Random End of Year Stuff

Writing is a very organic and uncertain activity.  You start out with a specific story in mind, but half-way through, you find that the story (or post, or article) has gone haring off on its own down a path that you never meant to walk.  Sometimes those bits of writing get shelved and pulled out later (I have quite a few of those), sometimes you hit the "delete" button, and sometimes you follow the path just to see where it will lead.  This blog has turned out to be one of those "follow the path" things.

When I started this blog, it was something of an experiment in using social media as "free advertising" for the tack shop.  It's worked pretty well - turns out that it's consistently one of the top portals to the shop's website.  It's also grown into something more, though.  I truly enjoy writing it, and it's been received far better than I'd ever expected.  It's given me a chance to get some education about saddle fitting to the general horse public, it's allowed me to give a leg-up to some friends and colleagues, and it's given me an outlet for the frustration and silliness I encounter on a regular basis.  It's also led me to being asked to write articles and do interviews ... which I find amazing.  Who'da thunk a cranky half-a-century-old saddlefitting broad living in the booniewhacks of VT would have input and info that the general horse public would find interesting?!  It's all very, very cool, and I thank each and every one of you from the heart.

Given that this is the last day of 2011, I thought it might be fun to throw out some random things.  Two are flat-out brags, and the rest are things that never seemed to quite fit into any specific post.  First, I'm going to get the brags over with.

Here's the cover of the TrailBlazer magazine that features my "To Shim or Not To Shim" article:

All glossy and shiny and makes me go "wooooooo ...."

The frontspiece of the article:

Byline and everything!!!
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Second brag.  I have been invited to the London opening of the movie War Horse:

This is thanks to Nikki Newcombe, the former Sales Manager at Black Country Saddles.  She's started her own saddle company, Bliss of London (which will be featured here as soon as they're ready to launch), and very kindly invited me.  Don't I wish!!!
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My work space at the shop is a bit on the cold side.  We're up on top of a barn, and the walls in my office are NOT well-insulated.  I do tend to like lower temps (when people remark on the chilliness, I tell them that old meat needs to be refrigerated) and dress in layers to help deal with the occasional hot flash ... so the outer layer in the winter months is almost always polar fleece.  It's warm, it's lightweight, it breathes ... and it's probably not the smartest choice for someone who plays with sheep fur (or at least navy blue polar fleece when the sheep fur is white):

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Got a six year old saddle in last week for a strip flock.  Not only was it incredibly dirty (I mean, you really need to work to get dirt jockeys on the panels), it had never had the flocking touched, and it had been ridden in jeans.  Here's what happens to your saddle's seat when your ride in jeans:

Close-up view.  The hair-side finish has been worn completely away and you can see the skin side.  A year or so more of riding in jeans, and the saddle's owner will be looking at a $600 re-seat.

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When you flock a saddle, you tend to work with small pieces of wool, maybe 6" or so long, but not much bigger.  Big chunks of wool don't lie in well; they wad up and leave gaps and divots.  I've pulled some pretty impressive pieces out, but these are the record holders - the longest is about 31" long.  I call them The Scalps of Mine Enemies.

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So what's up for 2012?  Well, going to get the mare back in shape and under saddle (and it will have to be a new saddle; the middle-aged spread she's developed can't be encompassed by anything other than a hoop tree ... so I'll have to say goodbye to my Passier GG).  Also going to have shiai (test) in karate to get the second stripe on my brown belt.  And finally, I'm working on the syllabus for an Intro to Saddle Fitting course.  I want to gear it specifically to prep students for Mike Scott's saddle fitting course, and also make it comprehensive enough to offer a good basic education for an individual's personal use.  It'll be a 2-day weekend course ... more on that when I'm further along in the organizational process.

Anyway, here's wishing all of you a happy and safe New Year - and as always, thanks for reading.

Tools of the Trade

I absolutely love tools. Hardware stores are right after tack shops and book stores on my "favorites" list. Hand tools, power tools, woodworking tools - you name it, I love 'em all. And one of the wonderful things about doing saddle fitting and repair is the tools I get to use. Admittedly, they're somewhat old-fashioned; some of them have been pretty much the same for the last two or three hundred years ... but they're cool anyway.

