying to take us.

I've had three lessons of this madness despite me trying to just get her to let me allow Katai to trot a little faster she litterally takes the reins out of my hands and walks along next to us expecting Katai to trot at her walking speed. This makes Katai try this tense, tiny prancy walk with no carriage and so much tension that she feels like she is going to snap but even beyond this if it were just Katai I would continue to put my trust in J. It's the fact that I've seen more and more of her students ride and almost every single horse is hollow, tense, prancy, and nervous. Not something I saw in the two months I took lessons before moving there but not something I'm going to ignore now.

To me, it's time to move and I have a few options. There are three serious dressage/eventing barns in the area and two barns that are very eclectic both with dressage trainers as well as western, english, jumper, hunter, etc. 

I have mixed feelings because the two eclectic barns are the cheapest but both have trails, indoor and outdoor arenas and instruction. One of the instructors is better than the other but that barn is WAY more crowded and busy and I'm just not sure its a good place to put Katai.

 One of the serious barns is home to a dressage trainer that is on the high performance list for the Olympics as well as an eventer that teaches dressage lessons. I would certainly not need lessons from the dressage instructor but having her available would make me feel like I could stay for the long term. I have actually asked to be on the wait list for pasture since it sounds like it could be a long time and that barn is closest to the location that I hope to move when I'm ready to move on at work.

The second of the more serious barns has a great eventing/hunter/jumper instructor that I've taken several lessons with but they only do stall board and I'm still not convinced that I'm ok with that plus the fact that just stall board is the same price as pasture + weekly lessons where I am now.

The third of the more serious barns is the one that I am leaning to the most strongly right now. I'm not sure if I blogged about it but I've taken a lesson with the instructor and I enjoyed it. It was more fun than lessons with J have been plus she does a lot of natural horsemanship and groundwork with her students. I'm sure she could and would help me with Katai's phobia of fly spray, clippers and help with getting her more relaxed for trailer loading. Those things would be far more valuable to me than continued dressage training at this point. Board, if there is pasture available, plus lessons would cost $5 more per month than I am paying now. Yes, $5. I think my budget can handle that. It's also only about 10 minutes further away and since most of my other choices are 20+ more minutes away it is one of the closest options as well.

I really did not want to be moving again or making this decision again. I wanted to stay at my current barn for years and I know some people who read this will think I'm jumping the gun but seriously, if you saw the way that she is starting to treat my pony paired with the attitudes of the other horses at the barn you would be jumping ship as well. 

Saddle Fitting Purgatory

We haven't killed each other yet. In fact things are going pretty darn well with both the crossties and training. I've had two lessons with J where we worked with Katai now and I've been extremely proud of my pony. The gaps in training that she's found are things that I guess I knew I was being lazy about and just needed a third party to remind me of. One of those is that Katai is horrible, and has been horrible, about standing still. Trying to do anything like tighten a girth, or adjust a bridle is almost impossible and frustrating and while I tried for awhile to correct that I think I finally just sort of gave up on it. I've been reinforcing that she needs to STAND still now though and it is getting better.

In our first lesson we worked on leading as a step towards properly lunging which is something I've never been taught. I just copied what I saw people doing when they lunged their horse and eventually figured it out through trial and error. J had me start by leading, while facing out, Katai around the track of the arena. Every time she tried to budge her shoulder in or leave the track she got a correction and as long as she was walking nicely on the track we left her alone. As J mentioned several times she is extremely smart and figured it out pretty quick so at my next lesson we progressed to lunging her with sidereins. Again I was so proud of my pony! J was expecting to have trouble with her but she was a little saint and did it just like I'd taught her to listening to voice commands and our body positioning.

Other than the fact that I really did need to learn this and have already seen differences in Katai since J started teaching me how to work with her correctly, I haven't been riding because J pronounced both of my saddles "hopeless, don't even try to ride in them. Put them up for sale immediately." I was pretty sure that was going to be the case so I was prepared but what I wasn't prepared for was that she said I needed to start looking at close contact saddles. It was honestly kind of a painfull thing for me to hear. I LIKE dressage saddles. They are comfortable and put you in the correct place for dressage. However, I have spent more of my time riding in a close contact saddle than a dressage saddle and I've actually been wanting one again for going out on hacks since I like to be able to get off of my horse's back when cantering and like being able to vary my position more than you can in a dressage saddle. I didn't want to have one as my main saddle. The more I thought about it though the more I realized that I'm not only lucky to have an instructor that puts Katai's comfort above all else but that she is comfortable and flexible enough to go with a close contact when a dressage saddle isn't working. Mostly I was happy to finally have someone tell me what I needed so that it wouldn't all be on my shoulders and I was looking forward to finally being out a saddle fitting purgatory.

I am so lucky to have a great local tack shop that's only about 15 minutes away from my house that has an excellent saddle trial program as well as TONS of saddles! Over the past couple of days I picked up and tried over 8 saddles to finally end up with these.

The dressage saddle at the end is one of mine that is for sale but the other three are a Collegiate Event, a Beval, and an Albion. They will be coming with to my lesson on Thursday for saddle tryouts with J. It is really very odd to see all those CCs and APs in my apartment when its normally all dressage saddles. We are going to be stylin too with our pink lined black bridle, black stirrup leathers, black stirrups and brown saddle :-)

I've riden her now in both the Albion, on Saturday, and the Beval, on Sunday, and while I prefer the Beval I do really like both of them. It is so weird to be riding in a CC again though!