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[RC] Tevis & Saddles... - Naomi PrestonI didn't ride Tevis this year, but have in years' past....my mare
had 4 starts, 4 completions, with 2 top fives. So I'll throw my
two cents in.
The best saddle is the one that fits your horse, no matter if it's
cheap, expensive, synthetic, leather, treeless, treed, english,
western, australian or chinese. The best pad is the one that works for
your horse and your saddle. Every horse's back is different,
and that's where the quest begins.....to find the saddle that
fits YOUR horse.
I've ridden in lots of different saddles. When I started
endurance riding, I knew nothing about saddle fit. My
mare's back got extremely sore from my first saddle, and then I started
learning. Am still learning.
As far as who rode what saddles at the Tevis this year, I know Marcia
Smith rides an SR, and I know Melissa and Robert Ribley own them,
but don't know what she rode this year. Bruce, did you ride your
SR? The thing about the SR is that they're made for your
particular horse's back. So they're guaranteed to fit. But
that doesn't mean that there aren't other saddles out there that fit
horses. There are. But I bought my SR 20 years ago,
and it's still working for me, now refitted to my mare's daughter.
Pretty good return on investment.
As far as pads, I prefer Skito. But there are other good
pads, too, like Equipedic.
My advice -- find someone who knows about saddle fit, and have them
help you fit a saddle to your horse. It's a whole lot easier than
soring up a horse, like I did.
Naomi
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