Claremont Auction Night - Thursday June 12th

[Chick_a_dee]

I went to the auction last night, and although the turnout was great... the horses were selling low, and that was kind of disappointing. It seemed as if the people there were just tire kickers, I saw a horse go for like $350.00! A BEAUTIFUL horse at that!

I can't wait to get my new horse, but we're not going to the Claremont auction I don't think, we're probably going to Garrison's and buying it direct from him.

Anyway, we bought a saddle last night

Which seems out of place considering we don't have a horse at the moment LOL

Isn't she beautiful?.... the saddle I mean, I know my mum is pretty cool, but the saddle IS a beauty.

 

[patandchickens]

Sure, like finding the right horse isn't hard enough, now you have to find one to fit that saddle too! lol

Chances are pretty good that if a 'beautiful' horse went for $350 down there, people knew more about the horse or who was selling it than you might think. The horses that go thru Toad Hall are, uh, how to say this, of diverse background with respect to physical and mental health, despite being, um, carefully prepared for the auction ring in many cases. You can get a good horse there. But you'd better be shrewd, lucky, and know which sellers are which.

Pat

 

[Chick_a_dee]

Quote:
I don't know, we bought our first horse directly from Danny out of Auction, and he was FANTASTIC and I know that Danny's personal horses tend to be kind of.... crap haha. We're looking at going to Garrison's, because we had a great paint boy we bought from Danny, but was actually a Garrison horse, and Garrison gurantee's his horses.

The saddle on the tag says it's a 17", so I'm sure we can find a horse that would fit ME that would also fit the saddle.. When was the last time you saw a spindly Thoroughbred with a Dressage saddle right? I've only seen that a few times, and it was my own horse! We're looking at a ThoroughbredXPercheron, beautiful bone structure... looking at the old structure of Hanovarians, nice and bulky, but stilll very stream-lined, and most importantly TALL.. since I'm 5'10", I need a heffer of a horse. I've grown out of my guy, plus he's retired now, he's only 15'1".

Love my new saddle though, sure it's not a brand name, and it didn't cost me over 2k, but my other saddle was $200.00 and has not a single thing wrong with it in 4 years, sometimes those mass produced higher end saddles aren't all they're cracked up to be.

bought stirrup leathers for it today, and we're looking for the flexy stirrup irons... the ones that give your knees some slack, because I can't and won't ride with my toes on the stirrups, I have to use the ball of my foot, and I can't push my heels down that way. All I need now is a girth, and a horse

 

[Southern28Chick]

Lovely saddle Chick_a_dee!

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
Er, every time I go out back to my barn?

I do not see what it being a 17" seat has to do with tree width (answer: nothing at all) but I assume this is sort of a typo and you have also checked the tree and found it to be relatively wide.

However there is a HUGE LOT more to saddle fit than tree width. It is way WAY more complicated than that. And any number of things that are attributed to horse behavior problems or training problems are actually saddle fit caused.

You would be wise to learn a lot more about it before you go off horse shopping, and do NOT take the seller's opinion on the subject. Otherwise I predict you are likely to have recurring difficulties with your horse that you find yourself unable to fix. You can take or leave this advice but I have seen this happen SO many times (to everyone's unhappiness) that I just have to get it said.

most importantly TALL.. since I'm 5'10", I need a heffer of a horse.

FWIW, tall riders do not need tall horses per se... tall riders need WIDE horses, to absorb the leg. Wide regular-sized or smaller horses stay sound EVER so much better than wide tall horses (tall horses in general are more prone to soundness problems and shorter-lived on average), and wide regular- or smaller-sized horses are also much easier to find and more affordable.

Anyhow, look at the Spanish Riding School guys... they are mostly like 5'6-5'8" but are riding horses that range from about 14.0 hh to about 15 hh, no foolin'. Yet nobody thinks it odd

Good luck with the search,

Pat​

 

[Chick_a_dee]

5'8" is not that tall haha. I road a 15'1HH horse, and he was much to short for me, and he was a stocky guy... HaflingerXBelgian! The reason I said Perch X is because they tend not to be TOO tall, not like immense Hanovarian tall... I used to ride a 16'3HH Hanovarian mare, and her half sister was 17'3HH! and rather thin built, Bella the smaller of the two was a very stocky, warhorse type build... the nice old Hanovarian build. We're looking at the most for 16'3HH.

And yes, I totally had a brain meltdown in regards to tree size, I've used the same saddle for ages now and I don't even know what size this saddle is... but the tree looks fairly wide. Our other saddle, is an all-purpose... fairly standard sizing and it fits Pal, our HaflingerXBelgian, and he's got a wide back and withers.

Anyway, I understand the buying and selling of horses, I sound so naive when I talk about it because I haven't been riding in 3 years... again, horse sizing was a little off, and the fact that Pal had to be retired off due to his severe Heaves. I had a horse I was going to be riding, but at the time he was only 2, and a little flighty... but a BEAUTIFUL paint sport horse, he ended up being sold to a hunt club.

