Re: Ortho-flex saddles & Tevis

["Susan Swope" <PARROTPLACE@prodigy.net>]

I use the Ortho-Flex endurance cutback on my 16hh American Saddlebred.  He's
fairly wide with prominent withers.  He is also rather long backed, even
compared to some Saddlebreds.  I LOVE this saddle.  It is wonderfully
balanced and incredibly comfortable.  I, like you, am no Tevis rider
(yet??!!).  I've done 30 miles max, but have had absolutely no signs of
soring in this saddle and predict I can easily do a 50 (or more) with it
with no difficulties.

I am a lightweight rider but believe that the OF, due to it's panel system,
distributes weight more evenly than anything else I have used.  I know that
the saddle may weigh somewhat more than some, less than others, but I think
the key here is the weight distribution.  I rode a Sharon Saare for about a
year and believe that it, too, does a fine job of weight distribution, but,
it never felt comfortable to me, perhaps because my background is hunt seat,
saddleseat, and dressage/eventing (odd combination, I know).

Good luck with your decision!

Susan Swope
Kentucky
-----Original Message-----
From: Annette Gordon <agordon@worldofwonder.net>
To: ridecamp@endurance.net <ridecamp@endurance.net>
Date: Wednesday, July 29, 1998 7:00 AM
Subject: Ortho-flex saddles & Tevis


>Dear Steph
>
>Sorry for putting this in the wrong place. I'm not very expert at email
yet.
>So here it is again hopefully in the right place.
>
>I am on the point of buying yet another saddle for my horse, an anglo-arab
>mare who is quite narrow but is currently wearing a medium fit Arabian
>Saddle Solstice. I have contemplated an Ortho-Flex endurance cutback for
>sometime now but don't know if this could be out of the frying pan and into
>the fire.
>I am not a lightweight rider, I suppose I'm medium to heavy, so
>I'm worried the ortho-flex might just add to the weight burden my horse has
>to carry. We are only do relatively low mileage at the moment 20-30 miles
>but I want to go on and do more safe in the knowledge that I'm not hurting
>my horses back. At the moment she is sore. The Arabian Saddle does fit ok
>and is currently being reflocked to make it fit better but I just feel that
>a saddle with a greater weight bearing surface would be better for us both.
>Anybody know if Ortho-flex is good for a 15.2 Anglo-Arab now quite fit and
>sort of a medium fit with a medium to heavyweight rider?
>
>What I would really like to get are any experiences from people with the
>Ortho-flex endurance cutback. I am about to try one out on my horse this
>weekend. The person selling it to me has had all good experiences with it
>and his own horses, he's an authorised Ortho-flex dealer. But of course
>different saddles fit different horses. Is there a type of horse that fits
>the Ortho-flex better than others?
>
>I'm in the rainy old UK where endurance lives but differently I suspect.
I'm
>so excited to have discovered ridecamp and the endurance net since no one
at
>my yard does endurance so I have no one to talk to about it. They all think
>I'm mad and are confused by my wierd tack.
>
>Good luck anyone doing the Tevis Cup I can't wait to hear about it. I shall
>think of you all as I do my own measly 20 miles on this side of the
Atlantic
>on the same day.
>
>bye
>Annette Gordon
>