"Yesterday a distance
riding friend was telling me that she has also began to take dressage
lessons. She mentioned that she had read in the an English horse
magazine, she said it compared the USA's "Practical Horseman" that there was a
recommendation to use a dressage saddle on horses who had the saddle slip
forward on downhills. The reason being, the saddle fits behind the
shoulders and this keeps it place on descents. ... Would any of you who
now ride in dressage saddles like to comment on this?
My County Competitor dressage
saddle has never slipped -- ever. I ride in the Blue Ridge
Mountains all the time, and often ride in the Massanutten
Mountains (near Ft. Royal and Shenandoah Nat'l Park). I've gone up
and down slopes that had me either clinging to my horse's ears, or laying
flat back on his rump -- at all speeds from a walk to a mach 12 gallop
(downhill) -- and my saddle has stayed in place like it was glued to
my horse's back.
We're talking
glued, here -- meaning it doesn't slip a fraction. Or a
micro-fraction. And yes --
it's because the flocking and conformation of the saddle is designed to fit
the horse's back and sides without shifting AND without need of any pad -- so
that the dressage rider will have the closest feel of the horse without a bulky
pad being in the way. Most dressage horses wear only a
super lightweight, paper-thin "pad" under their saddle -- mostly just
to absorb sweat and keep the saddle clean. (Incidentally, I use both
a wool felt pad (that I make myself using my own sheep's wool), and a
sheepskin, for my pads when riding endurance.)
No person that I know using a
dressage saddle for trail or endurance has ever had to use a breastplate.
Nor have I ever seen anyone using one casually (in the ring or cross
country) with a breastplate. It's just not needed.
