success

Just ten minutes after I wrote my disheartened post about missing UPS last night, the UPS truck pulled up in front of my house and it was my saddle being delivered...for the second time today!!!!!!! The driver said "well I had to drive past this area to get back to the base anyway". I told him he was AWESOME!

I went straight to the barn to see how it looked on Lucy, or Lucifer, as L and I have started jokingly calling her (it was L's idea and I thought it was so funny).

I really like it and does Lucy. It fits her surprisingly well. I'm glad I got the 32cm tree. I think anything narrower wouldn't have worked. There's plenty of clearance for her withers and so much room for her shoulders to move back, which I LOVE. The panels rest really nicely on her. Overall I am really happy with it!

I decided to have a quick ride to see how I felt in it. I already had someone tell me that if it didn't work out they'd buy it off of me, so I wanted to see if I liked or hated it because if it were the latter, I would have shipped it out today. I don't have any more time to waste on this silly saddle search.

She seemed to be pretty good with it. We didn't have any going forward issues and she didn't buck at all. She did bronc around a bit in the middle of the ride but it was her normal silly playing. Some of the trot we got was HUGE and she was moving through her back and shoulders under me and stretching out.

Here's a video.

And here are some photos:









To ride in it was strange but I'll get used to it. The seat is harder than the Premia but that's really my only complaint. Once it's broken in and oiled it will be a lot better. I want to try and darken it, too. It's almost a bright orange colour but I've read with a few oilings it will darken nicely. What kind of oil should I use?