Truthful Tuesday: an ode to Hermie

 

Okay, first things first. I hope you all got out and voted either in person today or via early voting (or absentee). Whatever your preferred method, make sure you get out there and do it!

I briefly considered writing in Lisa Simpson for pres. But don't worry. I didn't do that.

Okay, now on to the topic at hand. The time has come my friends. Hermie, my saddle, has sat on his last horse. 

He's been through three seats, two sets of billets, and countless bars of glycerine. I've ridden SO many horses (and  couple of ponies) with him. (He generally doesn't fit ponies well. But he's worked for most of the horses I've ever sat on.)

Hermie was only about a week old here! His first show on my friend's horse Arizona.

Hermie traveled to Holland with me to meet Rio and stayed with him his entire career!

The only pony Hermie really fit. This was my old trainer's pony that I got to show when he was a baby. Float Your Boat was his name.

Jasper and Hermie were well acquainted too.

Hermie traveled to the Czech Republic twice to eventually meet Jampy. They stayed together his entire career too.

Hermie fit my neighbor's horse Eddie well too!

And Eros of course!

Hermie's last rides were with Pammon. Though obviously, this is an old photo of them together.

While I probably could have put another seat on him and kept him going awhile longer, the truth is, I don't really fit in him anymore. I was about 110 lbs when I got him nearly 18 years ago. I'm uh... quite a bit larger now than I was then. And the newer saddles have a wider channel underneath which studies seem to show horses prefer. So it was time. 

I sold my used Voltaire and a second Hermes I had sitting around too. Took that money and got a new to me Butet to replace Hermie. (Fun fact, I also paid for the temporary Butet with that money, so I made out okay here financially.) For now, I'm going to keep the temporary Butet for Eros and use the newer one that fits me best with Pammon. Both saddles actually fit both horses quite nicely, so I can mix and match later when they're in the same barn. Eventually, I'm hoping to find a second one that fits me (and the boys) and sell the temporary one. But no hurry there.

So all that leads to today's confession: I actually felt a bit sad to retire my saddle. 

Which is obviously really silly. To feel sad about an inanimate object. I'm going to keep him on display in my house. Once I get the area cleaned up and put together I'll share that with you all. Have you ever felt a little sad to retire something you've used for a long time. A little end of an era type feeling?

Truthful Tuesday

 

Today I am confessing that I was horribly wrong... 

For awhile now (at least a couple of years), I've been convinced I wanted the Hermes Cavalle saddle. I was CERTAIN! I mean, it's beautiful. It appears to have the same balance as the very old Essentielle I'm still stuffing my bum into. And I mean... it's Hermes. What's not to want? Well. I FINALLY found a used one to try. It arrived Thursday literally as I was tacking Eros up. 

I mean, look at it. It's art. So pretty. So soft. But. (You knew a but was coming.) It was a bit too narrow for Eros. I made him try it anyway because it wasn't terrible, and I figured if I still liked it, it would probably work for Pammon since he's a little more narrow.

So I get on. And it fit me very well. But (yeah another one), it didn't make my butt sing. Well. That's not true. My butt liked it well enough. Like a happy humming, as opposed to a full on ecstatic song. I just didn't get that secure feeling I have in my other one and in the Butet's. Like there wasn't anything especially wrong with the fit, but I felt a little like I was sitting on top of it instead of in it. If that makes sense. So, with a strong feeling of disappointment I packed up this beauty and sent her back. The good news is the same shop has a Butet for me to try instead. And even better it's about half the cost of this one. So saving money is always nice. 

I have one other confession today too... Pre pandemic, I used to stop for McDonalds at least once a week for lunch. It was the only food place on my drive between home and work. And I do like crappy food now and then. But I haven't been since lockdown happened. There isn't one near where I live and who drives out of their way for McDonald's? Not this girl. (Though Taco Bell is a different story... Haven't had that either though!) But um... I'm not sure how it happened. At some point I re-discovered the frozen White Castle cheeseburgers you can get at the grocery store. And I've been eating them occasionally. They are delicious! Terrible for me, surely. But so good. So yeah. That's confession #2.

Truthful Tuesday

 

I don't really have anything to confess today... I haven't embarrassed myself royally in the past week. Nor bought anything too ridiculous even... Shocking I know! 

So I guess today I'll talk about the saddle hole I've fallen down...

As you may recall, I bought a used Butet for a temporary saddle. 

