Prestige Eventing Saddle - Trial Part 1

I decided to bite the bullet and take this lovely Prestige Eventing saddle on trial from the super folks over at Farmhouse Tack. The price, size, and style were right, so I jumped on the opportunity. The UPS man brought it yesterday, and it is gorgeous!

cue angelic song from the heavens

The pictures online really did not do this saddle justice - it is in absolutely incredible condition. Aside from the typical wear marks from the stirrup leathers, it is in totally pristine brand-new condition. It seriously looks like someone rode in this thing for maybe a month, tops, before putting it on consignment.

First impressions of the saddle while sitting on a rack in my living room while I stared at it lovingly until it was time to go to the barn:

• Again, it's pristine.
• The seat size and flap length are perfect for me. 
• The forwardness of the flap and size and placement of the blocks also seem like they will work perfectly for my needs.
• I love the softer leather on the seat and knee pads - it's squishy and grippy! 
• The panels are so, SO soft. It seems like this saddle will be very comfortable for the horse.
• The channel is nice and open - leaving lots of space for the withers and spine
• The billet guard has this handy dandy little tab thingy that keeps it from flipping up and moving around. Clever!
• The leather on the flaps and skirt is HEAVY DUTY. I feel like you couldn't kill this saddle with an atom bomb. 

Before I put the saddle on Dino, I knew that I loved it, so his back would have to give it the final seal of approval!

Unfortunately, after the most Mondayish of Mondays in the history of Monday, I headed to the barn over an hour later than originally planned, and was unable to leave my stress, anxiety, and frustration at work. And Dino's one last bit of skin funk was making his leg puffy and angry. But I had a new saddle, daggonnit, and I was going to test ride that thing!

For the most part, I really REALLY like the fit of the saddle on Dino:

Excellently balanced, and the panel shape is PERFECTO.

Loads of wither clearance... so much space under that pommel!

I have found the holy grail of wither fit. HI, DEB! We see you. ;) 

Again, look how nicely those panels follow his back! 

The only iffy thing about the fit for Dino was that there's about an inch spot where the saddle is a wee bit snug on his shoulder... not hardcore pinching, but your hand sticks for a second when you slide it under the front of the saddle. It's not a deal-breaker, plus I can have the tree widened a bit if needed.

Then came the test ride, during which I was an absolute bitch to my pony because I was carrying around so much emotional crap from my day. I felt like a total jerk afterwards. Dino wasn't even being that bad, and I just totally over-reacted. I'm not proud of it, but this blog is real, y'all.

I LOVED cantering and jumping in this saddle. It felt so secure and balanced - I can see why it has a cult following among event riders. I was also able to put my stirrups up a hole from my normal jumping length, and my knee settled in right behind the block. Just what I was looking for. During my dismal trot work, however, I felt like my lower leg kept wanting to pop forward, which was super annoying. After the fact, I realized that this was probably because of the GINORMOUS rear blocks, which fortuitously are attached with velcro, so I took them off and will ride without them today.

There are definitely more positives than negatives about this saddle so far, but I definitely need to ride it in again today when I'm in a better state of mind to see if it will truly work for us.