Jane
Olympic Poster
Colo ("koala")
Posts: 938
|
Post by Jane on Dec 28, 2009 4:14:29 GMT 1
I have a new hobby: saddle dissection! I'm thinking of handing out donor cards By working closely with an RDA centre in NSW, I am able to exchange saddle fit sessions for the kind of saddles that will never go near a horse's back again. So, taking Sue Palmer's approach as an example, I'd be really pleased if anyone would like to join my page on Facebook. The more that people can learn from some common saddle fit problems, the better for horses. My business page is Balanced Horse. Just pop it in the search box or use this URL [whoops, got the URL wrong! Good job everyone's in bed in the small hours when I post so I can correct it Hope this works] www.facebook.com/pages/Balanced-Horse#/pages/Balanced-Horse/194549292625?ref=search&sid=100000339305133.4236829781..1
|
|
|
Post by feemac on Dec 28, 2009 13:58:52 GMT 1
Thanks Jane thats really interesting its horrifying what you can't see. I've come across a couple of leather saddles with duff flocking in too, just goes to show the synthetic's aren't always the best either. I had heard that wintec saddles with cair do more damage than good by a few physio's.
|
|
|
Post by mandal on Dec 28, 2009 14:25:08 GMT 1
Great Jane. That wintec in the third pic looks like even the tree is crooked!!! I donated my last 2 treed saddles for dissection a couple of years ago.
|
|
|
Post by K8 on Dec 28, 2009 15:24:33 GMT 1
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Dec 28, 2009 16:32:51 GMT 1
I have seen that link and it's scarey :< makes you wonder doesnt' it. frets
|
|
|
Post by feemac on Dec 28, 2009 16:36:04 GMT 1
Thanks K8 that ones scary too Glad I've changed to a WOW
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Dec 28, 2009 16:41:19 GMT 1
I have gone through god knows how many saddles but both my old mare and Seren seem happy in the saddle I now have.
its a minefield :<
|
|
|
Post by K8 on Dec 28, 2009 16:41:28 GMT 1
Freemac I've got WOW's too, love them!! Also got one of heathers dressage saddles, think i might love that even more than my WOW!!
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Dec 28, 2009 17:05:32 GMT 1
I have two ponios I cant' ride I don't think saddles with be a problem for me
|
|
dingbat
Grand Prix Poster
Posts: 2,481
|
Post by dingbat on Dec 28, 2009 19:52:04 GMT 1
I've seen inside a Cair saddle and lets just say i wouldnt be letting one near my horse!
|
|
Jane
Olympic Poster
Colo ("koala")
Posts: 938
|
Post by Jane on Dec 28, 2009 20:58:33 GMT 1
Thanks for the saddle link... a lot of the older leather saddles have big issues, even the big name makes.
The saddle bug has well and truly bitten me now. Never thought I'd be so interested in saddles, but what I've encountered out here in terms of horses with back problems has rather pushed me into it. But there is no saddle fitter training outside the major retailers... However, I was lucky enough to get one-to-one training with Peter Horobin, the Australian saddle designer/maker/fitter who part-funded Gerd Heuschmann's DVD.
It's different out here, especially away from the city areas. There isn't nearly so much choice of product due to import distances and costs. And the progressive products, such as Saddle Co saddles, aren't in the country. I've had to import a used one for myself, along with an adjusting machine!
There are a couple of major retailers who have so-called trained fitters - let's just say that their standards are variable. The biggest national retailer is also the supplier of Wintecs and Bates saddles, with the famous Cair "system". The marketing is so pervasive and illusory that most buyers seriously think they are buying the same thing as Flair panels. They do fit some horses, but not all horses...
|
|
|
Post by heather on Dec 29, 2009 11:07:43 GMT 1
My previous sales manager, ex RA Jill Shephard, trained saddle fitter by Kay Humphries and worked for her for 3 years, is not safe to be left near a saddle with a knife! Before you can blink, she has dropped the panel out, to reveal often a multitude of faults.
We frequently find ( even without dropping the panel out) stirrup bar higher or set further forwards on one side than the other, girth billets sewn on further back on one side, all of these faults making it darn near impossible for the rider to sit straight, the latter will also pull the saddle squint as soon as girthed up.
Crooked trees are so common, you would scarcely believe it- panels sewn in so that one sits further forward than the other, unequal flocking, one rogue saddle we have here to show to students came with a friend's horse, and had been fitted by a Master Saddler.
When we dropped the panel out, there were two large lumps of belly leather, tacked to the cantle to lift it, so that the saddle didnt tip backwards. The indents in the panels are still there, over 4 years since we took the saddle apart.
Needless to say, the mare had a sore back from this saddle and was never ridden in it again.
Asymmetry in saddles is one of the commonest problems causing asymmetry in the horse, and the rider not being able to sit square!
Heather
|
|
|
Post by heather on Dec 29, 2009 11:25:20 GMT 1
Oh, and when I was working with Barrie Swain, he told me that he took an Indian saddle apart, and found to his horror, that it was flocked with hospital waste- bloody swabs etc!!
Heather
|
|
|
Post by mandal on Dec 29, 2009 11:34:46 GMT 1
Oh, and when I was working with Barrie Swain, he told me that he took an Indian saddle apart, and found to his horror, that it was flocked with hospital waste- "blinking" swabs etc!! Heather Yuk!!!! Waste, as in used ones?
|
|
|
Post by feemac on Dec 29, 2009 11:42:10 GMT 1
Why doesn't someone with alot of knowledge of these saddle problems blow this whole subject open in some of the horse mags and let more people know. I'm sure alot of people would be interested.
|
|