Keeping in mind that everyone has their own opinion
about everything :) and certain horses, saddles work for certain people
while they don't work for someone else, I'll put my two cents in. And this is
definitely not an advertisement, just my experience.
For me ... I'm happy with the two Boz saddles I
own. One I had custom made, the other I purchased sight unseen used from Paddi
Sprecher, 5 minutes after she put it up for sale on endurance.net classifieds.
That, after having ridden my custom made one for several months.
My problem is I'm top heavy, er ... front
heavy, and after having tried half a dozen different saddles, was
still having a balance problem. Normally placed stirrups all tended to throw me
forward. The forward stirrups on the Boz video looked like they might solve my
problem. I must admit that taking a $3500 chance on having a saddle made based
on what I saw on the video was a rather large chance, but it paid off for me.
I'm quite comfortable in both the new and the old Boz saddles I own. I'm more
comfortable in the old one as it has the open seat. My new one has the
performance seat and is built up a bit in the back. My butt is "just" big enough
that it makes it a little too small for me and I end up banging my thighs on the
pommel if I'm riding James. If I had it to do over again I would have gotten the
slick forks.
And I am thoroughly convinced that the forward
position of the saddle close to the horse's shoulders has saved my butt and that
of a friend of mine many times over, riding James Dean, the whirling dirbish.
Both of us have found ourselves without a horse under us several times as James
as whirled away from something at cutting horse speed. Since the arrival of the
Boz saddles, neither of us has been unseated. Could be a coincidence, but we
both have felt the difference in stickability being further forward on the
horse's back in such a situation.
The other thing I'm comfortable with is that I
think it holds up to its advertisement that you can use it on just about any
shape horse. None of my horses are shaped the same and so far, after three years
and thousands of miles of conditioning and competition, I don't feel that I've
ever had a back problem with the three horses that share these saddles. The foam
panels seem to conform to the horse's back as I'm riding and if one was so
inclined, one could have a separate set of foam panels for each horse you ride,
and shave them here and there for a closer fit. I'm too lazy for that. Plus the
foam panels are obscenely expensive. Boz's suggestion is that you replace them
once a year. I don't think so ... I mean, I'm not poor, but sorry, not gonna do
that. Maybe every three years :) I have used both a CoolBack pad and a Skito
under my Boz.
:) Jackie
(and Tank, James Dean and Sorcerer, who would just
like to get out of the mud, saddle or no!)
