Saddle Up!

I have some news... I got a western saddle!!! Yes, it is true, I have finally got myself a saddle. Now here's the story, haha!

I found it on eBay a few weeks ago and ended up bidding on and winning it. It arrived later than I had expected but at least it arrived (I always get worried something is going to get lost in the mail). When I opened the box it smelled like mildew, yes, mildew. I pulled it out and set it on a stand, it wasn't what I expected (not really). It looked like someone had just pulled it out of storage (after like a few years) then put it up for sale, nice... I was quite agitated and didn't even want to look it over. So, I decided I was going to ship it back...

That is a whole different story. Things went from agitating to wanting to scream my freaking head off. I email the seller and told them I would be sending it back (easiest part), I then begin calculating shipping and find out it would cost over eighty dollars to send it back! So, I eventually still decide to do it, although when I go to print my shipping label the site freezes and I lose everything... Everything! So, we take it up to the UPS store, they couldn't do anything either and also said that we couldn't ship it in the box that it came in because it was too damaged... Just our luck right? We now have to find a huge new box to ship it in and figure out the shipping label deal. We get back home and ended up calling customer service, which ended up helping more than I had expected. Now I just had to find a box, which is almost impossible around here and lucky for us all of the recycling boxes were taken away... After that we kind of took a break, not much we could do.

After a while I went online and looked up how to get rid of a the mildew smell on a saddle. This was a lot more common than I thought and there were lots of articles to choose from. My hopes rose slightly. I then brought the saddle up to my room and unboxed it, couldn't keep the box anyway.. I set it up again and gave it a hardcore look over, i.e. checked the tree, hardware, leather condition etc. and you know what? It is actually a decent saddle. All it really needs is a little TLC and I could actually see myself riding in it.

Sometimes we need to give things second chances.

I won't use it for a while. At least for a week while I fix it up more (it soaks up leather oil like a dry sponge to water!). I also need to buy a rear cinch, breast collar, and a girth to go with it. I'll post pictures soon, I want it took look pretty for you all!