After talking with a few saddle makers...

And everyone I talked with said that it's quite common for that flap to come off (the linen threads just give way with age). I was really glad to hear that it's not all that tricky to put back on. The saddle doesn't have to be taken apart, or anything drastic like that.

It was suggested that another small strip of leather be sewn onto the flap and then that strip of leather sewn onto the saddle. It should prove to be sturdier than before be more flexible. PHEW!

And luckily, I think there are a few saddle maker's within a few hours drive that can do the repair for me. (One being the wonderful Betty-Lynn Tattersall). I'm actually thinking I could likely do some of the repair myself, veeery carefully of course!

Thanks for all of your suggestions on people to help me fix the saddle! You guys are great resources!

Uh oooh......

Well I was working on my jumping again last night and it was going very well. Having a bit more pace and approaching the jump with more of a closed hip angle, definitely helped! It was feeling pretty easy to stay with my horse and I wasn't feeling as if I was getting jerked. Yay!

But here's the uh oh part... Over one fence, my horse chipped really hard and popped the fence, which resulted in me getting pretty loose and scrambling to catch my balance. And in the process, the flap that goes over the stirrup assembly came off.... It looks as if the stitching was just dry rotted as it just gave way. The saddle and the flap are perfectly fine and intact.


My poor pretty saddle.... Now what do I do??

A new whip in the making?

My step father was going through some stuff at their house and he found an old parasol handle. His parents used to have an antique store and I believe it came from them. I'm not too sure how old it is but I think it's fairly old. The handle is gorgeous, mother of pearl and silver. The rest of the shaft is rusted and looks pretty rough.


I'm thinking it would make a really pretty sidesaddle whip. I'd love to find someone that is good at braiding leather or rawhide and get the shaft covered in that with a little whip end added. It's the perfect length and so classy! It might be easier said than done though, finding someone that does leather braiding seems to be difficult and rare. (hmm... I wonder how hard it would be to learn....)

I'll post pictures if & when it ever gets done!

Some jumping pictures that make me go hmmm.....

I've been watching videos and looking at pictures of ladies jumping aside and I've found a couple pictures that have be questioning things.... Have a look..

So first off, this is how I feel like I *should* look over the fence.... These ladies are REALLY folded forward and looked really "tucked" over the fence. They look like they're giving their horse a good release and aren't going to get "snapped" back over the fence and their bum is still in contact with the saddle.



But then we've got what I'm going to call the "middle of the road" ladies". They're sitting a bit more upright over the fence, still tipped forward but not to the degree the others are.


And then we've got the last group, they're forward but they look as if they have their bums OFF of the saddle upon takeoff.... How are they doing that? I don't know if I could physically DO that in my saddle the way the pommels sit. I would think a person would get "snapped" back much less like this. But I wonder, are they putting weight in their stirrup (standing in it) to get "up" like that? If so, I've always been told not to put weight in the stirrup.

Another attempt at jumping sidesaddle

I had some friends out riding on saturday and decided to attempt a couple of jumps sidesaddle for them. It feels like it's getting a bit better but it's still not right. I'm starting to get a bit frustrated by it because I'm feeling "stuck". I just can't seem to stay forward long enough and keep getting snapped back. Urghhh... I'm not sure if it's a muscle strength thing or if I'm doing something completely wrong or what. Maybe it has to do with how jerky Brigit's jump is. I dunno. I'm determined to figure it out though!

Here's a couple of video's my wonderful friend took. The first one is trotting in and the second is cantering in.

Tiny stirrups

It seems that I've acquired enough little antique stirrups that we could officially call it a collection. I thought I'd share some pictures and show you just how tiny these stirrups are!

So first we have a plain stirrup iron. It fits my foot quite well, even though by today's standards it's fairly small. As you can see, this one doesn't have an egg eye so it'd be tough to get it to fit my english sidesaddle.


Second we have a tiny "Copes" style safety iron. This one came with my really old english sidesaddle. As you can see it's quite corroded and the hinge is very stiff. It's far too small for my foot, so it will never get used but it's sure interesting! I have a modern Copes iron on my english sidesaddle at the moment.


See how the small inside part swivels backwards and the footbed falls out?


And last we've got a small bronze (?) heart shaped stirrup. I think this one is just too cute. As you can see, it's also quite corroded too.


Isn't it neat?

And now for some perspective into just HOW tiny it is. I can fit about 3 toes into it and that's about it! (and that's in socked feet!).


They sure must have had itty bitty feet back then!

Bulbs, bulbs, bulbs!

I finally got all of my bulbs planted and it looks like it was just in time! The weather is really cool, damp and foggy today and they're forecasting snow for later today. (No thanks!) I had a bunch more tulips and lily bulbs that I'd ordered.

Every few years I'm told that you should dig up your bulbs and separate them because they multiply and won't keep blooming because they're too crowded. Well I thought I'd be able to wait until next year but apparently not! We got digging in the flower beds and found that the tulips I had planted 2 years ago had multiplied SO MUCH that we had no choice but to dig them up and replant them. I think we had at least 100 bulbs by the time we had dug them all up. We replanted as many as possible but eventually we ran out of room! The flower beds will look great if they all come up in the spring! But now to figure out what we should do with the rest of the leftover bulbs! (into the fridge for now)

I also discovered a whole bunch of wildflower seeds I had stashed away but at this time, I just don't have anywhere to put them! I *could* dig up some more grass and make another flower bed but I'm not too sure what my boyfriend would say about that... lol

At least it's done now though! Our yard is ready for winter and now I can focus on inside stuff. (Like sewing another sidesaddle habit perhaps?)