>A friend is looking for a new saddle, but she's a heavyweight, and I
don't think the SS provides enough weight distrib. for her. OpinionS?
I ride FW, do you mind if I ask what you ride? In a 14, you must be FW
also. The one I borrowed was a 14, and I needed just a teeny bit more
room in order to not contact the pommel while posting.
I received mine a week ago. Bought it on the premise that it couldn't
hurt seeing as there is such a large market to sell it into if it didn't
work. Hard the same problem as you in that my OF which has hitherto
fitted other horses will not fit my curvy backed TB. They recommended a
14 for me too and I just fit into MW by a pound or two. I decided on a
14.5 so my wife could use it. It's very roomy for me, my wife hasn't
tried it yet. Except I did hit the pommel yesterday getting a big trot -
ouch, but easy enough to avoid. Just looking at the saddle it doesn't
look like it will work for a HW, but then there's not much to loose
except some time and a few dollars if the second hand value is to be
believed.
>And which pad you're using?
Any old pad big enough for now. Have Stiko (sp?) on order, used it for
the Wintec we use on him and like it (except for the $100+ price and the
foam seems to be breaking up after a year).
>Are you using the girth provided?
Have tried the girth that came with it, don't like it, will be switching
back to broader mohair girth - for better breathing and perhaps wider
support area. Also don't like the cheapo straps, the holes are melted
into them and are quite prickly. Will be replacing them with some spare
leather I have lying around the house and when I get around to it -
biothane would be neater.
>I think I'll be using my OF's stirrups. Which are you using? Were you
used to Western rigging before? Did you order the stirrups moved back?
Don't like the plastic stirrups much, will be swapping them over with my
EZ-rider stirrups. I ordered my stirrups moved back ala dressage style,
though it seems that they could go back even more. I've used both
Western and English rigging and prefer the freedom of the English
rigging but not the rubbing. I might just replace the stirrups
altogether as they are rather fussy to adjust and come with a velcro
wrap to presumably prevent rubbing, but it makes the whole arrangement
very bulky.
On the whole it's working out pretty well, fits the horse and is fairly
comfy on the rider's butt.
-- Nicco Murphy Aerostructures Inc. F/A-18 Group, San Diego, (619)545-3333