I was at Beval’s in New Canaan yesterday and I saw a beautiful and odd-looking saddle on a saddle rack by the door.  It was a Butet, but unlike any saddle I had ever seen before.

I’m a Butet fan from way back, and I’ve bought both a Butet dressage saddle (flat, brown, calfskin, close contact, light) and the hunt saddle that George Morris endorses, which I got when it was $2000 less than it is now and known as “The California.”

This new Butet looked like some curious cross between a trail saddle and a jumping saddle. It sat on a pad embroidered with the word “Pratique.”  I had to ask what it was.  Beval’s manager told me that it was a brand-new design, that she’d been to France to see it, and that they were very excited about it.  It was a “Practice” saddle, designed to help riders perfect their seats.  Zut alors!

If I had unlimited funds and several schoolmasters to give lessons on, I’d definitely buy this saddle.   It’s even more minimal than the close-contact saddles of yesteryear with their flat seats, lack of blocks, and lack of knee rolls (just like the Crosby Equilibrium that’s in my tackroom at home).

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When was the last time you checked yours?

Without you even being aware of it, your leathers can become uneven.  Your body can become uneven as a result.  Continuing the chain of dominoes, your horse, feeling your lack of balance, may stop going so well for you.

It’s like that old nursery rhyme:  For want of a nail, a kingdom was lost.

It’s always surprising to see how many people ride with uneven leathers.  That goes for beginners on schoolies, and those schooling I-1.  I have to confess, it’s caught me up, too, on more than one occasion — especially when riding one of my client’s horses, who had a brand-new saddle with brand-new leathers.  I’d wonder why I felt a little skewed in the saddle and work on making my seatbones even…until I remembered to check the length of my stirrups and realized my seat was not the problem.

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