I'm not sure where you live, lol but I live in the middle of hunter jumper territory, so there aren't a lot of dressage places...and the dressage places we do have, have large heffer Hanovarian X's for their riders, and so therefore not many Thoroughbreds with the dressage saddle

Although I've seen it happen... Our girl Smoothie was training dressage until we sold her, but she was a LARGGEEE Thoroughbred, 16'3HH, and had a wider back.. clearly didn't live up to being much of a racehorse, she lost every race she ever entered, but I think her registered name was a bit of a jinx... Too Smooth To Move, haha.

 

[Chick_a_dee]

Quote:
Er, every time I go out back to my barn?

I do not see what it being a 17" seat has to do with tree width (answer: nothing at all) but I assume this is sort of a typo and you have also checked the tree and found it to be relatively wide.

However there is a HUGE LOT more to saddle fit than tree width. It is way WAY more complicated than that. And any number of things that are attributed to horse behavior problems or training problems are actually saddle fit caused.

You would be wise to learn a lot more about it before you go off horse shopping, and do NOT take the seller's opinion on the subject. Otherwise I predict you are likely to have recurring difficulties with your horse that you find yourself unable to fix. You can take or leave this advice but I have seen this happen SO many times (to everyone's unhappiness) that I just have to get it said.

most importantly TALL.. since I'm 5'10", I need a heffer of a horse.

FWIW, tall riders do not need tall horses per se... tall riders need WIDE horses, to absorb the leg. Wide regular-sized or smaller horses stay sound EVER so much better than wide tall horses (tall horses in general are more prone to soundness problems and shorter-lived on average), and wide regular- or smaller-sized horses are also much easier to find and more affordable.

Anyhow, look at the Spanish Riding School guys... they are mostly like 5'6-5'8" but are riding horses that range from about 14.0 hh to about 15 hh, no foolin'. Yet nobody thinks it odd

Good luck with the search,

Pat​

I think I'll measure the saddle tomorrow, gullet and tree width... that'll help me out a bit, I don't even know what the measurement of my other saddle is, haha...but it fits Pal perfectly.

 

[Chick_a_dee]

OKAY, I'm going to say with a bit of confidence, that the tree is a Medium.

 

[patandchickens]

Chickadee, I'm in the Uxbridge area -- if you live (or recently) in the Bowmanville area as I seem to recall (?), I live 'just up the road' as it were. There are any number of dressage places around, and furthermore of course any time you go to a horse trials (eventing) you will see that MOST of the horses are TBs who spend a lot of their time wearing dressage saddles

I'm not trying to tell you what kind of horse to buy or who to buy it from, it's *your* funeral in those regards. I'm just sayin', a 5'10" rider does not need a tall horse per se and tall horses do not stay sound (or necessarily alive) as well as more modest-size ones. And tree width is by NO means the only important issue in saddle fit -- there is a whole big lot more to it.

<shrug>

Do with the information as you will.

Best wishes,

Pat

 

[Chick_a_dee]

Oh I understand, I realize I'm just going to have to try the saddle and see how it goes, with our other saddle we put chalk on the bottom of it and you could see the pressure points after it was taken off, since Pal is a Palomino (really original name right? Palomino the Palomino..). As for Dressage, I've been riding for 10 years, and I've never gone for eventing. Unfortunately, when I had to stop riding.. I was just beginning dressage, it's surprising what a chunky haflingerXbelgian can do, he collects wonderfully. Anyway, I completely understand, and I know that it's my funeral.

Naturally, I'm not going to buy the first horse I see that looks *pretty* .. I do have a brain in my head

and usually we take the horse on for a lease before deciding to buy them, as we did with Pal.. he was leased for 5 months before we actually bought him. What I like about Garrisons is that I can do that, I can lease the horse, live with him/her for a while, decide if they are the best thing for me, decide if they fit in with the herd, and in my experience, with the 5 or 6 months... usually some kind of vice, or lameness will show up. We had leased a small palomino pony ages ago, and she showed her lamness within the week, we brought her back to Barkey's, with a vet and she got the treatment she needed.. but a lame horse was not something we could afford to keep at the time, seeing as we had to board.

Uxbridge is quite a ways, I mean... not THAT far, but not somewhere I'd go past every day.

Thanks for the advice, and I'll take some of it with me... you never know, I could end up buying a 16HH horse haha, or smaller... but it's unlikely. 16HH is more likely than any smaller.

I'm not going to try to fit the horse to the saddle, you can always buy another saddle.. you can't always buy another perfect for you horse, you know? ... If the saddle fits, it's a bonus, if not... I'll probably keep it anyway, it's a lovely saddle and the smell of leather is incredible haha. There's always that chance I'll find a horse to fit it.

And I live until the 25th, downtown Bowmanville...behind the mall, I'm RIGHT on the lakeshore, east end... I'm moving in something like 12 days, to Stirling-Rawdon.. north of Trenton/Belleville.