The trials of trying a saddle

Thursday I went to the tack shop and picked up another saddle to try, a Canterbury again but a medium tree. It says it is also an Equation, but this one in different from the one I previously tried. It has recessed stirrup bars which I have never used before, and the inside flap of trial saddle #2 has a master saddler brand, so I think it may have been a semi custom job. The twist on saddle #2 also felt narrower, which I really liked. The first day I *tried* to ride in these test ride stirrup leathers they gave me that are supposed to prevent damage to the saddle. These things were so beeping long I had to wrap them and could not get the right length to save my life. So much to Werther's pleasure we did not ride too hard, I ended up abandoning the stirrups and mainly working on my sitting trot and working on his connection. Today I rode with the stirrups from trial saddle #1, I figure that the saddle is already used and what the tack shop does not know won't kill them. The stirrup length was much better, but because of the recessed bars on saddle #2 they were about 1/2 an inch too long. The stirrups were already wrapped and on the top whole and I did not want to mess with them so I just canter a little bit and worked mainly on my trot again. I did a lot of shoulder in and leg yield to working on Werther's frame and maintaining a consistent connection. He did really well, put up a little fight after our walking break, mainly sticking his head up like a giraffe, but I was able to work him though it.