Finding One That Fits

(Long post, lots of good things to share.)

Rodney had a saddle fit appointment last Saturday.

Tools of the Trade
Tools of the Trade

Fred Melnick of Melnick Saddle (saddle evaluation and fitting, billet replacement, saddle reflocking. 205-913-3841 fgmel@aol.com) came out with his bag of tools and several saddles. First off, his angle widget indicted that Rodney’s back is wide to extra-wide. This surprised us. No horse with such high withers should need a wide saddle.

A while back, Rodney had worn my old, narrow, jumping saddle during his ground exercises. It looked like a racing saddle perched on an elephant. Utter ridiculous. Plus the girth shot off in a weird direction. I didn’t know enough about saddle fitting to identify the problem. I just knew it wouldn’t work. That no saddle would ever work. That this horse would never be ridden. Same old. Same old.

Checking the angles.
Checking the angles.

Fred brought out a Wintec All-Purpose that sat beautifully on Rodney’s back. He showed us how the billets lay straight and explained that Rodney’s physiology meant that the girth would always sit farther back than on most horses. He recommended using the second and third billets rather than the first and third as I had been taught. A point billet was right out.

Wonder of wonders. It fit. It looked good. It looked as if someday, someone might actually be able to ride in it. Fred kindly left us the saddle to work with for a few weeks. Whether we use this one, another copy of this model, or a different brand altogether, we now know that a solution is possible. That makes a huge difference to a search.

!!!
!!!

To test-drive the theory, my top hand long-leadlined Rodney over some low fences. Walk in. Pick up a jog. Hop over. Glide smoothly back to a walk. Pause to be admired. He could not have jumped better. Perky & enthusiastic yet calm & confident. The best jumping he’s done with us. So, the saddle did not bother his back. Good to know.

In order to demonstrate Rodney at his worst, I took over to trot him in-hand. I even aimed away from the barn to maximize the chance of a fuss. You can see where this is going, yes? Rodney picked up a beautiful trot and bopped down the field as if this was the simplest thing in the world. He tossed his head for the first micro-instance of the first step. It was such a tiny echo of his standard melt-down that those of us who know him could see it only because we were looking for it.

Afterwards, Fred tested a western saddle and an endurance saddle. Neither fit as well as the all-purpose. If only one saddle was going to fit, that’s the one I would have picked. I’m not sure what we would have done if Rodney had gone well in the western saddle. Taken up western dressage?

On a side note, Rodney gave the western and the endurance much more of the hairy eyeball than he gave the Wintec. Because they were bigger? Because they didn’t fit and therefore didn’t feel as good? I wonder if it was because they were leather and the Wintec was synthetic. I wouldn’t think this could matter except that Rodney was such a wingnut about his leather halter [Slow Lane, Here We Stand]. The smell? The sound? A coincidence?

Once the saddle fitting session was over, Rodney got a massage tune-up from Sharon Melnick, Fred’s other half and a licensed massage therapist [Masterclass]. (No contact information. I’m trying to convince Sharon to go commercial, but no luck yet.) Rodney yawned. I watched and learned. Sharon’s approach is different from mine, deeper into the muscle but more methodical. It’s good to be shaken out of one’s ruts from time to time.

When it was all over, I took Rodney’s halter off. He waited to be sure he was dismissed and then ran off like a kid headed to recess.

It was a good day.

More news about Rodney tomorrow. Stay tuned.

Rodney chews his leadrope like a binky when he's stressed.
Rodney chews his leadrope like a binky when he’s stressed.

Small Moment

I have conversations in my head. This should not come as a surprise.

When Rodney (then Roscoe [Square One]) arrived, I had no trouble mentally keeping his name separate from that of Previous Horse. After a few years, the psychological weight started to balance out. Caesar, i.e. Previous Horse, had been with us for 20 years, but is no longer around [Warning]. Rodney has been here a shorter time, but is right in front of us. When I carry on an internal dialogue, half the time my brain throws up Caesar when I mean Rodney.

A few days ago, I was looking at – okay, admiring – my displays of horse show ribbons [RibbonFest]. On one wall of my office are the saddle seat ribbons from 2013. Nice rack. Over the window on another wall, a handful from 2014. Not as exciting, but I have hopes for the rest of the year. On a third wall are the career results from Rodney, um, Caesar.

That’s a first.
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Gratuitous Pasture Pic

gpp purple April 30 14 wm

Off Topic: My Origin Story

Caveat: Today’s subject is only tangentially about horses. For more non-equine subjects, see my other blog, Off Topic. Rodney’s Saga returns to regularly scheduled programming tomorrow.

I have a near-monthly gig interviewing folks about their jobs in the horse industry: good parts, bad parts, and how they got started [USDF Connection clips]. This led me to ponder how I ended up as a freelance writer specializing in equestrian journalism. It all stemmed from the World’s Greatest Rejection Letter.

I never had a calling to write. I never wanted to be a writer. I didn’t even know it possible. In grade school, a friend and I were playing a game that required us to pick a job. My friend said she would be a writer. My choice is lost in the mists of time, but I remember thinking, “A what?” Writing was something you did, like walking. It was not something you got paid for. I don’t know where I thought books, comics, and magazines came from.

In college, I never met an English professor who wasn’t eager to tell me how awful I was. I was put in a class for people with with “serious writing difficulties.” I was told that I “couldn’t write my way out of a paper bag.” and that I wrote “in a confused and torturous fashion” because that’s how I thought. There’s more, but I am too evolved to dwell on the past. Moving on.

