I've had little riding time over the last couple weeks thanks to work - but now I'm pretty much off till January, so hoping for more saddle time.
Felix had his wolf teeth out a couple weeks ago, this has improved his behaviour with his mouth quite a bit. He always has a bad ride after he's been used with the kids - so he'll be getting a sidepull shortly for use with the riders with slightly less forgiving hands. Hopefully this will fix the fact that he can evade by going behind the bit badly. I've also been making an effort to be more gentle with my own hands, as I do have a tendency to ride a little more "front to back" then is truly needed.
I came out to the barn on Friday to a forelock absolutely CAKED with burrs. It took over an hour to get them out, so untill snow really flies and the ground freezes he's going to have it braided. It was so bad I nearly cut it off, which would have been a shame.
He got his first big chunk of time off accidentally last week - I was gone for 8 days and his trainer forgot to ride him. He was actually very good the day I got back, I am very happy.
We have also been in search of a dressage saddle. A couple weeks back we tried out a nice little Paramount with Flair pannels. If the saddle had been more comfortable for me, I may have kept it - however I did find my seat aids getting lost in the air pannels, so I think these are just not for me. It's too bad, because he seemed to really like it. Saddle #2 is a St. Lourdes Magnus, it's sitting in my living room waiting for a test ride tomorrow. Fingers crossed that the tree size is OK for him, it was a fantastic deal.
Other then that, we've been working on nice smooth canter transitions - he has been rather annoyingly bucking when asked for canter at A (the door) lately, I think this will improve with work - and it's not a total rodeo so not big deal.
The St.Lourdes have pretty adjustable trees (from what I've been told) so it oculd probably go a 1/2 size either way... but you're adding the price of a saddle fitting with that. Hope t works!
ReplyDeleteThat's what my fitter tells me as well actually - they're adjustable via a tree-press similar to Schleese saddles. I'm lucky to have a very dear friend who is a fitter, and she gives me great discouts!
ReplyDeleteIt does appear to fit, aiside from the fact that I need to do some hip excersizes to be able to sit properly in it, it's great :) Now just to Ebay myself some black leathers - looka a little silly with the light brown ones I've got on it at the moment!