I've accumulated my own fairly substantial data on saddles from trial and
error and thought I would (finally) relay the information on:
Rider - 5'6", 130 pounds, english seat size 17 or so.
Horse # 1 (Rascal) 14.3 hand arab, average size, was a real problem child.
I went though a ton of saddle trials, my UPS man knows me personally. I used
an Orthoflex English endurance cutback for about a year; he developed a sore
shoulder (most noticeable going downhill); as soon as I switched saddles, the
lameness disappeared. The orthoflex also left hard sore spots directly under
the spot where the bolts fastened the panels to the tree on both sides at the
loin. The exact same patterns held true for another horse, so I eliminated
rider error and went on looking for more saddles. I tried Wintecs (rider
liked it, horse did not- very few square inches of weight-bearing area were
on his back and it was really hard); tried an english Nice saddle (same
problems); tried the Skyhorse (the curvature of the hinged pannels were so
out of alignment with his back that if the rear part laid flat on his back,
the front dug in sharply; I could not get comfortable in it either); tried
the ZES saddle (I liked it but the bare tree was too narrow for this arab,
despite what the manufacturer claimed, and an adjustable set of pockets
within an expensive pad never showed up and phone calls were seldom returned,
so I finally sent the saddle back in disgust. I'm sure there were several
others tried and rejected, but the succession left me dazed. Finally, I
tried a used SR Enduro, I made a mold of his back, and voila - he and I were
finally both comfortable; no further problems. As a footnote, I sold him
last year with the Enduro saddle. The new owner tried her Sport Saddle on
him and he refused to move out at all. Changed saddles mid-trail, and he was
fine again; so the winner was definitely the Enduro. As a further footnote,
it's only fair to say that (although it was not obvious to my eye) this horse
must have had an unusual amount of curvature to his back and definitely has
uneven shoulder development.
Horse #2 15 hand narrow built arab I rode him in the Enduro until it was
sold, then switched to a Sport Saddle. The horse did fine, but the rider
took a really long time (about 2 months) to adjust. My back hurt briefly (I
suspectl the ligaments in my legs were too right and put pressure on my lower
back; also the saddle slipped a little to the left for the first few rides;
but the bottom line is that I have adjusted and now love the saddle. I did
add a full seat sheepskin cover which made a big difference, and a neoprene
girth, which helps. The learning curve took longer than I wished, but now
I'm sold.
I hope this has been helpful; good luck in compiling the data. I look
forward to receiving the results of the survey.
Peggy
MTHOMP7007@aol.com