The Saddle Hunt

Trying to find a good saddle is a bit like trying to find a good bra, except it is okay to try it on with a lot of people milling about.  Unlike a bra, a saddle that is ‘pre-owned/used’ is actually preferred, they are less expensive AND broken in, so it is just one less job for me and my…seat.

In Ellensburg, there is the most wonderful saddle maker and his store is absolutely one of a kind.  You have to be ‘in the know’ to find it as it is out in the country and they don’t advertise, they don’t have to.  They do have a sign, but you have to get there to see it.  Their sign says to ‘come in the coffee is always ready’ and I have been offered a cup each time I’ve walked in the door.  The store itself is a plethora of  bits, boots, clothes, a wonderful wooden floor, handmade saddles, chaps and all things for your horse.  They are experts at fitting a saddle, so I figured just like the expensive bra shops, that they would be able to tell me exactly what ‘size’ saddle I needed, thereby eliminating any chaffing or pinching.  When I said that to them…the guys just looked at me…”ah…we’ve never shopped for bras, but I don’t think it is the same”.  Well, so much for being the expert saddle fitter for my…seat.

The saddle does also have to ‘fit’ the horse, and it was here that they were truly experts.  As my beautiful Beau doesn’t talk, I was glad they could fit the saddle for at least one of us.

The saddle that turned out to be ‘just right’ is prettier than anything, I’d ever imagined.  Wait, who am I kidding…I never imagined having my own horse or even needing my own saddle…dreamed it maybe…but really and truly imagined it to the point where I needed to make sure it ‘fit’…never!  The truth is that as much as I try to see the humor in the day to day…there was a time, where my life was quite dark and my hope was slim, where I could only see ‘hope’ in the small tiny pieces of belief from others, that my life would get better…  A time where even this dream was so far from reality that I ceased to dream it…  So, if you need it, take my saddle as a bit of ‘hope’, my beautiful ‘used’ saddle, which is broken in, the leather is soft, scuffed a bit, with some shiny pieces of sterling silver, that when our dreams seem beyond hope…it is not hopeless and I believe that one day you will find that your life becomes as they say in Ellensburg…’even better’.