After college, I volunteered as support for a 24-hour bicycle race. It was an unusual enough experience that I told the story repeatedly. I told it so often, I finally wrote it out avoid having to recount it again. (This was light-years before Facebook & blogs.) On a whim, I sent the result to a biking magazine. They couldn’t use it because it was about a qualifying race, not the main race. But they liked it very much. Very much indeed. If I had anything else on biking, would I please send it along? They were so taken with my participant/observer approach that they later used it to cover the main race.

Then I got married and was dragged moved to a small town. The local paper advertised for someone to cover Community News. I remembered the enthusiasm of the bike folks. Why not? Had I lived in New York or Washington DC, I never would have waltzed into the Times or the Post. A local, weekly paper did not hold the same intimidating gravitas. I applied. I interviewed. I stopped by to check in and smile at them. I made no secret about my complete lack of writing experience. No matter. They liked my enthusiasm.

Two reporters covered the serious news at the front of the paper. It was up to me to fill the back sections: Wedding, Schools, Religion, Organizations, and Community News. I had four to five half-pages to fill with whatever notices, articles, photos, or graphics I could generate. All with very little supervision. Editorial philosophy held that bylines looked better than retyped press releases. So, I wrote a lot of original stories. I took a lot of grip-and-grin photos. I aimed for one – very short – article and photo per section per week. I got over writer’s block. There’s no such thing when 20 inches of school board coverage are due as the paper goes to press. I also got over seeing my name in print. I much preferred to see my name on a check.

When I started freelancing, horses were the obvious place to start. I knew horses. I knew horse magazines. I was already going to the shows that I covered. Eventually, I wrote in other areas, but kept circling back to horses. At a non-horse magazine, I was a new kid and had to convince editors all over again each time. When I approached a new horse magazine, I could say, “I’ve written for x,y, & z.”

When the economy tanked, freelance budgets were the first to go. New assignments have conspicuously failed to clutter my inbox. (With the grateful exception of the USDF work, the presence of which allows me to continue to think of myself as a professional writer.) I suspect is it past time to reinvent my career. However, as I never expected to get to here, I can’t tell which way to go from here.

OT 5.5.14

Living Digitally: Foto Friday Recommitment

Written by Chris Gatcum [DK 2013US]
Written by Chris Gatcum
[DK 2013US]

The whole point of Foto Friday was technique over content [Texture]. I’m already all about content. I infinitely prefer a plot-driven book with a simple style to an ornate literary work that goes nowhere. Hence, plot – i.e. content – is not the problem with my photos. Style – i.e. technique – is. Even the occasional artsy photo [Trees & Water, Pollen] is more clever than crisp.

I want both.

The plan. I bought a book on photograph. I will read through it, working on the exercises as I go. The goal is to understand the bells & whistles well enough to take my camera off A. I have no attachment to this book specifically, aside from the usual lovely DK graphics. It was simply the first one I found after making the resolution. I’m sure there is adequate information online. I most likely have enough photo books at home. However, there is nothing like a new book to start a new project.

I also don’t need a plan, or exercises, or anything other than a camera to click. As with writing & riding, the only way to get better is to do it: butt in chair, feet in stirrups, hands on camera. This was not happening. So, book is my structure. Fridays are my public deadline. You get to suffer share along with my progress.

This week, Chapter 1: Equipment. Lesson learned: whether standing, crouching, or lying down, have elbows &/or knees supported to create a stable platform. pp28-31.
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Gratuitous Cat Picture

Ghost
Ghost

Living Digitally: RibbonFest Invitation

Update: Offer rescinded. I have lost interest in wrangling other people’s photos. Feel free to blog hop. LMK, I will post a link here.

Send me your ribbons!

I mean pictures thereof. Please. Over at Tails From Provence: Le Stressage (waves hi!), there is a picture of a French ribbon and plaque. The fourth place ribbon is a beautiful, dark red. A nice change from the anemic white that I am used to for fourth. I wanna see more. What colors do other countries use? What shapes? What lettering? Please send photos to rodneyssaga@gmail.com.

Since I know what US ribbons look like, this invitation is primarily aimed at non-US readers. American readers are invited to send pictures of visually arresting specimens. For example, an Appaloosa show with spotted streamers or the St. Louis multi-medallioned championship neck ribbon. If I get enough pictures, I will create a post &/or start a page. Anyone wanna play? Canada, I’m looking at you.

I’ll start. While saddle seat has a tradition of massively amazing ribbons, see below, my single most impressive ribbon is from a sidesaddle show. Granted, the National Academy ribbon is longer, with tassel, but this one has four colors, one of them blue, or what used to be blue.

ribbon Hi-Horse

Place: Grand Champion
Class/Division: Hi Point Rider
Show: All Side-Saddle Show
Horse: Just George
Rider: Kathy Tuttle
Date: Spring 1986
Place: Hi-Horse Farm, Maryland USA
Comments: Came with a 1’x2′ cheesy silverplate tray of which I am inordinately fond.
Photo Credit: Katherine Walcott

Ribbon pictures previously posted.
(Yes, I am 12 years old. Your point?)

Photo credits: Julie Wamble, Kathie Maunter, Faith Pack

All but the first photo are saddle seat ribbons. The dual champions pic is from 2014. The rest are ribbons from 2013 shows, all but the tri-toned 6th & 8th are mine. Yes, I enjoyed the year heartily.

(form deleted)