Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Back to the drawing board...

Yesterday I thought I finally had all my ducks in a row for getting my saddle adjusted. I found a saddler in South Carolina who has the world's best accent. I talked to him about my saddle, and what needed done to it. Then a friend of mine informed me that my favorite saddle fitter from the local tack shop has gone off on her own and started her own saddle fitting business. Yay! Perfect. I figured I'd have her out to help me do the tracings, and then send the saddle away with her information. I didn't trust myself.

She asked me again what kind of tree my Passier had and I told her. She said, "Good, because wood trees are near impossible to make smaller without breaking." Oh that's good I thought because I'm SURE that my tree isn't wood.


Last night I decided that I would e-mail Passier with my saddle's serial number to make sure I was right.

Shocking. I was wrong (in addition to being a good procrastinator, I'm really good at being wrong.) It is a wood tree, and I just don't want to risk it. Well, that was the last straw for me with this saddle. I'm not going to risk sending it away, spending a ton of money and having it NOT fit Denali in the long run. The good thing is that the saddle fitter from our area is going to be carrying lower end dressage saddles, so I can get a new one for the price I bought the used Passier. I LOVED how I felt in the Passier. It was amazing for me to ride in a saddle that fit me for once. Oh well.
Niedersuss

So off to eBay it goes, and I cross my fingers that it sells. I also put my Niedersuss on eBay. It's a 17.25 inch seat, so no wonder my large butt had a hard time staying in it. 

 With any luck, I will sell both saddles, be able to buy one that fits us, and hopefully have a few pennies left over. I think their starting prices is pretty reasonable compared to the other saddles that are for sale. Although with the luck I have, they won't sell and I'll be stuck with them forever. I think the Passier will fit Pete, so not the end of my world.
Passier

14 comments:

Niamh said...

Despite being on the other side of the country, have you heard of Middleburg tack Exchange? They have an incredible stock of "used" saddles and will often let them out on trial. I've visited the store a few times and I am always floored at their incredible selection...I mean, hundreds of saddles. I think you can also call them and tell them what you are looking for and they will keep an eye out! There is probably something on the west coast that may be a little more convenient though!

Niamh said...

Despite being on the other side of the country, have you heard of Middleburg tack Exchange? They have an incredible stock of "used" saddles and will often let them out on trial. I've visited the store a few times and I am always floored at their incredible selection...I mean, hundreds of saddles. I think you can also call them and tell them what you are looking for and they will keep an eye out! There is probably something on the west coast that may be a little more convenient though!

eventer79 said...

Saddles are evil implements of the devil, designed to torture us until our brains explode and we finally melt into a puddle of impoverished goo.

Janine said...

Also, you might want to list your saddles on craigs list, or tack trader? You can do this for free and pay no ebay and paypal fees. Good luck though! You will sell them!

Lyme Beast said...

I went through all this with my selection of Stubbens. Sold them all but the Tristan, because the 32 cm tree likes anything that is half TB.

I DID go treeless though...and I really, really, REALLY like the Heather Moffett saddles. It makes it possible to ride with my insanely touchy neuro Lyme body, and has fit my weird wide and very particular warmblood mares without any problems. I don't think it is the solution for every rider or horse, but it has worked wonders for me. Maybe something worth taking on trial?

Dom said...

Sucks it was the wrong kind of tree. Good luck selling and moving on.

Heather A. said...

Can I ask who in South Carolina you talked to that had the amazing accent? I'm not far from there and there are NO good saddle fitters in this area.

Good luck on your search!

Unknown said...

I second the craigslist idea! I used a friend's Butet the other day and Panache loved it... I don't love the pricetag but did see some used on craigslist. If you do a google search add "site:craigslist.org" to the end of your string and that will search all craigslist sites!
FineUsedSaddles.com is another site, but is affiliated with Beval, so the used prices are definitely higher than elsewhere.

Natalie Keller Reinert said...

That Passier is beautiful. Definitely one of my favorite dressage saddles.

I think you'd know if you had a wooden tree, just from the extra weight!

SprinklerBandit said...

Ha. Can definitely relate to the saddle issues. ;-) Enjoy your amazing sounding saddle fitter. Then tell her she needs to move to my area where she will make considerably less money, but hey, we have a sun.

Brooke (FBX Adventures - In Parenting) said...

Heather, his name is David Young and he is a Passier Saddle fitter. He is in Greensboro, SC.

I agree that saddles about saddles being evil implements. I've now owned 6 saddles in 3 years. Always something wrong. At first Denali went through 3 saddles due to growth spurts, and then I got picky and expected it to fit me.

Brooke (FBX Adventures - In Parenting) said...

I've only ever owned saddles with wooden trees. The Passier didn't seem to weigh as much as the other ones, but oh well.

Achieve1dream said...

Awww that's too bad! Well I hope it sells and you can get a new one soon. I think saddle fitting is one of the worst things about tack and riding. I'm probably going to just ride Chrome bareback a lot when I first start him because his back is going to change so much as he's growing. I do have a saddle with a changeable gullet though so that helps. Good luck!

sally said...

That's awful! But good luck selling it and I hope you can find the perfect one. Craigslist is another wonderful place. Backpage can be good too.