Re: [RC] Saddle - best value & comfort? - Sullivan
Wow, they must be VERY
narrow....
To me, what would improve the SS is getting rid of
the rigid pommen and cantle (wood), and making it out of VERY dense, but
slightly flexible material ( packed wool or foam), so that it has a slight
give. Perhaps even a choice of pommel widths...
A year ago I could have shown you two horses with definite white spots
directly caused by the SS as verified by an impression pad. I have very
narrow horses with prominant withers and spine, and no amount of Skito shims
and such helped. I even tried spending less time on the back and more in
two-point, which only caused a white spot to form on the side of the
withers where the too-large front forked rocked. After testing the SS on
a variety of horses using the Port Lewis Impression Pad, the treeless did fine
on well sprung horses but not those with prominant spines.
I now use an Advantage Saddle made for my horses, which I love. IMO
it is balanced much better than the SS. The white spots are gone and the
horses are much happier and move extremely well (they are gaited). I
love my SS and use it for starting my babies, but it did not work at all in
regular riding over distance with my horses, and they had the white spots to
prove it.
