Can't stop saddle fiddlin'

It still holds true that every ride with Peanut in my new saddle has been leaps and bounds better than before.

However, as with all saddles, once you settle in you start to notice things.

This time, I was noticing that I had stopped using my seat and much of my legs for communication.  Instead, my aids had gone back to my hands.  Damn.  It was really starting to bother me and I had blamed the tree for it.  So, I scheduled a lesson to try to get me back where I was, aids-wise.

During my lesson, it became apparent that I was just not meshing with the fenders.  Not only were the leathers themselves looping down to the stirrups thick, the fenders themselves were padded.  I felt competely disconnected from Peanut's side.  Twisting the stirrup forward with my stubby little legs also was wrenching my legs out where they didn't need to be.  I also had tons of air between my knees and his side, with really no ability to bring my upper leg against him.  We tried my stirrups up and down with no change.

At one point I dropped my foot out of one stirrup entirely, put my leg against his side, and suddenly Peanut gave me a perfect side pass.  Okay...  I knew he learned to half pass, but never tried the side pass with him.  Guess it makes sense since he was standing when I dropped the stirrup.

Anyway, after much discussion and frustration, I decided I needed to lose those fenders and go back to English leathers.

I reached out to the saddler who said, yeah, go for it yourself, and so go I did.  The Fhoenix, being what it is (treeless), required a certain kind of leather that is just one piece of (fake) leather.  Talk about losing layers between me and Peanut!  Now, since they don't buckle to themselves and have a loop to go over an English stirrup bar, this was going to be difficult.  You see, the stirrup leathers on the Specialized loop over the tree... no stirrup bars at all.

CREATIVE TIME!

I found some nylon strapping left over from when I made Peanut's unicorn halter.  It was the perfect thing, and I had just enough for my evil plans.  They are even the exact width to fit in the loops for the stirrup bars.

I securely attached them to the Webbers, with the flat end facing Peanut (everything facing Peanut intentionally ended up flat).

My side

Peanut's side

I with the seat removed from the saddle, I pulled off the panels and shims to remove the old and attach the new.

No change on the left, one layer of panel pulled off of the right showing the center shims.

Shims removed, exposing tree and the layer of velcro on top.  Fender can now be removed. Also, that's a bag of Gene's feed photo bombing to the lower right.

With some knot work, I connected the Webbers to the tree and reattached the panel and shims to hold them in place.

Looped over the tree, between the tree and frame for the seat at the top.  Extra strapping running down.  Also, that's Alex's tail photo bombing in the background.

Detail of knots (seat was back on at this time so I could try it out, that's the underside of the flipped-up seat at the top.)

Knowing that my legs were happily positioned in the Fhoenix, I set these stirrups back on the tree to replicate the positioning that I was used to.  So, they are probably placed farther back than "normal."

After putting the one side together, I tore apart the other until both Webbers were attached.

I then pulled the ends of strapping up over both knots to one last knot, securing everything in place.

Perhaps the most shocking thing is that the saddle now weighs less than half of what it used to!  Those fenders, thick leathers, large buckles, and endurance stirrups had to weight more than 10 lbs alone.  This thing is damn light now!

Today we tried it out!

With the stirrups run up (yay I can run up the stirrups!!!)

After our ride, stirrups down.

For comparison, the "before"

Look at how much more forward the stirrup is!

They worked great!!!  I was able to talk to him with my seat and legs, and finally felt a connection with the Nuts again instead of riding a saddle with a horse somewhere in there.  They are also super secure and I mounted and even stood while he peed without difficulty.

One ended up slightly longer than the other, but luckily all that means is that I go back and do a little knot fiddlin'.

So happy.  :)