Re: RC: Re: The "Reactor-Panel" saddle

[wsabg@t-online.de (Wolfgang Schwingenheuer)]

Reactorpanel@aol.com wrote:

> Hi Wolfgang,
>
> You were certainly paying attention at Equitana!
>
> The ReactorPanel was designed and developed by Roe Richardson in England, and
> is now sold by The ReactorPanel Saddle Company in the states.   It's the same
> saddle, made by the same people in England, that you saw at the show.
>
> Carmi Weininger
> The ReactorPanel Saddle Co.

Ok, so now I can share my little bit of experience with the RP / RR saddle. I
spend a long time at the booth of RR at the Equitana. Mr. Richardson jr. and the
German dealer, Mr. Meyer, were there. We discussed about the Pro's and Con's and
I showed them a ready made Podium saddle to check the differences. In their
german brochure they have some pictures taken by computer aided
"pressure-analysis". What on ecan see is that the weight bearing area of the RR
is significant larger than of a traditional saddle. They have two sets of
pictures, one with the rider sitting in the saddle, the other with the rider
standing in the stirrups. And exactly her is my problem with the RP / RR: All the
pressure is concentrated on an area under the stirrup-bars. No contact at the
front or the end. I am standing most of the time when riding, so this means that
my horse will move free with the shoulder (virtually no contact of the saddle
here), but has to carry all the weight on an area which is only 1/3 of what is
possible. I had some ideas how to correct this and Mr. Richardson was really
surprised about how much "brain-power" an endurance rider is using on the saddle
;-). One of the problems are the panels: They are flexible, as those from OF or
other saddles, this is OK for the overall fitting, the movement of the shoulder
etc. But regarding the pressure which builds up on a relative small part of the
saddle, the flexibility is a loss! Finally we have Mr. Meyer at our stable to fit
one of the RR to my horse Ninja. Ninja is an anglo-arab with 15.3 hands. We tried
several models of RR, and Mr. Meyer realy tried hard! But he couldn't fit one of
his saddles to my full satisfaction. Finally I took my Podium which I build up on
my own. Mr. Meyer was surprised how well this one fits and then he had to confess
that he couldn't fit one of his saddles better than my Podium :-}. In the
meantime I build another Podium for Ninja because we found out that the old one
was a bit to narrow at the end and had caused some problems here, now we have a
custom-fit Podium.
The RP / RR is a good saddle and it really depends on the way one is riding. For
me and Ninja it's not the first choice. As I wrote above, I am standing in the
stirrups for 99% of my riding time, even when Ninja is walking. So I have to ride
in a saddle which is "stiff" enough to distribute the weight from the
stirrup-bars to the panels. I had a Skyrider endurance saddle some years ago.
This one has non-flexible panels. Ninja never had problems with his back under
this saddle, but this one was to narrow in the front. Maybe a combination of RP
and Skyrider is something to think about...

Just my 2 cents,

Wolfgang + Ninja 11
Germany