I don't have any photos from my new barn, so here is old horse at old barn, just for some kind of related photo.
At today’s riding lesson, the teacher brought up, for the second time, the fact I was outgrowing the school horses and the school saddles.That was good news, because it means I’m becoming a pretty solid rider. I can also tell that I’m getting better in strange ways… the other day, I was riding, and suddenly realized that I just felt sturdier in my knees. I know that doesn’t make any sense, but it was a really clear feeling at the time. Getting better also has an element of bad news, though, becuase the next steps involve getting my own saddle and leasing a horse. Saddles and horse-leases themselves aren’t bad news, just the horrifying number of dollars that go along with them…..
In my current state, I ride whichever school horse is available on whichever saddle is available. I’m somewhat limited horse-wise, because many of the school horses are smaller ponies, perfect for all of the kids. But since I’m basically a giant, I need to ride a bigger horse, and there are only a couple of big school horses at my barn.
Any rider worth her salt has her own saddle, and so the school saddles are just whatever is kicking around- they don’t necessarily fit me. Not only am I tall, all of my height comes from my crazy-long femurs, which means your average saddle won’t fit me correctly.
Now, until lately, this hasn’t really been an issue, because I haven’t been good enough for it to make a difference. But I’m slowly getting better. (Please ignore the fact that I fell off of a horse that was at a dead stop a week ago). Getting better is awesome, but it means the poorly fitting saddle is now becoming an issue. The other problem (besides dollars) is that my freakishly long femurs might make it hard for me to find a saddle that works.
One of the teachers thinks there is a certain brand of saddle that might work, and has offered to pick one up for me at a special shop in Southern CA next week. It would be a large outpouring of dollars, so I’m still on the fence.
Sigh. You know, if I could summarize January of 2012, so far it would be: “Outpouring of dollars.” I’m kind of hoping that once I get through this month, the dollars will start staying in my bank account where they belong.
