Trial Saddle 1: Schleese Eagle

The day after my XC lesson was the big local tack sale. My goal was to go and sit my bum in as many jump saddles as possible and just get a feel for what worked and what didn't, and then probably go looking online. I did a bit of research and had some thoughts about what might work best: I kinda wanted a saddle that would cover as many things as possible (HUS (rules out a monoflap), low-level eventing and I kinda wanted something adjustable by tree press, and wool flocked - so I could tweak it as the girls needed.

 Something like this Unicorn Parade Saddle circa 1420

And who else should I bump into but Olivia and Figure too! Unofficial blogger meet up ;) Olivia and I and perused what jump saddles were there. There were a lot of kid sizes, but a few stood out:

There was a 17" Antares that was beautiful.  The leather was just buttery. I sat in it, but it just wasn't quite right for me (I probably needed a 17.5)

 There was a 17.5" Stubben Siegfried that honestly looked unused. It was a good solid saddle, nicely balanced. The billets were not even indented! It was a 32cm tree the widest Stubben makes, but that's prolly too narrow for Miss Tesla ;)

and then the volunteer brought out a 17.5 Schleese Eagle. It was gorgeous. It sat amazing. It is fully adjustable in terms of the tree (by tree press), flocking, and the velcro blocks. It was a steal for the quality of saddle (these run over 5K new).  And it was the perfect shade of nice dark brown to match Porsche's bride and my sidesaddle girth....







So with encouragement from Olivia, I've taken it out on a 10 day trial.