Well I did the demo session because County meets J.Z.M.'s bottom line
advice... British and wooden tree. :)
In the three hours (!) it took to measure and try four saddles, two of
them twice, Pete got tired. But I found a saddle I liked. Can't
remember the model but it had a loud leather pattern and some obvious
knee rolls. But as soon as I took one step, it put me in neutral spine
and I felt my COG drop several inches. It was VERY easy to ride in that
saddle. It "tucked" my butt under me with each motion. And my legs
hung freely in the correct position. No fighting for seat position, no
fighting for leg posiiton, no none of that nonsense. And it was
comfortable though I would go up a size just so I don't have to worry
that the cantle will ever touch me on the the butt. :)
It was the first saddle I tried and although I loved it, I liked the
look of the flatter saddles more. But they and another deeper one just
didn't have the same balance for me as the first one. They were all
quite comfotable though the two flatter ones were more comfotable than
the two deeper ones.
Sad to say, though I could ride in the flatter ones, it took more effort
and my position simply wasn't as good as in the one deeper one. The
other deeper had something distracting about the knee rolls. I hated
when my knee touched them. For some reason, the one that I like, which
has equally large knee rolls, didn't bug me.
I think I'm going to buy that saddle.
I'm trying to find pictures of County saddles to find the model name but
I can't find the saddle on line. External knee rolls and loud pattern
on the leather.
Sue L. wrote:
"Don't discount a deeper seat! You *can* move around in a deep seat and
it will put you in close contact with your horse. But it has to fit you
- and most people have to go up a 1/2 inch to 1 inch in size to have a
deeper seat fit right."
I found this to be true. I'm going up a half inch from the demo model
just to be safe.
Robin R. wrote:
"Why do you think you want no knee roll and a flat seat? Are you trying
to "not get too much help from the saddle"? I'll personally take all the
help I can get:"
I brought this up with my instructor. I said I don't need as much core
in the one saddle I liked as in the two flatter models and that maybe I
should get a flatter model so I have to develop more core. She said I
would still develop core in the deeper one and that Pete appreciates
that I am in a better position with the one that put me in neutral spine.
These saddles are a bit pricey but they are well made. Also, being put
in neutral spine is priceless after fighting tack for so long.
I'm very close to pulling the trigger on this. Thanks again to everyone
who gave me input on this decision.
sharon
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