A little late in posting

I had a wonderful ride last Thursday, Just a quick one. I hadn't ridden Chessie bear for a few months being winter, i had done quite a bit of groundwork thou. With it now coming into summer it is the time to get into gear and ride :D so i jumped on bareback with just his halter and lead rope tied around his neck like reins(I never ride in a bit with Chester, he is very soft and respectful just with a halter) I took him for a short hack just a little ways away to see how he would act when he could no longer see his paddock mate Polly, i was so proud of him, he did so well and didn't do anything silly, he was very keen just to hack around and spend time with me :D Aww what a sweet boy. Anyway, we came back into his paddock, which has hills in it, steep ones and not so steep ones, we did a few of the 'not so steep ones first' we cantered up those, then i got really keen and we tried some of the steeper ones which was great fun! There is a flat piece at the top of the hill also so we practiced 'just' cantering. I think i may need to invest in a new saddle i am not sure, as when i ride bareback he is happy and willing to do everything, but with the saddle at the moment(which is a treeless) he doesn't like to lengthen his stride.., hmmm maybe if i just invested in a 'better' saddle pad?? I already have a Old Mac's therapeutic half-pad  with memory foam so can't get much 'better' than that. Before my treeless, i had a Bates Caprilli which we both liked and felt comfortable in so maybe back to that? Or..., i know one of his previous owners had a Isbell Werth dressage saddle on him which is the same brand just a dressage version. But i would like to stick to a jumping or GP saddle as i am not a big dressage rider, although Chester has hidden talents in that area, he apparently is quite the 'dressage horse' his previous owner not the one mentioned before but another(i know he has had alot, poor boy being passed around so much :( )
brought him just as a return to riding, hack horse, but she had a friend come around and ride him once and he was just fair prancing around the paddock doing all sorts of fancy things, im not exactly sure what he did and didn't do as she wasn't a dressage person and couldn't tell one thing from the next so im at a bit of a loss at what he can actually do, but fancy footwork works well enough for me :D I think as a saddle pad i would use a BJ Merino they look soooo comfy :D shall keep you posted(no pun intended) on the goings on when it comes to saddles and changing etc. We have a local show coming up on labour weekend, next weekend on Sun 23rd, The 'Petre Mini Show' Shall hopefully get some pics for you all to oggle at there is a few gymkhanas and other shows going on but unfortunately they are on the days im working :-/