We Stabilized My Pegasus Butterfly Saddle on Cider’s Back    

Last Sunday I got to try my new Pegasus Butterfly saddle on Cider again.  I found my only string girth, washed it, and I prayed it would fit Cider.  When I got to Shannon’s farm we both put the Pegasus pad on Cider’s back, I explained how we wanted the top part of the pad (the part right under the panels of the saddle) to be sort of flat, and we ended up putting all four shims in the second and third pockets on each side.  When Cider was younger her back was much flatter, but as the years have gone by her back developed a definite downward curve.  My string girth fit Cider (yeah!), and when Shannon finished tacking Cider up, I got in the saddle and made my way into the riding ring.

The difference in Cider was nothing short of amazing.  She strode forth, remained relatively straight, and at no time during the ride did she try to imitate a pretzel!  She kept her ears pricked forward, picked up a trot readily, and for the first time in a long time I did not have to use my legs constantly to keep her in a trot.  The saddle did not shift at all when I mounted, it did not shift at all walking, on the turns, or when I trotted; a big, big, big difference from my first ride in this saddle on her back!  I was happy, as were Shannon and Cider.  Cider got back to correcting my seat, if I wanted her to go straight I had to make very sure that my seat bones were centered from side to side, my head up, my shoulders back, and my legs keeping an equal pressure in each stirrup. 

Since this saddle wraps around the horse’s body from the combined effect of the girth and the weight of the rider’s body we had to tighten the girth one hole on each side around 10 minutes into my ride.  The saddle started feeling like it was shifting a tiny bit before we tightened the girth, but after we tightened it the saddle went back to feeling stable and secure.  Cider was a lot happier with me last Sunday!

On Wednesday, when Debbie was grooming Bingo, she found fecal material on his butt and she scrubbed it off with a brush while I was grooming Bingo’s head and whispering sweet nothings into his ears.  When we saddled him, Debbie noted that the cantle of the saddle was high off his back and she suggested that I put a shim in the rear pockets for next week.  We got him all tacked up, and put my Fly Rider sheet on him.  He did not seem upset while being led to the ring, but when I got up on him and started walking around he started kicking, and he kicked every time we went into a walk.  I got him to Debbie, dismounted, we discussed it and figured out that since she had to scrub his buttocks with the brush that maybe the tail cord of the flysheet was bothering him.  We took the flysheet off; I remounted, and there was no more kicking, thank goodness!

Then I started feeling off center in the saddle.  Debbie got me centered and then my right stirrup felt like it was a hole longer than my left stirrup.  These are new leathers, and both stirrups were on the same hole.  Debbie looked at me from the front and the back, she checked where the stirrups fell in relation to my ankles, and she said that both stirrups were even.  I do not know why I felt so off kilter, since I had to reduce the medicine for my MS so much, I cannot really trust what I feel from my body since that can change daily.  My left seat bone felt like it was solidly in the saddle, but my right seat bone felt like it was floating right above the saddle.  In spite of this Bingo gave me a decent ride, we walked and trotted all around the ring wending our way around the jumps.  When I asked him for a turn on the hindquarters he “planted” his hind end after two steps instead of three steps, and then he did the turn better than before. 

I worked on his slow walk, but I could not get it down to a super slow speed, so I added a diagonal leg aid each time I used my hand aid when he put his front foot down.  This leg aid, used when the horse’s hind leg on that side is bearing weight, encourages some flexion of the hock joint, slowing down the motion of that hind leg.  He slowed down a little further, he did not go as slow as I wanted but since we had all the commotion at the beginning of the ride, I decided that I would go with what he was offering me.  Since he was adapting to a new saddle, since he had a blow up at the beginning of the ride, and since I was having problems feeling centered from side-to-side, it was not the day to insist on perfection.  He did slow down at the walk, and I was content with that.

Next week I may take out a shim from the two center pockets on the left side, put a shim in the rear pockets of the pad on both sides, and put a shim in the right front pocket of the pad.  I hope this will be enough so that my seat feels centered and so that my stirrups feel even to me.  This saddle does not bind his shoulders, and as he relaxes his shoulder muscles and back I might be feeling an inherent unevenness in his back muscles that was not obvious when he was protecting himself from the saddle.  At 30 minutes a week it will take a while for him to build more muscle on the right side of his back, at which point I will have to mess with the shims again! 

Ever since I got this saddle, I have been thinking that the reason the horses I ride were “thrown away” was that their backs did not fit normal saddles.  The pain from ill-fitting saddles can cause all sorts of problems with the horses’ soundness and it can sour any horse’s disposition.  I was able to protect their backs somewhat with the Corrector pad, but the horses were always sort of bitching to me about their shoulders not feeling free.  Now that their shoulders feel free their back muscles relax, and I am feeling the uneven development of their back muscles.  Of course, this will get better as their weaker back muscles get stronger, but it will take a long time since I am just riding each horse 30 minutes a week.  Until then I can change the shims in the Pegasus pad to reflect their changing backs so I have an alternative that I did not have before.  I can tell you that there is NO WAY I could afford to buy each horse a saddle that fit them (at least one would need a custom made saddle,) pay for re-flocking as their backs change, and then buy each of them another saddle that correctly fit their changed backs.  Now that I am learning how to shim the Pegasus pad I am thinking of getting shims for my Contender II Back on Track/ThinLine pad, the shims on the Contender II pad go on the top of the pad, but they should serve to give the Pegasus Butterfly saddle the even bearing surface the saddle needs.  Then I will have three saddle pad/shim systems, (the Pegasus pad, the Contender II Pad, and the Corrector,) and hopefully I will be able to make my new saddle comfortable for most of the horses I end up riding, and comfortable for me.

Have a great ride!

Jackie Cochran