Not an endurance rider, but have a question...

[Linda_Merims@ne.3com.com]

Katee Owens said:

>Dear Gesa;
>It is because he is friends with Marciante and he does this, too.
>Katee
>
>> Yes I have tried the Synergist...For some reason John diPrieta
>> purposely makes the saddles bridge on the horses back.  He has
>> the idea that the horse will bring its back up into the empty
>> part of the bars when he trots and or gallops.  He
>> figures that the bridging wont affect the horse at a walk.   We had an
in
>> depth discussion regarding this.  I still say he is very wrong in his
idea.
>> Im sure that there are some horses out there that can use his saddles.
I
>> just havent found one yet.            gesa n clovis


DiPrieta states in his video where he got the idea that
saddles should be somewhat flat and bridging because the
collected horse's back rises to meet the saddle:  he
got the idea from Jean Philippe Giacomini, the French
dressage instructor.  The theory is that a saddle that
conforms to the horse's back will discourage the horse from
rounding into a dressage frame because the horse will
recoil when it raises its back and feels pressure from
the center of the saddle.

JP Giacomini is now living in the United States and promoting
the idea of classical dressage that emphasizes collection over
extension and is thus more suited to "baroque" bodied horses such
as the Portugese Lusitano.  JP also makes dressage saddles that
incorporate the same flatter ventral profile idea. JP will also
tell you that he invented the idea of the adjustable stirrup bar
in the mid 1970s that has been incorporated in to so many saddleseat
cutback saddles, and, I gather, a few dressage saddles.  I don't
know if its true or not, but he'll tell you it is.  (I thought it
was Helen Crabtree.)

Interesting idea.  I don't know if I believe it.  This was one
of the things that appealed to me about the idea of the Orthoflex:
that it bent *with* the horse so you didn't have to pick which
body frame your horse was supposed to be in in order for its
saddle to "fit" at any given instant.

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





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