Time to sell the jumping saddle...

[CHT]

Kind of feeling sorry for myself for a moment, so if that is going to bother you, please skip to someone else’s post.

Took my little Arab mare to a little hunter show yesterday as there was a spot in the trailer and she needs to relax at shows. We did the 3" hunters (also called the poles class, but I think 3" hunters sounds better). It was awesome, and I think once she realized the scary roll top and lattice in the warm up ring had nothing to do with her day, everything else was no problem, and hopefully it will give her more confidence at dressage shows.

It made me realize though, that I totally miss jumping. But I can’t do it anymore other than the occasional cross pole to start a horse over fences or such. Even the little 3" hunters in my dressage saddle left me having issues walking today. Two point = no good.

So I should really sell my good jumping saddle. I love that saddle…but I have ridden in it ONCE this year. I was hoping it would fit my three year old because it is awesomely grippy, but not even close. I doubt I will buy another horse other than maybe lesson horses, and this saddle is too nice for a lesson saddle (it makes me sad when people scuff the leather).

So how did you accept having to make changes/cut back/give up doing some things? It seems like such a petty/spoiled thing to be upset about, but yet, here I am. I feel like selling that saddle will be closing that door…even though really, the door is already booby trapped with live alligators so it probably should be closed.

[Graymaresrule]

The first time I drove past an event I burst into tears.

And I still own my County Eventer

[Cheese183]

You do what you can. Even if it is just crossrails. I have degenerative eye issues. So I am always reevaluting what I feel comfortable doing. My mare loves cross country fences. With the right rider she could probably do very well in eventing. Alas she is stuck with me who aspires to do BN some day if my eyes allow it. Anything higher would not be fair to the mare since she would get very little help from me over fences. We have fun though. Yes it is depressing some days. However I plan to jump no matter what. I loose all my eyesight (luckily that is very rarre with the disease) I just plan to find a trainer crazy enough to help me.However I am just not ready to quit.

[Jackie_Cochran]

I have MS. I have not jumped in decades. I kept my jumping saddles through the looong years of not riding. I now ride 2 horses in my 43 year old Stubben Siegfried. The next time I find a horse to ride with a narrower back I will be using my favorite saddle, a 35 year old Crosby again. I find that the jumping saddles give me much more security on the horse than dressage, GP saddles or Western saddles. Everyone tells me to keep the old saddles going as long as possible because they don’t make saddles as well any more.

In the depths of despair I almost let my saddles go. Now I am glad, glad, glad that I kept them.

[red_mares]

I have C-spine problems (an assortment of letters that mean they really don’t know but it wont kill me) with a touch of fibro and riding got to be just miserable at around 30. I bought harness. It was an easy switch for me, saddleseat has driving & u/s classes, so I was still in the same world. I also found out that my b***h mare, who was hell between shaves at 2, loved it at 12.??

Honestly, there were nights that I just cried. But like Cheese said, you do what you can do. I rode occaisonally, not regularly. I gave up on the ammy-owner-trainer thing about 5 years ago. I just couldn’t do it any more physically. Still lots of ground work, and long-lining was killing me (the neck doesn’t like running either). I switched to full training. It was a lot less physical stress.

2 1/2 years ago, I screwed my ankle up (un horse-related). The up side is the lack of physical activity has done wonders for my neck. It’s made me reconsider riding again. Maybe I can do it, maybe I can’t. I still have my saddle and a full bridle that has been on horse 2X. I did some riding last year and it was kind of miserable and not at a level that I want to stay at. Trail/up-down lessons are REALLY dull after a go-like-hell ASB. Maybe since the foot’s been half-way rebuilt it will be better. Maybe it wont. Last year my PT (H/J type) gave the encouring words of “Posting is going to put the most stress on it, you’ll be ok” - Dude, I ride saddleseat. All we do is TROT!

If is sucks too much, I go back to looking for the world’s cheapest fine harness horse. Or maybe a road pony; I’ve gotten fat enough for one.

My mom, who is 73, hasn’t ridden in 20 years easy. Her saddle, a lovely, evil Barnsby cutback, is sitting on the quilt rack in her bedroom. The couple hundred dollars she’d get for it don’t make up the finality of selling.

My dad had to give up riding because his back was trashed early middle age. He sold his saddle, but kept quite a bit of stuff. Like 100 bits, coolers, sheets, etc. He gave me a nice set of dry rotted fine harness. He bought a sailboat and focussed his energy there. He still misses the horses though.

[CHT]

Thank you for the comments.

Yes, part of me thinks just keep it…its not like it eats anything, but then part of me is sad seeing it sitting unused…and if I can sell it for enough to turn it into a dressage saddle for filly next year then that makes sense.

Not sure why it suddenly hit me so hard on Sunday. I think I spend so much time in denial. I think too it feels like Step 1 is sell the good jumping saddle…and then step 2 will be selling the entire barn, even though that is silly!

I do have about 8 other jumping saddles at my disposal…just not as nice as this one.

