Re: [RC] Re-stuffing saddles - Marv WalkerNever! For a lot of reasons: my saddles don't need it and that's partly because I don't know of a saddle flocker on the entire west coast. If I had 50 "English" saddles in front of me I could conclusively prove at least 40 of them would need re-flocking. If you start examining flat saddles you will be surprised how many panels are harder than a rock, lumpy, flocked heavier on one side or one end than another, are different thicknesses and widths, lack sufficient weight bearing area and a number of other performance hindering defects. Unless you ride perfectly balanced your saddle will be compressed more on one side, end or corner than another. And this is still not even taking into consideration the shape and curvature of your horse's back which also can vary according to conditioning. When you add static and dynamic fitting into the mix it becomes even more involved. In addition to being a horse problem solving practitioner I own a commercial seating repair business. Take it from me, foam rubber does break down and it does it fairly quickly especially when it gets wet. Many saddles are stuffed with carpet fibers and other cheap materials that are far from stable. I have been into horses a LONG time and I have not ever known a time when saddlers frequently visited anywhere. Most horse people are blissfully unaware of the importance of saddle fit. This is evident by all the times you hear things along the lines of "I have an Arab, I need an Arab tree." If you have a flocked saddle look it over very carefully. I'm sure you'll be surprised. The flocking may very well be slowing you down. Horses are very stoic, for the most part, however they will tell you when the saddle doesn't fit correctly. Most of the time people aren't picking up on it because they aren't aware of the possibilities. Marv "Oooh! Oooh! I just told a bunch of folks to stuff it!!" Walker Horse Info & Training DVDs ~ http://MarvWalker.com No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.503 / Virus Database: 269.17.4/1187 - Release Date: 12/16/2007 11:36 AM
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