These are a
few caveats....
I own 2
sports saddles and they have worked great on all 4 of the horses - with
very different backs - that I used them on... I traded
in several highly regarded endurance saddles after many months of
satisfaction with them.
However
nothing is perfect for every horse and every rider all the
time.
I've put them
on two horses whose withers were too high for them.
I've had
friends who rode with their feet in front of their center of balance, and the
horses had sore backs after long rides. These guys rode like cowboys
in a chair type position even though the stirrups were hung in the centered seat
position. Their weight was on their butts vs. being distributed throughout their
inner leg and seat.
I
occasionally had a problem with a TB type horse who had a narrow rib cage and
prominent spine if she dropped weight in early conditioning - something that
happened easily. It then placed too much pressure on her spine, resulting in
rubs. I watched her carefully and had a saddle with normal bars to use if
she dropped any weight at all.
Aside from that? Make sure you get it
big enough! They look huge compared to other types of saddles, and most women I
know groan at the sight of the seat! "Wow - is my butt THAT big???"
Get it big enough! This is NOT a "cute" saddle!
Linda
Cowles
