Fore&Aft stirrup adjustment

["Raymond O'Donohue" <rayo@cfw.com>]

Ann Hatfield wrote:
> 
> I agree with you, Kimberley, after having gone through the great saddle
> hunt 'merely' to find an English saddle that fits both me and the horse.
> Found a beautiful Crosby  event saddle for instance that I literally could
> not post in!  Couldn't get up and balanced.  It was not me-another saddle I
> tried the next day was completely different.  And, no it wasn't that the
> Crosby sat 'dowhill' on the horse's back, it was the stirrup location in
> relation to the angle my leg drops down-I couldn't do anything but sit
> 'chairseat' in it.
> 
> I've been thinking about rider's hip angles and how we all sit differently
> from one another and probably sit differently through the season as we
> become stretched and loose ourselves.  On some of the old military-style
> saddles, I seem to recall that the girth could be moved forward or back
> somewhat as it was suspended from two points.  Why not have a stirrup 'bar'
> that is a strap system with about 1-2 inches of adjustment.  It would have
> a little give and the whole thing could go at least as nicely under a small
> flap as do the rigid stirrup bars of the current English saddles.  (And
> some of them have miserable lumps under your thighs as anyone who has
> ridden a number of English saddles can attest to!)  If it was a quick
> adjust system we could then adjust the stirrups forward for any long
> downhill stretches, way back for the long uphills and back to  our usual
> for the flat or mixed bits.
> 
> My perfect saddle would be treeless, have lots of attachment points but
> look as "English" as possible so as to (try to) get away with it in shows.
> And adjustable stirrups, of course!
> 
> Ann         It's mind-boggling that such an adjustment has not been on every 
saddle since Genghis Khan.God bless the English,they're the dumbest of us 
all.MY SADDLE HAS IT-NOW."But they MADE it this way!""You're not 
developing the proper seat!"(to fit this stupid saddle design)...Get your 
tools out,talk to some craftsman friend-probably not a saddle maker,and 
make it happen.Look at a high performance motorcycle-not a cruiser-and 
see where the foot pegs are relative to the riders buns.I didn't think 
I'd ever be able to ride a horse after my first lessons-the stirrups 
were hung so far forward...If the saddle makers of the world made 
computers,we'd still be using the abacus...."we've always done it THIS 
way"...