Let's talk about sidesaddles...

There are numerous hurdles to overcome when wanting to embark on riding aside down in the colonies:

1. Finding a sidesaddle

2. Prising the sidesaddle from the death grip of its current owner!

3. Fit

Stumbling across a sidesaddle with a W to XW gullet was the equivalent of looking for a purple and green striped zebra... it just wasn’t going to happen!

After searching for over 18 months and trying a number of sidesaddles (that all had narrow gullets... grrr...) I finally decided to bite the bullet and have a sidesaddle custom made by Wendy Tidbold of Wendy’s Saddlery. I did multiple wither tracings and sent them off in the mail. After what seemed like such a long wait (as these things do when you are really excited about something!) this is what my rural postie had in the back of his truck one day...

It is lovely to ride :) The next adventure has been reflocking it. No local saddler will touch a sidesaddle and you can't buy flocking irons in New Zealand. I found one saddler who sold me a bag of stuffing, and armed with a long handled screw driver and a wire coat hanger I have had to learn how to repack it myself. I have managed to repack the front but I am having trouble getting flock down into the back of the left panel, so the adventure continues...