Flair
05-05-2011, 11:08 PM
I actually did have one local person interested in it, but when he tried it on his Quarter Horse, it was pretty apparent that the horse needed full quarter horse bars. I took it home, got it out, and just as I started carrying it back to my tack shed, Mitch started hollering for his dinner, and got my attention. I'm not sure what made me decide to try it on him, his saddle is a treeless saddle and I thought the skirt might be a little too long on him.
I was wrong. Seems like I've been wrong about a lot lately, but at least this turned out to be a positive.
I knew that a 7" gullet is actually a little too wide for Mitch. He's not really a drafty sort of Haffie (the M-line tends to be somewhat more refined, although nothing like the sleek sportpony types of the A and N lines) but he was overweight, and I think that contributed to making him look 'big' When I first owned him, I had a saddle with a wide tree and a 7" gullet, and it was actually a little too big. The 6 3/4" gullet fits him perfectly. And the saddle isn't too long after all. Plus, he's dropped a TON of weight. He looks slimmer and more svelte now.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v197/dreamswept/ee28eafa.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v197/dreamswept/1d1414f7.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v197/dreamswept/d54e64fe.jpg
He's standing on a downhill, but other than that, perfect gullet clearance, he's got room for his shoulder, and it looks good on him. I'll need to order a shorter pad since the 32x32 is a tad long on his back. And he needs a flank cinch. Most definitely. Had a really nice ride on him today.
So what did I end up doing. Sold his treeless saddle. Hated to do it because I loved it so, but I did have some rather ahem ... large Mitch-related bills to pay off, and I needed to let something go. Good thing I still had this saddle then. Silver lining in every cloud, or something.
I was wrong. Seems like I've been wrong about a lot lately, but at least this turned out to be a positive.
I knew that a 7" gullet is actually a little too wide for Mitch. He's not really a drafty sort of Haffie (the M-line tends to be somewhat more refined, although nothing like the sleek sportpony types of the A and N lines) but he was overweight, and I think that contributed to making him look 'big' When I first owned him, I had a saddle with a wide tree and a 7" gullet, and it was actually a little too big. The 6 3/4" gullet fits him perfectly. And the saddle isn't too long after all. Plus, he's dropped a TON of weight. He looks slimmer and more svelte now.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v197/dreamswept/ee28eafa.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v197/dreamswept/1d1414f7.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v197/dreamswept/d54e64fe.jpg
He's standing on a downhill, but other than that, perfect gullet clearance, he's got room for his shoulder, and it looks good on him. I'll need to order a shorter pad since the 32x32 is a tad long on his back. And he needs a flank cinch. Most definitely. Had a really nice ride on him today.
So what did I end up doing. Sold his treeless saddle. Hated to do it because I loved it so, but I did have some rather ahem ... large Mitch-related bills to pay off, and I needed to let something go. Good thing I still had this saddle then. Silver lining in every cloud, or something.