Saddle Review: Prestige Lucky Idol

SADDLE REVIEW

Prestige Lucky Idol

With adjustable anatomically shaped Velcro blocks, the Prestige Lucky Idol offers excellent rider comfort and influence.

Animals are her life – she works and plays with them, rescues those who have been abandoned, and comforts the ones who are sick.

Kate Prestney is a vet nurse at Camden Equine Centre and has a variety of horses agisted close to her home in Pheasants Nest, a village southwest of Sydney. “I have a mixture of Warmbloods and Thoroughbreds, two mares in foal, a couple of German Riding Ponies and a Welsh Cob gelding,” explains Kate, who coaches regularly and holds an EA Level 1 coaching qualification specialising in dressage.

Prior to nursing at Camden she worked as a rider and groom, was a breeding and foal manager on stud farms and prepared yearlings for sale.

Today her main discipline is dressage, but she also does some low-level eventing because she likes to cross train, “and from time to time a little bit of showing.” She is also on the committee of Camden Equitation Inc., which runs a variety of events including both EA and Working Equitation (WE) dressage.

She recently did some WE dressage at SIEC with Glengarry Eclipse (London Park Warragul x Pen-nant Evening Star), aka Boots. This 10-year-old buckskin Cob is the latest addition to her equine family. “Due to all the wet weather we haven’t done much riding recently,” says Kate. “In the past he’d been successful at EA Medium level but this was our first competition together. It went really well.”

For Kate, preparing for that weekend event was a little like a military manoeuvre. “My house is full of animals,” she says. “Four dogs, three cats, all rescued creatures, some fish, and several chooks in the garden. The dogs came with me to SIEC, the others stayed at home and a friend fed them and all the horses.”

It was also Boots’ first outing in his new saddle. “My others were all wrong in the panels. He’s very roly-poly, short in the back and doesn’t have much of a wither.” As she has done on many previous occasions Kate consulted Elizabeth Lewis from Superior Steed, who suggested a Lucky Idol. “The Saddle Hub sent one for me to try and Elizabeth only had to widen it. Finding what works for the horse is paramount.”

Kate is most appreciative of The Saddle Hub’s service. “I’m always pretty short for time and I like their efficiency. I sold a saddle through them some time ago which I found to be simple and straightforward. They updated me regularly and it went in no time. The Lucky Idol was just right, the purchasing process was good and communication was excellent and swift. I never had to wait long for a reply to a call or email. Highly recommended.”

The Saddle Hub has a wide variety of top quality second hand saddles, so why wait? All saddles come with a two-week trial, finance options, and a courier right to your door. Terms and conditions apply.