A horse may feel uncomfortable and not want to move out with a
particular saddle. I remember trying out a Frost saddle a few
years ago. I loved it. My back didn't hurt. But, I thought
there was something wrong with Pharalina because she just didn't
have the right feel to her. I kept pushing her along and she
didn't want to go. So, I tried switching to her old saddle.
No more problem for her. By the way, her old saddle didn't fit
at all and still doesn't. But, she loves it.
> The horse has to keep his head in a certain position? What if he
> gets tired carrying his head down on a long ride?
You are not keeping the horse's head in a certain postion.
Many people refer to the frame of a horse as where the head is
located. Rather they should say that they are trying to keep the
horse in a good or correct frame (back up or round, rear end engaged,
and head and neck balanced for the speed, gait and terrain).
Note that you can lengthen and shorten the frame and it will still
be correct. You are not putting a horse into a particular frame
and holding him there for the entire ride.
At first, the horse has to work to stay in a nice frame. But as
they work up to it, it becomes easier to stay there, and the benefit
for them is that they can last longer in the correct frame than if
they were running around with a hollow back. Sort of like a baby
learning to walk. They can crawl real fast. Then they learn to
walk, and fall. They crawl for awhile till they figure out the
mechanics and suddenly they can run. But we as the riders have
to teach our horses how to carry themselves correctly.
The benefit for us as riders is that the trot turns into a very
smooth and easy to ride gait. Which makes our backs feel better,
and makes their backs better because we aren't pounding on them.
> Sorry, it seems
> to me that the saddle should fit regardless what gait or speed the
> horse is going, or where his head is. When we ride, we go all
> speeds, up, down, over rough terrain, and about the last thing I
> would want to worry about is keeping the head in a certain postion.
>
As far as fitting the saddle. If the horse has learned to carry
himself, there will be a nice layer of muscles along the back.
When the horse goes hollow backed, the saddle sits differently.
So if a saddle doesn't fit well, you can try to do different things
with the frame till you find something that doesn't hurt so bad.
All depends of the horse and saddle.
-- Wendy\|/ /\ -O- /**\ /|\ /****\ /\ / \ /**\ Here there be dragons / /\ / \ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\/\/\ /\ / / \ / \ / \/\/ \/ \ /\/ \/\ /\ /\/ / / \/ \ / / \/ /\ \ / \ \ / \/ / / \/ \/ \ / \ \ / / \/ \/\ \ / \ / / \ __/__/_______/___/__\___\__________________________________________________
Wendy Milner HPDesk: wendy_milner@hp4000 Training Development Engineer HP-UX: wendy@fc.hp.com Mail Stop 46 Telnet: 229-2182 3404 E. Harmony Rd. AT&T: (970) 229-2182 Fort Collins, CO, 80525 FAX: (970) 229-4292