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[RC] Saddle Fit: CAIR, FLAIR, Wintec, WOW at the Cranberry Ride - Libby & Quentin Llop DVM
I apologize for the length of the following, it reflects some current
thoughts on the quest for happier horses. (That said, there is much that is
left out.) As Libby & I will be at the Cranberry ride, I encourage anyone
interested to talk to us there & look at our saddles. We just returned from
England where we attended a saddle fitters seminar to learn about installing
FLAIR; we currently have 5 FLAIR saddles, soon to be 7. (Incidently, we
asked about serge panels; the universal opinion is that they become damp
from absorbed sweat.)
The Problem: in a young unrestricted horse, the shoulder blade pivots with
each step around a point about a third of the way down from the top; as the
leg goes forward the top of the blade goes back. In a 16.2 hh TB horse, I
have measured the range of movement at 6". For the horse to be comfortable,
the delicate cartilage that forms the top of the shoulder blade must glide
without resistance underneath the saddle. ANY RESTRICTION TO THE TOP OF THE
SHOULDER BLADE MEANS A SHORTER STRIDE!!
In the treeless saddle the front of the saddle flexes up and sideways,
but
in a treed saddle, often the blade top rotates back into the front of the
tree. (For this reason, a treeless saddle is vastly better than an ill
fitting treed saddle.) To avoid this, the saddle tree must be elevated
higher than the oblique plane of the outside of the blade, and it must be
supported by a material that disappears when asked to by the rotating blade
cartilage. To this end, the three systems that we are currently
experimenting with are FLAIR, CAIR and Supracor.
The FLAIR adjustable air bladder system, www.flair.uk.com - a worthwhile
site, comes in three flavors: the original, with about a 5 year track
record, is a conversion system put into saddles to replace existing wool or
foam flocking; the Korrector pad uses four air bladders in a pad to
compensate for an ill fitting saddle; and the WOW saddle, made in the same
shop as FLAIR, has other 'cool' high tech features. FLAIR's advantages
include high volume to allow a great deal of movement of the horse under the
tree, adjustability to get a good balance and compensate for asymmetries of
horse or rider and ability to be installed in nearly any English style
saddle.
The CAIR, a knock off of FLAIR, is available only in Wintec synthetic or
Bates leather saddles. It has lower volume, but is low maintenance. Both
FLAIR & CAIR have done research with pressure pads to demonstrate their
superiority over wool flocking.
The Supracor pad is superior to foam as it collapses from 3/4" to 1/8"
instantly with each step, pumping air onto the back. It hence provides
cooling, whereas foam or gel can be hot! This is important when the
underside of the panel is synthetic.
On the Cranberry Ride, Lib will use a Wintec that was converted from
wool
to the English FLAIR system, because she wanted the greater freedom of
movement that the FLAIR allowed over the CAIR. We also needed to change the
shape of the Wintec tree to reduce the amount of rocker in it. (This is
different from changing the gullet plate, as it is a reformation of the tree
done with a heat gun.) With the altered tree shape, the saddle fits much
better and stays in position without a breast plate. I will use a WOW,
which my big hard to fit TB absolutely loves. With each step I feel the
flexible tree rotate, and the design puts me in a perfect balanced seat.
The WOW has a similarity to the Sommer Oakfield, in that they both have a
tree above independent panels which have a stiff but flexible backing with a
soft accommodating material underneath.
Happy Trails
Quentin
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The air of heaven is that which blows between a horse`s ears.
~ Arabian Proverb
ridecamp.net information: http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/
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