It's life changing. No exaggeration. It fits us both like it was made for us. It's such a huge change from the way it felt before, even though I wouldn't have told you it fit badly before. Now I know.
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| So balancedddddddd...! |
It's not going to make second level any easier, but it's going to stop making it harder than it should be, and I'll gladly welcome any roadblock removals I can find right now.
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| Do you remember how many Dressage saddles I found myself and trial'd before Ann found this one for me? Yeah, me too. I probably spent the cost of a new saddle on shipping all the wrong trial saddles. |
I've only ridden in it twice so far, but both times, Connor felt great. Jury's still out on whether the saddle is the cause of that, but at least he doesn't not like it!
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| Nothing - NO-THING - makes even contact front-to-back on this horse the way the Adam Ellis trees do (at least in Dressage saddles) |
This was so worth it. Without it, I'd be fighting to stay centered on a saddle and a horse that both wanted me to the left. And Connor couldn't have been happy in a tree that was a cm too small for him.
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| With the Gary Mundy leathers and the new TSF StretchTec neoprene girth, in the size and style Ann recommended. |
If you're like me and you don't have a brand agnostic saddle fitter anywhere near you, I highly recommend working with Ann from Equestrian Imports. She's the one that both found and remote fitted this saddle for me originally, and traveled to my barn from Florida for the in-person fitting and reflocking. She always has a good inventory of high quality used saddles too.
It's been a good experience start to finish with her. She's not cheap, but to have someone nail the fit this perfectly the first time, I know she's saved me a lot of money in terms of vet bills, lessons and trying all the wrong saddles.
I meant to text you but forgot so I'll just post here. A friend at the barn has an Amerigo with a cracked gullet plate (discovered after she sent it in to be widened). Amerigo basically said we don't make that saddle anymore so we can't fix it here is your saddle back in pieces. After seeing your original post about Ann I mentioned to my friend that I saw there were Amerigo saddles on the website and maybe she could get fitted for a used one Ann has (friend has been struggling to find a saddle she likes that fits her newish guy). She called and instead Ann said she knew someone who could make her a new gullet plate and then she would fit her saddle to her current horse! Needless to say my friend is thrilled.
ReplyDeleteWow, that's awesome! She does seem to have a disproportionate amount of Amerigos on her website, although she doesn't suggest one for everyone. Glad she was able to help your friend!!
Deletethere is something delicious about nice panel contact.
ReplyDeleteYessssss. I think it's one of the hardest parts to get right.
DeleteDoes she service Kentucky?
ReplyDeleteI'm guessing so. She does a lot of remote work and then for on-site fittings, she schedules a massive trip, this one took her from New York to PA to OH to Indiana. She just makes sure she can get enough barns/riders to make the trip worth it each time.
DeleteSo awesome, it feels amazing to have a saddle that fits you both perfectly!
ReplyDeleteYes it does!
DeleteYay!! That’s amazing. It’s so wonderful when a saddle stops hindering you. Ask me how I know lol
ReplyDeleteHaha yes you would know! It's amazing.
DeleteOh I love working with Equestrian Imports. I bought my first saddle for May from them. I didn't realize they did remote saddle fitting too.
ReplyDeleteThey do, you can go back and read the other post linked here to see it. It was $125 and she walks you through how to take the tracing and what photos she needs, then she has a phone call with you about options and ships one or two out to you to try.
DeleteI feel like there's few things prettier than a perfectly fitting saddle!
ReplyDeleteYes! And such a relief.
DeleteAlways good to have great recommendations for saddle fitters! Thanks for sharing your experience!!
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome! Yeah, we have to stick together out here in the saddle fitting wasteland of the Midwest, haha.
DeleteA well-fit saddle is SO IMPORTANT. Like cannot stress that enough. Glad that one is working so well for you both!
ReplyDeleteYes! Yes it is. I'm so happy to know it fits him well.
DeleteI have an Adam Ellis saddle on its way for my rounder-than-round cob, and now I'm super excited for it to arrive!
ReplyDeleteI'm interested to see how it fits yours! Most of the saddles made for cobs don't work for Connor, he's round but he's got a definite wither and a curve to his back. His breeder has some other cobs that are TABLES lol.
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