I had to respond to your survey results and am slightly irritated by it. I
appreciate what you have done greatly, and do not want you feel I am angry at you
in particular.
I want to get my knowledge and opinions input to this survey as well.
I was sadened to see the Australian style saddles came out so low on this list. I
have been fitting and selling these saddles for over 10 years and find them to be
very useful for endurance riding as well as general trail riding.
Your observations regarding fit being key to a comfortable ride are accurate,
for if the saddle doesn't fit the horse you shouldn't ride in it. First fit the
horse then fit the rider.
Australian saddles have gotten a bit of a bad rap because of their popularity
and the importation of inferior quality saddles built in "Asian" countries. Most
notably are the "Indian made" saddles which use a very poorly tanned hide and use
who-knows-what for stuffing. We've found straw in some of these!
I am familiar with the Syd Hill line of saddles and have fitted hundreds of
horses and riders with excellent results. Most of the problems have been caused
by by the rider selecting a new horse and not caring about the saddle fit. We fit
arab horses every day and have done so for 10+ years!
Saddles come in many sizes shapes, styles and materials. Saddlers have indeed
made an effort to design saddles in different fit ranges so that fitting the
arabin horse hsould be no problem. The problem comes from inexperienced or
dishonest sellers combined with buyers not knowledgeable about saddle fit. Thus
we get saddle makers and sellers telling you, the buyer, that "this saddle will
fit any horse you put it on."
We have seen many problems and many solutions but none substitutes for a well
fitting saddle. The Ortho-Flex saddle has it's own set of problems most common of
which is the sore loins or hair rubbed off the loins. Brown's tells the owners
that this is not hurting the horse. I say let me rub your head until the hair
falls out and you tell me if it hurts!
I suppose we need to ask something about this survey then.
1. how many people actually received this questionaire
2. how many responded
3. was the survey done in the form of questions to be answered.
Yes, fitting a saddle can be frustrating. We always let people try the saddle
with a generous return policy. (14 days). We can fit a saddle for you by using a
picture of the horse. We do not tell you this saddle will fit any horse, that's
an impossibility!
If you are getting white spots the saddle was never properly fitted to
begin with. It's wrong to wait for that to happen. There are methods to tell if
you are having a fit problem with your current saddle whether the horse is sore
or not. Check the fit every time you rmove the saddle by examining the sweat
patterns. Dry spots indicate too tight a fit and you'll get white hairs there
eventually. Look at the skin texture all along the back. Poorly fit areas will
have a wrinkled look or the skin when pinched gently will not feel like it is
adhered to the underlying structures any more. Compare the texture to an area the
saddle does not touch such as the shoulder. Again the skin should all feel and
look the same. Damaged areas will have different feel and look to it.
I hope you haven't taken offense at my remarks. If I said anything you want
carified please write back to lket me know. I believe educating the buyer and the
horseman are important to our business being successfull.
//--- forwarded letter -------------------------------------------------------
> endurance-digest Sunday, 10 March 1996 Volume 01 : Number 337
> ------------------------------
>
> From: Kevin Pfoertsch & Diane Nelson <safehavn@fast.net>
> Date: Sun, 10 Mar 96 08:58 EST
> Subject: [endurance] Saddle Summary to Date
>
> I have been collating and organizing all the responses re: saddles. It will
> be awhile before I determine the best way to enter the data in a database.
> However, FYI here are some observations.
>
> 1) Ultra-high frustration levels are common. There has been enough money
> invested in saddles to rival the GNP of some small countries. It is common
> for riders to have tried, purchased and sold up to 10 saddles before finding
> the "right one" or today's "compromise".
>
> 2) Saddles must meet the needs of both horse and rider, irrespective of the
> distances being covered. Many saddles are disqualified due to rider
> discomfort. Most saddles are disqualified due to poor fit at the withers
> (pinching, white spots, uneven shoulder development are the most common
> symptoms).
>
> 3) There were several indications of "trendiness" in saddle selection early
> on in an individual"s "saddle history" - not unlike what you see today in
> the hunter ring. That was rapidly supplanted by a need to find a functional
> saddle to enhance performance that could be measured by way of going,
> forwardness, balance (on the positive axis) and then by lack of soreness,
> uneven development, evidence of pressure points (on the negative axis).
> Functionality becomes the one criteria by which these saddles can be
> measured. [Now, how to measure funtionality in quantifiable terms? I'm
> thinking in terms of length of stride which can be measured, etc. Put your
> thinking caps on for this.]
>
> 4) There were clearly several saddles that functionally perform better for
> a wider variety of horse and rider body types. Many of the saddles were
> re-cycled, i.e. purchased from someone for whom the saddle did not work but
> were successful for the new horse. I do not want to label these brands as
> winners or losers because only a few fall into the "real loser" category.
> "Functional favorites" are those saddles that seem to work best in providing
> rider comfort and enhancing performance as measured by the positive and
> negative functional criteria above. The "middle of the road" category
> includes saddles which work for some horses/riders, not for others--when
> they work, they work well. The "losers" are, well, the losers - the saddles
> with the most complaints drawn from this survey ONLY (please keep that in
> mind--this is hardly a representative sample, merely "instructive").
> However, even in the "loser" category there would be one or two riders who
> found that at a given time, on a given horse, that saddle performed well.
>
> a) Functional Favorites: Sport Saddle hands down, Orthoflex [Lite &
> Cutback most popular], Sharon Saare
>
> b) Middle-of-the-road: Stubben Survivor, Wintec, Big Horn, Marciante,
> Desoto
>
> c) Losers: almost all of the off-the-rack hunter/jumper/dressage
> saddles, Aussie-style saddles, standard Western saddles
>
> Other saddle brands (SR Enduro, etc) so far have too few (one) comments to
> add to the survey at this summary point.
>
> 5) Body types - rider & horse
>
> a) If you don't "need" a narrow twist, the Sport Saddle is the saddle
> of choice and is used by FW to HW riders. However, it "takes getting used to".
>
> b) Here's a news bulletin (sarcasm): FW & LW riders seem to experience
> fewer back problems with any saddle mentioned. MW & particularly HW riders
> apparently have to take much more care in selecting a saddle that will not
> only free up the shoulder but will also distribute the weight. And it does
> not seem to matter how much the saddle weighs if the weight is distributed
> properly.
>
> 6) Body types - horses: I have less information about this. However, the
> majority of the horses are Arabs or Arab crosses. Whether or not the horse
> has prominent withers, the Arab back remains a unique landscape that has
> presented unique fitting problems to which MOST saddlers have not begun to
> respond.
>
> 7) Ancillary issues that appeared: the type and fit of the saddle pad
> often made a critical difference. Even if a saddle appeared to nominally
> fit the horse to a "T", the wrong pad could cause enough problems to
> instigate a "sell" decision. The "right" pad often saved the day. That was
> a whole other area for spending $$ in trial & error.
>
> Speaking of "trial & error", "error" seems to be the name of the game. If I
> had 10% of every saddle transaction I'd be set for life! I don't have any
> "answers" yet. Hopefully we can establish a few guidelines. Anyone who
> wishes to continue to add thoughts to this survey, please do so. This has
> become a very intriguing exercise.
>
>
>
> Thanks for all the input--
>
> Diane @ Safe Haven
> safehavn@fast.net
>
>
>
> End of endurance-digest V1 #337
> *******************************
>
>
>
Ray Santana
UC Davis Medical Center
Network Operations
raymond.santana@ucdmc.ucdavis.edu