Saddle Swaparoos

 Ha ha. Fleck's face cracks me up. He's like "Duh mom!". So anyways... today I decided that since Peri was out of town and Kelli was able to ride, I wanted to try out Peri's saddle and see if my leg really sucks that bad or it's that my saddle is too big. So Kelli and I went for a long hack first. I really liked Peri's saddle. My leg felt good and I wasn't constantly pushing my feet in front of me. They were just where they were supposed to be. It was even easier to two point. It was comfy too. After our trail ride we headed to the ring to jump. I ended up using Peri's saddle first and then swapped to Kelli's.

I told Kelli I wanted them set at training and prelim because I needed to jump big stuff to get a good assessment. But I felt a little bad as Fleck did fitness the day before and I didn't have his ice boots. But he manned up. :) Kelli and I set up fences and they looked awfully big to me. They were airy but they looked huge. I was trying to be brave and Kelli said they weren't that big. But later on we figured out that they were closer to 3'9" rather than 3'6". Doh! Well at least I don't feel like such a wimp now. 
The albion

It was an awkward day. I think I was off a bit with the new saddles, even though I felt pretty secure in them. Fleck and I just couldn't get it together like I wanted at first. We started over the grid, which was set for a 1.5 stride I think because the first time through Fleck stopped as he was underneath it. I got him through it but it was soooooo tight and icky. So then we just stopped jumping that. He felt a little twisty but I remember him really not liking the albion tree, so maybe that was it. Maybe I was off as I felt like I was slipping to the left for some reason. But we managed to get it going and had some decent jumps in there too. 
Ignore that last fence...doh!

Those are big fences 
The Nobility 
And despite the awkwardness of the day, I really think my leg looks pretty damn good! Yay! I'm glad that I don't just suck despite working so hard on it. But on the flip side, it sucks that my saddle won't work. I really do like it otherwise. But I'm hoping (and thinking) that a 1/2 inch seat size smaller will do the trick. Now to just hope I can sell mine and find another one used so I don't have to spend any extra money. I really didn't have to focus on kicking it out in front of me, shifting my seat, and keeping my leg on. In fact, I really didn't think about my leg much at all. Which was great, because I was working hard otherwise just jumping. I did like my leg in Peri's saddle but not my seat. I felt a little too trapped in it. It was almost too hard to get out of her saddle. Plus, Fleck seemed unhappy in that tree. Kellis' saddle felt good with my leg and my seat but I wonder how it will be on XC. Fleck felt really loose in his shoulders in it. I had to giggle because when I first put it on him he felt really lateral in his shoulders, like Arwyn. I was laughing. But he settled nicely and starting going more normal. Kelli said he looked nice and loose and free. We debated if it was the saddle or the girth. So yep... regardless, I've decided that my saddle is making me work too hard for my position and even when I work hard, my leg isn't as nice as it is here. So... Cindy is going to come and we'll have a jump saddle demo session and see if I can find one that both Fleck and I love. And then I'll get to work on selling mine and finding hopefully a demo one that I can get a good price one.