 |
Re: [RC] Saddle - best value & comfort? - Sullivan--- Jerry & Susan Milam <milamj@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:you must be a LW or FW? Heavier people don't do their horses any favors by using a treeless saddle. JMO Susan Susan, I have to remark that unless you have extensive experience with this saddle, I am wondering what you are basing your opinion here on? I have ridden these saddles for almost 10 years, and have a LOT of friends and aquaintences (varying weights) who use and have switched to BM sport saddles ( partially treeless). I have seen heavy riders (pushing 200 lbs), with NO problems at all with back soreness. My opinion is that they work far better than the majority of saddles with trees. I have yet to see a horse that is regularly ridden in a sport saddle, with any kind of white patches or spots on the back.... It's a sad fact, that you can go to any largely attended endurance ride, and see all kinds of horses with white spots on their backs, and also see high-mileage riders with horrible seat position (chair position, feet forward), and also riders bouncing all over their horses backs. HEAVIER people are not the problem, it's BAD riders (bouncing and slamming up and down on the back) Bad riding position, and inabllity to balance on the horses's back or sit lightly, will cause problems with ANY kind of saddle, tree, or treeless! In my circle of riding people, have seen more back problems and saddle fit FIXED by folks switching to treeless saddles. Even with heavy riders..... I have ridden behind horses loose or ponied and watched how their backs move up and down and side to side. I am not convinced ANY kind of rigid tree that appears to fit on a horse standing STILL, is going to work when a horse is moving....ad in seasonal weight changes, muscling and maturity changes, and you would need 6 different trees to fit a horse over the course of a lifetime! It's just logic! In my opinion, more research needs to be done, with proper monitoring equipment and new materials, to design a truly flexible saddle that both protects and flexes with the back, and distributes riders weight. The sport saddle is not perfect, but I have no problems at all with mine, with minor changes (stirrups moved BACK, proper pad) To those dependent on heavy rigid saddles with trees.....I ask you to ditch those saddles for a month, ride bareback every day, see if your horse gets a sore back, and FEEL how much the back moves and flexes..... Karen =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
|