It's nearly perfect... The seat may be a touch big though, and the flaps are super long (15"! Guys, I'm  5'2"...) . It has a 4.5" tree which is maybe a little wide for my two horses, but not bad. I like to ride with a sheepskin half pad anyway, and that seems to be working. Eros has been using this saddle. Pammon is still going in my old Hermes with the teeny tiny 3.5" tree (but it is a spring tree, so it's not actually that tiny. That one isn't the worst for him but he would probably appreciate a bit more room.

Well. I have found what I'm hoping will be my actual new saddle. It's the Hermes saddle I've been wanting. AND I found a used one that's not terribly used. For just about half of what a new one would be. It arrives Thursday for a trial. It has a 4" tree and exactly the flap dimensions I need. 

I'm hoping the 4" won't be too narrow. Despite Eros' large belly, he's not broad up top. The Voltaire was for sure too wide for him. He and Pammon are actually somewhat similar in shape. Pammon is currently a bit lacking in the topline area though (not surprising). Anyway, if it can work for one of them, the Butet can work for the other. I'm kind of wanting to keep the Hermes home with me... I don't really want anyone touching my new baby. Since Pammon is on full care, he gets tacked up for me. Talk about a first world problem... 

Assuming this saddle works, I then need to deal with the Butet. Ideally, both horses would be in one place and I could have just one saddle for the both of them. BUT they don't live in the same place all the time, so I probably will need to have two. I'm not shelling out for two of these. My money tree doesn't bloom that generously! Plus, I haven't seen another in the right size used. While the Butet I have is close to what we need, it isn't perfect. So my plan is to keep my eyeballs open for the exact one I do want. Hopefully it won't turn up for awhile though... Ha! And then sell this one that's not quite perfect. 

A friend of mine has a premium Butet with a flap that's closer to what I need (though a hair too forward I think) but it has a flatter seat. I really prefer the deep seat. Anyway, hers doesn't fit her new horse so she asked to borrow mine for a hunter pace last weekend. I said sure if she let me try hers out. It has a 4" tree so I figured that would be nice to look at ahead of the new one coming. 

Good news was it fit Eros really well. So I'm hopeful for the Hermes. 

I really thought I wanted a Butet premium more than the one I have... But after riding in hers I'm not so sure. I didn't really like it, and I think it had me leaning forward a little more than usual. Might have just been the flatter seat though. 

Friend's saddle on left, mine on right

So friend's saddle is a 17.25 L seat (semi flat) with a 2.5 flap (regular, forward), 4" tree. Mine is a 17.5 C seat (deep) with a 2L flap (long, straight), 4.5" tree. I think what I want is a 17" C seat (but 17.5 could work) and a 2 flap and either a 4" or 4.25" tree. So... if you see one for under $2000 hit me up. 

So that's my saddle story. Fingers crossed the new one makes my butt sing! And then re cross them that I can shuffle Butets around to get what we want. I know you all have had super interesting saddle adventures, so if any of you know of places to look, let me know in the comments! (I've been keeping an eye on Redwood Tack, Double Oak Tack, High Line Tack, Facebook, and Ebay.)

Truthful Tuesday: A Tack-cident and other tack related woes

 

I've been SO GOOD about not buying crap lately. Like really. Very good. At least for me. But I've been waiting to get Shiny a holo bridle (I already have a horse sized one) and it finally came back into stock. So obviously, I also had to buy some other things to make the shipping from New Zealand worthwhile. Let's just say the equine will have some well decorated legs soon. In a few colors. Oops. I just can't help myself around Punk Ponies limited edition boots. 

Speaking of spending lots of money... When doc was out prior to Pammon injuring himself again, he was concerned about the Voltaire's fit. It doesn't seem to be working for Pammon. (It also doesn't work for Eros.) And we all know my beloved Hermes really no longer fits me. So clearly, I need to get moving on a new saddle. But then I realized, how does one try saddles when one doesn't have a horse that jumps? I wouldn't want to buy a saddle with jumping in a test model first since I do plan to someday jump again. Unfortunately, I didn't come to this realization until after briefly chatting with an Hermes saddle fitter. She agreed I should wait. And I guess it's fine since Pammon isn't getting ridden right now anyway. (Doc didn't make it out last week, so no updates yet, sorry guys!) I guess it's actually good news sort of? I don't have to buy a saddle yet? Lol. Ugh. Sheesh.

In any event, I'm going to sell the Voltaire and I also have an extra (also too small) Hermes saddle to sell. (I'm keeping my beloved one. I can't let him go.) Just debating where to send them as I don't want to deal with selling them on my own I don't think.

What have you all done to sell saddles?