The Difference a Saddle Makes

Tony is not overly-sensitive about saddle fit. He's pretty much the same no matter what you put him in. I thought Lines was much the same, as I had tried about 10 (!!!) different saddles on him over the course of about two months. He was kind of his same old self in everything- quite hollow through the back, neck swanning up, but willing to do the work.

Then I tried the magical saddle. It's the weirdest saddle I've put on him, but he's a weird guy. It's a Jaguar XKC, which my research says was made by Harry Dabbs for the Jaguar car company (yes, my horse rides around in a Jag, and I drive an older Honda).

Because I forgot to take pictures when I was at the barn, you get my super fancy MS Paint sketches.

The saddles I had been trying had panels like this:

They lay flat on the horse's back and kind of spread out. I tried a few Albions that were shaped like this. A couple I tried on I couldn't even fit two fingers in the rear gullet while I was sitting in the saddle. No bueno on an old man back.

The Jaguar has funky upswept panels that look like this:

On lots of horses, this would mean the saddle rocks back, or there's not enough contact through the rear of the panels. But for some reason it works for Lines. 

This week, he has been so loose and round and relaxed. It's been amazing! Now that we have that figured out, we can start pushing more. Starting with a last-minute trip down to JW's barn for lessons Monday and Tuesday!!