I love teaching jumping, but it does frustrate me I can’t do much schooling, and when shopping for a lesson horse I can’t plan so much on putting jumping miles on it.

Cheese, there are a couple blind riders around here! I think they are more 4H, but I am fascinated by the idea of being blind and riding…but not so much I want to try it or would wish it on anyone, so I hope you don’t get that far along.

[aqhadreamer]

I sold my close contact last fall, heck I sold my english horse last summer. And yet what did I go and buy on the weekend? An older german made jumping saddle with knee and thigh blocks!

I have RA and I found that the big trot on my english horse was killing my back and hips to the point that a 1/2 hour lesson would leave me in bed for 24 hours. Once I sold him I played around on a friends horse who was a western horse and very smooth, then leased him. Than this spring I leased a western pleasure mare to show. Things have been going so well (riding 4 times a week for an hour at a time!!!) that I bit the bullet and bought an english saddle last weekend. I wont be jumping ever again but I love the flatter seats but grippy blocks. And its fun for both me and the horse to try something different once a week.

I was diagnosed in 2006, they told me I would never ride again. I live in denial every day.

[downen]

Put me in the denial column, too! I have MS and Addison’s disease, but I’m clinging to my horses, tack and dreams as hard as my weak, shaky fingers can hold on!

[Cheese183]

Denial is good to a point. It is dealing with the depression when reality rears its ugly head.While I am not in the same boat exactly there are stuff that I just can’t do. Never thought I would be jealous of people who can go get a lesson whenever they want. Or being able to go to a show.There are ways but it can be a pain and after so many plans not panning out it gets depressing. I keep on plugging along though. Nothing cures depression like a good thourough grooming session for my mare. Plus if I need a good cry her mane is there to catch my tears.

A friend posted this on fb today: Though it was a good fit. “There are things in life you can control & things you can not control. One thing you CAN control, is how much control you give the things you can not control.”

[Pookah]

I don’t know how much help I can be, because this was not really an issue for me, but my experience - I had horrible back problems in my 20s that were really limiting to riding. And I did myself no favors by being young and dumb and determined to “ride through” them - after six months off because of doctor’s orders, I went to the Tournament of Champions with my intercollegiate team and rode on the flat only - drew a horse with a trot like a jackhammer, in a class where they made you drop your stirrups immediately. I couldn’t feel my legs by the end of the class and had to physically taken off the horse, crying the whole time (but I placed 6th and at least got a point for my team :-)). I did enough damage to my back with that stupid little stunt that I can no longer ride without stirrups at all (I’m in agony within seconds), and I can only manage a bit of sitting trot on a comfortable horse, on a good day, if I have been doing lots of hot yoga (the regular kind isn’t sufficient). I used to do dressage and hunters, and obviously this is kind of a dealbreaker for any kind of significant dressage.

But, I’m a bit of a fatalist, and I still enjoy riding my horse, who wouldn’t be a dressage star anyway. It’s maybe not what I would have planned, or preferred, but I work at a therapeutic riding center and I see on a regular basis that I could also have far bigger challenges in life, so it’s just not a big deal to me. Last summer, he lost an eye, and I realized that he might not be comfortable jumping anymore, and figured that we still enjoy trail riding, so that was always an option. As it turns out, he worries much less about the missing eye than anyone else, and jumps just the same (good thing I didn’t worry too much about his limitations). But at the end of the day, I don’t really care what he or I are capable of, we have fun doing whatever that may be, and that’s the important thing. I know you can’t just snap your fingers and feel that way, but at the same time, sometimes you just have to learn to let go of the things you can’t control. I love the quote from the previous poster - so true!

[CHT]

Saddle sold today. Had trouble negotiating without getting emotional…I should not attach emotion to physical things, but it did make me sad. I really liked that saddle, and I really miss jumping…but on to new things…dressage and western pleasure!

[Skyedragon]

Four years ago I fell off the mounting block and tore my ACL, meniscus, and IT band. I had surgery to replace and repair everything, but the surgery did not go well. I ended up with a crooked knee and walked around with a crooked knee for three years before finding a dr that could fix the mess. I sold the horse that I had when I fell off the mounting block, a rescue with a rearing problem, and thought about giving up horses all together. Then I found my mare. She was patient with me even when I was flopping around like a dead fish on her back due to lack of leg muscle. She helped me through two more surgeries. Riding was horribly painful, and I got good use of my ice machine, but I couldn’t/can’t give it up. When I found a dr that could fix my knee and got me back to 100% in that area, I decided to fall of a friend’s horse and break my tail bone as well as develop a herniated disc. I am back to riding being very painful, especially trotting. I do a lot of two point, avoid sit trot like the plague, and use my TENS unit every morning and every night. I thought really hard about getting a gaited horse, but in the end I don’t want to give up the dressage and jumping, so I just tough it out.

Does that put me in the denial group?

[CHT]

I think if it is just pain, and you find it worth it, and it isn’t speeding the progression, then I am all for denial!

But at some point, denial won’t be enough…when the parts just won’t work properly, and walking becomes more of a priority…

And it sucks.