New Year's Saddle?

Maybe so.

Here it is, in all it's odd-looking glory. I think it's made by this person, but am not positive and don't really care much as long as it fits Calabar. And it seems to. Really well. If anything, it may be a tad wide in the shoulders, but not by much and wider is better than narrow for him. Everywhere else seems molded to his body.

I did get the rigging figured out, thanks to the internet and the engineer in my life. I've seen this rigging before and liked it a lot as it seems to secure the saddle in a very balanced way. We are using a variation of the set up second to the left at the link above.

Right side--fender a little curled, oops

Left side

We put it on him in the cross ties to be sure I hadn't imagined how well it fit, and I didn't. The pictures are all with the saddle pad, but we fitted it without first. I love (love) the clearance above his withers, and the round skirt. There is a nice space running through the centerline of the saddle that seems like it will prevent any rubbing on the high spot he can get where his loin joins his croup. (Better now that he's fit and his top line has improved, but an area I watch for fit and comfort in any case.) It's also light enough for me to manage very easily, which is important for several reasons, least of which is tossing a saddle up on a 16.3 horse when you're only 5'3" tall.

Are we going somewhere??

I'm headed back to the barn in about an hour to try it for real. There was much coagulation in the indoor arena when we were there earlier and I'd rather focus on him and what we're doing, rather than worrying about staying out of everyone else's way.