Buying a Custom Made Dresch Saddle

In October 2014 I was taking two weeks worth of lessons at Sunflower Farm from Amanda Johnson and was lucky enough to be there when Sebastian Dresch was there working on saddles. I was riding Bacara in a lesson and he was waiting for Amanda to finish and watched Bacara moving. He told Amanda that I needed to resolve my saddle fitting issues. Amanda mentioned that I may want to let Sebastian look at Bacara and give advice on saddle fit. Ugg - dressage is expensive and I was a little worried but thought I should hear what Sebastian had to say. He told me that her shoulders sloped back well but the saddle was getting in the way of her using them and that her 18th rib was fairly straight up and down and that made for a rather small comfortable spot for the saddle to sit. I am 5'10" tall so I need an 18" seat. I decided to go ahead and order a saddle as I really want to ride FEI and know Bacara needs to be very comfortable to do that. I was hoping the saddle would make enough of a difference that she wanted to try really hard for me. The saddle was delivered and the thigh blocks were added. It was so very strange riding around because my leg laid down directly under me and I could feel so much more than I used to be able to feel. The amount of feel that I had was so much more that it was a little overwhelming at first. I have been riding in the saddle for about 2 weeks now and I am appreciating all of the added rider feel. Bacara loves it too. Bacara is so much more relaxed and happy in her work - now I am wondering what I did without the saddle! Thank you Amanda! Thank you Sebastian! What an honor to ride in one of your saddles!