Saddle Ajustment

I think I mentioned in my previous post that the horse masseuse and I pulled apart my saddle yesterday after the session and realized that one panel was flexing loosely and the other was nearly rigid which was causing some wear on Blaze's back. I wanted to ride him this evening so I took a look at it this afternoon; there was a sort of spiral "bolt" for lack of a better word that seemed to control the angle of the panel so I got a pair of channel lock pliers and tried turning it. It screwed back and forth quite easily so I checked where the one on the other side that was flexing easily was sitting, which was nearly all the way screwed in, only one thread showing. I wrestled with the pliers at first but finally got it situated right and got the other bolt screwed in pretty quickly considering I'd never messed with it before. The panel that was causing the rub now flexed equally as freely as the other side. A pretty simple fix really! I rode out up the hill past our gate to the top of the ridge this evening and the saddle felt great! Its hard to explain because while it never felt particularly "un-even" before, now it just feels SO even and centered and I can feel his back muscles under me more. The one rigid panel was canting the saddle up just slightly and I know that wasn't good for either of us. Blaze seemed looser after his massage and we did some good hill gallop sprints. Unfortunately more cars than usual passed us and we got dusted out a couple of times but it was still a great ride. As we were about a mile from our front gate the moon was high in the sky and there was just a little pink light left to see bats flitting around and I think I even saw an owl. Such a wonderful time of night to be riding.
My truck is in the transmission shop getting a new clutch and u-joints so I am stuck at home for a couple more days but I am so glad there are dirt roads to ride out from and we aren't truly stuck riding on the property. My mom is bringing my little nieces over from the coast on Wednesday for the first time. They live in town and haven't had quite all the fun country experiences so I will be giving them riding lessons, or at least little rides, on Blaze and taking them fishing with the husband and all that fun country stuff. Bless Blaze for being such a patient soul that he is off top 10'ing LDs one weekend and teaching little girls to ride the next!