New Saddle Blanket!

My new saddle blanket came! And OMG, it's HUGE! I know, I know, I ordered the double blanket on purpose, but it's bigger than I thought it'd be. Opening the package was like unwrapping a rug to use on my floor. "I'm going to put this monstrosity on my horse?!" Yes, yes I am.

And I did. And it looked ridiculous. It sat like a weird wool tent on my horse's back. Oh no! It doesn't fit! Then I remembered that, duh, you have to break in new blankets. Whoops! Silly me. It still looked pretty big, though.

I saddled up anyway with my English saddle and went for a ride. A short ride, and a slow ride, as my back has not been happy recently. Cherry seemed perfectly happy in her tack, and the saddle blanket didn't seem to bother her at all, despite running all the way from withers to rump (I told you it was huge).

The saddle also seemed to fit better with the blanket. Before it felt like I was being tipped to the back of the saddle, but with the new blanket I felt centered and like I was sitting where I should be in the seat.

Oh, and it's PRETTY! The pattern is awesome, and the colors are great. The light tan matches my girth, the brown matches my saddle, the black matches my bridle, and the sage green doesn't clash with my teal stuff. Great success!

I did discover the reason the damn thing is so big. It's the oversize model! Not just double, but oversized double. Ohhhhhhh. Of course, I made this discovery AFTER I rode in it. Of course I did. Instead of 32X64, its 36X68. No wonder it looks so damn huge. It IS huge. There must have been a mix-up at the company, but it's too late to do anything about it now. It's hairy and sweaty and mine. That's okay though, I don't think I would have been as happy with a smaller blanket, but time will tell.

Maybe I'll use it as a rug if it doesn't work out as a saddle blanket.