One, two, three, four, five....

At the time of this writing, that's how many saddles we have gone thru trying to find one to fit. Saddle #1, older saddle, good brand from years ago. Tried and true, stood the test of time, comfortable to ride, does the job in a pinch, but nothing fancy. Got more than one pony started under this saddle and will probably start many more

Dry spots. The bane of existance for horseman everywhere. 

Nope. Doesn't fit. No big deal, we will try another.

Saddle #2 is another western saddle. Respected brand, rode Izzy with it and thought it would work. This one is actually a barrel saddle with shorter skirts, lighter weight and I hoped it would be a 'winner'. Nope.

Looks like it fits, maybe could move back a little but it doesn't, even when it's loose enough to do it while lunging. I snug my saddle when tacking up, snug it one more hole for lunging and check it again before mounting. 

By the photo below- you can see the back of the saddle coming up, even though Mazy isn't exactly lowering her head and rounding her back more like she should. 

Saddle #3 is a well made dressage saddle. It has a medium wide tree, which fits a lot of horses, but not Mazy. I tried it with an extra pad for more lift through the shoulders and tried it the next day without. This one is a big Nope. 

Saddle #4 is another well made, recognized brand. This close contact has a more narrow tree. I thought it might fit and I was mistaken, again. Nope. 

Dry spots again. 

Saddle #5- True story folks. I thought I had grabbed a certain one from my arsenal and when I was loading it into the truck, I seen I grabbed a different one than I had thought. 

"You know you're a tack hoarder when..." You grab one saddle, thinking it's another and then don't remember where the one you're looking for- went. (No wories. It has been located.)

Same saddle, different padding. I added the wedge pad to lift things off her shoulders. 

With this saddle, it was an interesting ride. Saddle #3 required a shorter girth. Saddle #4 took a longer girth. Saddle #5 I used the longer girth to start with. It was snug enough to get on my pony. Riding her it felt a little to the left, a little to the right, shifting back and forth. When I got off, the girth was pretty loose. I could have taken it up a hole or two on both sides- that's how loose it was!

The most interesting and crazy part of all of this, is that I have tried saddles from various different price ranges. A couple were well over $1,000, a couple were in the $500-$1K range and a coulple are in the under $500 range. So while we can spend a bunch of money or don't have much at all to spend, saddles in any price range aren't so useful or a good deal, if they don't fit your horse. 

I have borrowed saddles (and for the love of God), found a local consignment shop. Thankfully it isn't too near by, close but not close enough if ya know what I mean. I may just take up driving her until she quits growing, changing and then try finding a saddle to fit. Or I will turn my focus to finding a bareback pad. Lol