Re: RC: Orthoflex saddles Anyone?

[Linda_Merims@ne.3com.com]

Louisa_Pierce@ne.3com.com said:

> I think I am going to bit the bullet and buy an Orthoflex saddle.  I am
> having horrible saddle fit problems.  I really
> need a saddle with wide panels, and more of an endurance style/shape then
> the All Purpose I have been using.
> Does anyone on Ridecamp have an Orthoflex?  Any Pros and Cons??

Yes, I think it is about time for another Orthoflex war.

>:-)   (the "evil grin smiley")

But seriously, I'm posting this because in all the Orthoflex
discussions we've had over the years, I have never heard anybody
make this particular point before.

I have tried and tried to like my Orthoflex Versatile.  I bought
it used at the 1998 AERC convention in Lexington and have
been trying and trying to adjust to it.  My horse seems to
like it fairly well:  his overstride is about 3 inches longer
when he wears the Orthoflex, and this is the only saddle he's
ever worn where's he seems relaxed about peeing under saddle.
But after a year of trying to adjust to it myself, in the end
I decided that I just couldn't stand the damned thing.

Just this past weekend I think I may have discovered *why*
I just can't stand the damned thing.  There are many quirks
that have bugged me about this saddle (the loin rubbing,
the way the stirrup hanger isn't recessed enough to prevent
the stirrup buckle from rubbing the inside of my thigh, the
way it amplifies my horse's already bouncy trot) but the
things that I finally couldn't find a way to live with were:

 - That I cannot get the girth tight enough by myself to prevent
   the saddle from rolling seriously (like >1" out of kilter)
   when I mount.  I have to use a girth tightener.  (For
   those unfamiliar with OF's, the flexible panels "give" once
   your weight is in the saddle and a tight girth becomes loose.)
   I tried the elastic-end girths suggested on Ridecamp, and
   they did not help with my situation.

 - That even with the girth tightener, the saddle *still* rolls
   when I mount.  (Again, for those who don't know, once an Orthoflex
   has rolled, you can't get it back straight again by shifting
   in the saddle.  At least *I* can't.)  And I am sick of
   riding crooked.  It also makes the "pilling" loin rubbing
   problem worse on one side.

I had already noticed that my Versatile seems to perch extremely
high on my horse's back, and that it seems to press into my
Morgan's wide shoulders much more than I ought to tolerate
in a saddle.  Because it sits so high, the rotational force
when I mount is that much greater, and thus the saddle's
infuriating roll.  From all of this I had concluded that the two
front posts on which the flexible panels are mounted are simply
too close together:  that an Orthoflex saddle *does*, in fact,
have width and the theory of the flexible panel mounted on
a pivot is *not* sufficient to overcome the fact that the pivot
points are too close together and this saddle is too narrow
for my horse.

Well, lo and behold.  This past Saturday I dropped in on my
local Orthoflex dealer (remember, I bought this saddle on my own,
without a dealer advising me) at The Mane Place in Uxbridge,
Massachusetts.  I started telling my Orthoflex troubles to the
dealer and she began telling me all about her experiences fitting
Orthoflexes to new customers.

She said that yes, definitely, Orthoflexes come in different
widths.  There are many different OF trees, and the different
trees are wider or narrower.  (Mind, you can't order a "wide"
tree in any given model, you only order the model and length.
It is the width it is.)  The OF Patriot is the narrowest.  The
Endurance Cutback is the widest. She said that she often takes
different models when she does an on-sight saddle fitting and
will encourage the client to order one or the other model based
on how well the saddle sits the horse's back.

She's not sure about the width of the Versatile I have.  She
wants me to measure the distance between the two front posts
and we will compare it with the different models she has in
stock.

So it might very well be that my Orthoflex problems are
"solvable"--that what I need isn't a different saddle maker,
just a different *model*, a *wider* model.  That there might
actually be an Orthoflex that both me and my horse could be
happy with.

Moral:  if you're buying an Orthoflex, don't throw the idea of
saddle width out the window.  It still matters.  Be aware of
this when you select a model, and be sure to take it into
consideration when you are buying used.  I bought the first
used Orthoflex I found, thinking all Orthoflexes are equal
on the bottom, and only differ on the top.

Not true.

Linda B. Merims
lbm@ici.net
Linda_Merims@ne.3com.com
Massachusetts, USA



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