These are flocking irons. They're used to put flock in the panels, and to adjust and move the flock once it's in:


The top iron is a very straight, inflexible tool, whereas the two in the middle can be bent into whatever angle is needed to reach some of the more awkward spots in the panels. The bottom iron is helpful for adjusting the flock in the area of the flocking holes (harder to do with a long iron). They all have teeth on the ends to catch and hold the wool.

This is a hook for removing flock:


Like the middle two irons above, this can be bent to whatever curve is needed. Removing flock is probably my least-favorite job (unless I'm doing a strip-flock and removing all the wool). It can be tough to get just the right amount of flock out, particularly if the wool's compacted, and it's very easy to leave divots.

This is a masher:

It's used to compress the flock or help it "break in". You basically grab it by the handle and use the large, flat end to pound the bejesus out of the panels. (Ok, it's not quite that simple - but to the untrained eye, that's how it looks). Great stress relief!

These are awls:


The one on the top is a diamond-point awl; it's used for making holes or widening existing holes, or for scratching out stitch lines and the like. The bottom awl is a curved or backing awl; it can also be used to widen existing holes, and is very handy for picking up stitches and pulling thread from lines of stitching.

These are some of the wools I use for flocking.:



The top two are long-fibered rovings, which are very easy to lay in the panels and break in quickly. The bottom two are shorter-fibered batting (the one on the left is Black Country's Jacobs wool), which is tougher to lay in, but can be a bit more resilient.




Finally, this is the synthetic flock I use:



This is Passier's synthetic flock, which is (in my opinion) about the best synthetic flock available. It's long-fibered enough to be easy to work with and is very resilient; it doesn't tend to pill and bunch the way some synthetics do.

I do use other tools - groovers, bone folders, stitching spacers, skiving knives, punches, etc. - but those are more for leather repair. These are the "if I was stranded on a desert island and had to do saddle fitting" tools.

It's A Flocking Thing (Wooly Thoughts) ...

I get calls like this: "Hi, this Joe Doe. I got a saddle from you a year ago, and it was great for a while, but it's not fitting now."

ME: "Is this a wool or foam-flocked saddle?"

JD: "Wool."

ME: "Have you had a fitter take a look at it and make adjustments?"

JD: "Um, no. Was I supposed to?"

My bad here. I dropped the ball and didn't pass necessary info on to my clients. I just assume that people know that wool-flocked saddles have to have the fit checked after about 10 hrs. of riding, and adjusted as necessary. Well, we all know what "assume" makes ... and in this case, it can also make a horse back-sore.

So I'm telling you all (and am reminding myself to tell my clients) that a wool-flocked saddle needs that kind of maintenance. It's sort of like changing the oil in your car - it needs to be done periodically to keep things running smoothly. After the initial adjustment, it should be checked again in a few months - it sometimes takes a couple of fitting adjustments to initially fine tune the fit. After that, the fit should be checked (and adjusted if necessary) every 6-12 months, depending on how often the horse is ridden and on the horse's level of training and development.

And at some point down the road, you'll need to have a total reflock - a "strip flock" - done. Wool compacts and loses its resilience, and - if subjected to enough constant pressure - will actually felt up. Here's what new wool looks like - I get this lovely stuff from Alan Powell at Saddler's Bench (they make our Killington close contact saddle):

It's soft and fluffy and free of knots and lumps, highly resilient and very cushy.

And here's what old wool looks like:

Admittedly, this is an extreme case. This wool came out of an ancient (think 30 yr. old) Stubben that had never had any work done on it. The wool used here is remnant wool from the garment and upholstery industries - hence the multiple colors. But even the lovely wool that I use will become matted and lumpy over time, and will need replacing.

How often? Again, it depends on how often (and in what conditions) you ride, and how often and how radically the flocking has been adjusted. Some saddles can go five to ten years before needing a strip flock, and some need it after only a few years. I think my record holder for needing a strip flock the soonest is Jenny Kimberly, a local endurance / competitive trail rider. Jenny literally rides thousands of miles a year in all kinds of weather, and her mare Lyric changes condition from the beginning to the end of the season, and her saddle needs flocking adjustments as a result. Her saddle needed a strip flock after only 3 years.

By the way, even if your saddle is foam flocked, the fit should be checked at least once a year - or more often if you notice changes in balance or in your horse's way of going. With foam, the tree width can be altered, but other fitting adjustment have to be made with shims and corrective pads. But whichever you have in your saddle, find a knowledgeable fitter to take a look periodically - your horse will thank you.