It's Official, Saddle Shopping if the Pits

Well I've tried a few saddles so far.  A lovely Amerigo that was super comfy but slid back like crazy, a Berney Bros that didn't even get to the girth stage, a Frank Baines dressage saddle, a friends Jaguar and a semi-custom.

None of the jump saddles are even remotely worthwhile.  The Frank Baines belongs to a friend who is generously loaning it to me so that I don't have to ride bareback all the time.  It fits mostly ok with a front riser.

I've got a Zaldi rep coming up this weekend because I've heard good things about them working on harder to fit shoulders.  My coach (who owns a tack store) is also working on getting a demo saddle in that is built on dressage panels but uses a polymer to support a forward flap.  Either option may work but is going to be pricey!!!

I'm currently signed up for a Sandra Donnelly clinic over the Christmas break but I'm beginning to panic that I won't have a saddle to ride in :(

I've got nothing much to share because we got 30cm of snow over two days and then it was -30 Celsius for a few more, so all I did was run out and put extra blankets on.

400g Turnout with 200g liner(fullneck) and a BOT mesh sheet.  She should be warm

Sullivan's First Road Trip

I've had a ton of things happen I need to catch up on.

Sullivan is officially inspected and registered RPSI.  We took him, Jasper, their mamas and Ritchie down to Okotoks for their inspection.  I  hauled the mare and foal pairs (I LOVE MY TRAILER!) and Shimmer-E followed in her rig with the stallion.

Considering the boys aren't halter broke and neither mare has been on a trailer in years it went surprisingly well.  Mares loaded like champs and we basically just lifted the boys in.  All 4 hauled and unloaded beautifully.

Fresh off our first trailer ride (which was 5 hours)

We got everyone settled in and ran into town to have dinner with my friend DM.  It was lovely to see her and the food was awesome.  The menu had 7(!!) pages of hamburgers.  Talk about hard to choose.

The weather forecast was calling for light snow but we weren't too concerned, in the first week of September it is very unusual for the temps to be low enough to be concerned about ice.  Well Mother Nature apparently likes to mix things up, just for shits and giggles.

The driveway at the barn.  The poor trees were crippled by the weight of leaves and snow.

We woke up to well over 8 inches of heavy, wet snow, no power and terrible roads.  Thankfully I had my winter riding boots and a scarf with me, but we definitely were not prepared for winter conditions.  The trip to the barn took twice as long as the evening before and once we got there we were slogging through over a foot of the white stuff.  Poor horses (who had overnighted in big beautiful paddocks) were wet and shivering.  There was also no power at the barn, which meant no heat or power doors.  Thankfully they had a small generator that powered the lights.


The inspection was a little smaller than planned, due to the poor road conditions, but went very well. Sullivan scored a Silver Premium!  I'm very happy with my little half Arab colt.  I think if he had been a little older (and warmer) he likely could have even scored better but he was still within striking distance of the top scoring colt.

Silver Premium

The plan was to brand him but since he was so wet we had to microchip instead.  He can be branded next year if I want to take him back.  I'm not sure what I'll do.  I think I will re-assess when it's closer since it's a long way to go (5 hours).

I had to leave as soon as we were done because I couldn't take anymore time off work. Both colts jumped right in the trailer.  Here's hoping this is a life-long skill. I checked the road reports and it was looking like it was completely fine after the first 45 min.  Thankfully the plows had been out, so once I was off the back roads it was smooth sailing.  I made it home, to where there was no snow, in decent time and proceeded to go school XC in a T-Shirt.  Gotta love Alberta weather.