Cob Jockey

I know I said I wouldn't have a post today, but I now have a resolution to my saddle problems so I wanted to share! 

Beautiful but wrong

The saddle fitter and I were finally able to connect yesterday, which had proved challenging between her kid's major health issues and my new job.

I had gone into that call intending to tell her I could live without serge panels, but she wouldn't hear of it. She completely owned the mistake as her own, explaining that she hadn't followed her usual process when doing my surprise last minute one-off saddle fitting in June, which led to her making a mistake in not writing absolutely everything down.

She said her reputation matters too much to her, and these saddles are too expensive, for it not to be exactly perfect. And she said the serge would matter to Connor, and long-term, it matters to her too, since she's the one that has to flock it and it's much easier to flock serge panels than leather.

This but make it fuzzy

So that requires a complete rebuild! They can't modify this one, they have to make a ground-up new saddle. Mind, blown. And they aren't charging me a thing, beyond, you know, the still-can't-say-it-out-loud original purchase price, lol.

She said she can sell my current saddle no problem (her dime, her effort) if I send it back to her now, so she can sell it in as new of a state as possible, and she asked if I was okay keeping the black loaner (which I still have) while they re-make mine. I laughed and said that Connor is going to CGP's for full training through the end of the year on Monday, and the black one would fit CGP much better anyway, so I think we'll all be happier with that loaner for now.

That made HER laugh, since she's good friends with CGP. "It's all about her, isn't it!" she laughed.

Because it has to get completely remade, I'm taking the opportunity to make a few modifications. I've asked for it to come back with a teeny tiny thigh block - she's actually probably going to use a jump block. I also asked to cut the number of rhinestones down to one, and make it purple. Three feels like a lot with how much I have going on on the cantle, now that I've seen it in person:

No croc though. This bad boy has enough visual interest as it is.

She's of course doing the serge and moving the billet, and then I'm also having her shorten the flap. 14" was doable and it's in the ballpark of what I like, but if I'm having it re-made anyway, we're going shorter. I'm not sure why this surprised me, but CGP is 110% on board with that, and said the 14" is as long as she'd go, but she'd have preferred shorter for me. I asked for them to shorten it another inch to an inch and a half, although I could probably go 2" and still be fine.

Long story short, human mistakes were made, and I'm glad I didn't get out the pitchforks, because my gut feeling that they'd make it right was absolutely correct. Being nice and understanding and taking a deep breath before freaking out definitely was the right move here.

And now, we wait! Again!