The long wait has finally ended, and today I got to ride on my new custom saddle!

The saddle was made by Custom Saddlery, after Talo’s measurements were taken. It’s a dressage saddle, of course, made of black buffalo leather with white stitches.

After some tests by my trainer, who is also a certified saddle fitter, I was given the OK to ride. So today, bright and early, I saddled up and tried my new horse seat.

It took me a few minutes to get the stirrups to the correct length, and as Talo started walking in the arena, I knew I’m into a totally different ballgame. I mean, my previous saddle was OK, but it always felt too big and I always struggled to find the sweet spot in the sitting trot. Lately I’ve been working pretty hard on making my seat better, and I started seeing some results, but sitting on the new saddle made me realize things are going to be very different.

The saddle is built to help you SEAT like a dressage rider should, and it prevents idiots like me from swinging my legs back and forth on the rising trot.

At first, things felt weird, almost uncomfortable. After all, my ass is so used to the shape of the old saddle… But after a bit of warm-up and some canter, I started finding my balance and my place in the seat. Talo, of course, couldn’t care less… 🙂

I still have issues with stirrup length. For most of the ride, my right stirrup was longer than the left one, because it somehow felt better this way, but towards the end of the ride, I realized that while the left stirrup was very good, the right one seemed to feel too long. This happened to me with the old saddle, as well, and for a while I thought it was an issue with the saddle itself or the stirrup leathers. Now I realize I am the crooked one, and I need to figure it out.

Other than that, it was great riding with the new saddle. I hope it helps me push towards the next level and maybe I’ll have a chance to try it out in a competition soon.