Buy my saddle!

Seriously.  It's a 17.5" Niedersuss with a medium tree.  Wool panels, gorgeous leather.  No damage (unless you count nailholes on the cantle from a nameplate).  It originally had short billets which were switched to long when I bought it (that seller had them changed out for me before she shipped it).  The ends of the short billets are still there in case anyone ever wanted to go back to short.  If you want any other pictures, let me know!  Yes, it's a bit dirty in the pictures...  they were taken last summer after it spent quality time sitting in my tack trunk.  I can clean it and take new pictures if it really matters.

I'm asking $800 for this saddle.  I paid about $900 a few years ago and it's in the same condition.  The sooner it sells, the sooner I can get River a fly sheet!  I really love this saddle, but it won't work on River or the Mare, and I don't ride the horse I bought it for enough to justify keeping it.

Gullet Width:



Under the left flap (you can see the ends of the old short billets):


Maker's plate:


Under the right flap:


Side view:


Seat:


Front view:

Riding and stuff

I rode River on Sunday.  For more than 30 seconds.  He is such a good boy.  We rode with another horse in the ring for the first time.  He only got jiggy once, when one of the horses in the pasture started running around hollering.  I carried a whip (pink and sparkly!), to which he responded well.  But I didn't use the running martingale, which was a mistake.  Not that he's really bad without it, but ask him to trot and his head goes up like a periscope.  It's rather awkward.  He doesn't seem to get this whole "trotting under saddle" business.  On the longe, he moves like a champ.  With a rider, his head is up, his neck short, and he moves very oddly.  I really need to get after him to move forward in a real trot.  I'll have to see if someone can longe him while I ride.  Hopefully that will help him figure it out a bit better.

The round pen has been more or less reassembled, so as long as the weather stays nice, Riv will spend nights in that with his alfalfa and grain.  He's a pokey eater and will share with at least one other horse, so this way he has all night to eat without interruption.  His weight is slowly but steadily improving.

A few pictures from yesterday...

His "ner?" face:

Ah, that's a bit more dignified:

Seriously, isn't his head strangely shaped?