Saddle Pad for my CHSA finalist and Show Jumper (Suitability #7158)

My daughter's been riding horses a full four years now.  She's been showing in rated shows for three.  At the end of last year, she fell during a show as she was trying to move up to her first jumping class.  It was a rough few months as her confidence was shaken.

This spring she was still not confident enough to show in a jumping class.  Funny thing is, she jumps during every lesson she has.  She's good at it.  But she was afraid to do it in a show after her fall.  After some encouragement from the older girls at her barn, she showed in a jumping class this April.  Every time she did it, she was super nervous, but she dug deep, faced her fears, and continued to show in what's called Short Stirrup (cantering over cross-rails on a course) all spring and summer.  She racked up enough points to qualify for the finals, which happened this weekend.  She took 6th place out of the 12 riders.

I learn so much from her.  I couldn't be more proud of how she handled herself this year.  She matured so much.  She got to be a much stronger rider.  She is proud of herself, and I know this season taught her so many good things, that she'll take with her into the rest of her life.

6th place in Short Stirrup Hunter, CHSA Finals 2015

She got this great horse fabric, Wild Horses, by Exclusively Quilters at our local quilt shop's annual clearance this winter.  She's been begging me to make her a new saddle pad for her ever since.  After her performance this weekend, how could I not???

I've made this pattern once before, it's by Suitability #7158.  The hardest part was finding a good binding to use for the edges.  They take a lot of wear and washing.

Cover of Suitability #7158

Here's her finished saddle pad.  It's regular quilter's cotton, so it won't last more than one season with the abuse it'll take.  But it makes my daughter feel special to have something made just for her.  It's super easy to put together, with basic diamond quilting and normal cotton batting in between.  I found a 1 1/2" woven black binding on Etsy.  It looks great, but isn't super strong and it actually wore out on the first one before the fabric did.

Saddle Pad made with Wild Horses by Exclusively Quilters

The back I used because it's called Horse Blanket (seriously, what ELSE would I use?) and the colors looked great with the front to me.

Back made with Horse Blanket by Joel Dewberry

If you've ever made one of these, I'd love to hear about it, and I'd love to know where you got your binding.

Horse Show Ribbon Display Swag - Tutorial

My daughter is in her 3rd year of horseback riding.  She is only 9 now, so she started when she was pretty little.  She only started showing last winter, and last year, she only did two schooling shows.  But this summer, and fall, she started doing formal shows, and ribbons started to pile up.

Some of the other parents said to me "oh, I just took fishing line and hung it corner to corner in my daughter's room, it works fine".  Fishing line?  Not in my house where there's all this fabric laying around.

So I measured the width of the wall I wanted to hang them ribbons on.  It would have been about four WOF cuts, so I cut five 2" strips so that it could swag a bit.  The fabric is from Fleurish by Valori Wells (for Free Spirit).

I did the mitred corners, just as if I was making binding so I could get one long strip.

Then I folded the fabric in half the long way to make a seam, opened the fabric back up, and then folded each side in towards the middle (see the picture below).

Then I folded the fabric together again, so no cut edges were showing, and had about 1/2" wide of a 200" or so long strip.

I sewed a straight line, right up the entire length, right in the middle.  Then I folded the ends back onto the strip and sewed a box to hold them closed.

Here is my sweetie, with her best friend and pony love, Shady.  She has two lessons on him a week and he just loves her to pieces.

This photo was taken at the next to last show for the season, it was a gorgeous fall day and the show was outside.

I hung the strip from one side of the room to the other, and we put all of the ribbons onto it in the order of the places they represent.  She got a lot of 3rds this season, which is fantastic for a first year shower (and there are some 1sts and 2nds in there too!)

There was enough to have three sections, but I couldn't take it all in one photo, so this is the right hand side.  You notice the pink on one wall and blue on the opposite walls?  She wanted her room to look like cotton candy.

This fabric strip is so much prettier and festive looking to me than fishing line.   Besides, I have to find some use for all of this fabric don't I?