Am very excited! Had a saddler out this morning, who spent 1 1/2 hours with me and the Ballerina Mare. I was looking to try a Heather Moffett saddle, which had been recommended to me as a possibility. The saddler agreed that the HM seem to either really suit a horse and/or person, or not, and said something with worried me a bit, namely that she thought they were not really suitable for people who were having trouble with a stable seat.

There was lots of measuring, palpating, and trotting up, and she noted:
1. the mare needs an even shorter saddle: a 16"! (She agreed that my thigh length suggests an 18".)
2. the mare had some tightness in her shoulders, which is interesting: I recently had a conversation with a knowledgeable person who suggested that the difficulty we've been having getting a proper heel-first landing from her, might be related to tightness higher up in her body, rather than problems with her feet (which look great now).

So we popped a saddle on, and I had a sit in it. The first thing we noticed was that my legs instantly fell exactly where they should. The second thing we noticed was that the mare was eager to stretch her neck forward and down, and became much freer in her shoulder movement almost immediately. The saddler said that I seemed very stable, and she had just assumed that I have a stable position. I'm now wondering if my troubles are largely to do with the old saddle, and perhaps I'm not quite as crap as I sometimes feel! The 16" length wasn't a problem, because I could ride very long. We then tried some blocks, which I found helpful for letting me know when I was about to grip with my knees, and which are interchangeable with different shapes and sizes.

We also talked about other possibilities. Her need for a short saddle and my long legs mean that other than the HM, I'm essentially limited to at least part-custom saddles, although she suggested I might also look up the Ideal Rebecca, as it's a bit simpler than the more up-scale models and therefore possibly a bit more flexible as to whom it can be fitted to. She did think that the HM appeared to be a very good solution for both of us.

I did some poking around, and found that the Rebecca, even used, would be pushing my price range, even if I found it in a 16", which seems to be rare. I'm very strongly leaning towards going for the HM (new! Checked the used page on FB, and no-one has one). What do we all think?