Saddle Fit and Treeless Saddles

Okay I just had to share this with you because I am really thrilled that someone of Dr. Clayton’s reputation has substantiated what I have been preaching about treeless saddles for the last couple of years. Now you don’t just have to take my word for it! This was a recent article appearing at www.thehorse.com which I am putting in my blog this week to share with you.



Treeless vs. Conventional Saddles: Back… Continue

First of all I need to apologize to my regular reading audience for the somewhat irregularly appearing blogs for the last month; October is always the absolutely busiest month for Schleese and I have been home three (!) whole days this past month (and honestly, November is not looking much better...) I am presently in Germany working on my book with my publisher and learning about an exciting new measurement tool that is truly state-of-the-art when it comes to determining the 3-dimensional…

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One of the real perks that I enjoy in my favorite role as an educator through Saddlefit4Life is meeting and working with all sorts of really interesting equine professionals. We have the honour of teaching many people the Saddlefit4Life philosophy through our Professional’s Training Days, as well as our Certified Saddle Ergonomist courses – both here and in Europe. We now have affiliated professionals in 12 countries and counting and this week I am off to Brazil to teach at a veterinary… Continue

 This blog is in response to a question raised from one of my recent blogs concerning a comment made in my very first Saddle Fit Tip #1 on Saddle Balance. Geoffrey wanted to know more about the stress lines I mentioned right at the beginning of the video. While I can tell you what to look for, I went to my good friend Dr. Joanna Robson, DVM and author of “Recognizing the Horse in Pain and what to do about it” for the physiology behind this.

 

She said that “the stress line that…

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This blog is going to be a little different; I actually got this email from several people over the course of a couple of days and it really spoke to me. I’m going to share it with you – even though it doesn’t directly have anything at all to do with horses, there is a(n equine) point to this (which I will get to at the bottom!) Some of you may also already read this since it is one of those internet chain emails. At the very least, it’s food for thought. Next time I promise I will…

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I have often been asked by clients why our saddles aren’t flat on the horse’s back all the way from front to back – which makes them look like they don’t actually fit and will probably rock. Many riders don’t understand that ideally the saddle needs to slightly ‘rock’ at the cantle as the horse’s back engages.

 

It is the duty of the saddle fitter to explain to the client that a slightly rocking saddle will never put so much pressure on the horse’s back that…

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Back at WEG there was one stand that was absolutely swamped for most of the two weeks we were there – the one with Jane Savoie and a mechanical horse. For those of you who were there, you might remember waiting in long line ups to experience the amazing new product developed by the geniuses through the partnership with Jane at Equi Sense.

Equi Sense is technology developed in order to help the trainer train better, and the rider ride better. It is truly eye-opening; when you sit on…

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“Should people be required to attend an equine education course and pass an assessment before being allowed to own a horse?”

To this question in the Feb. issue of Horse Journals I would reply without reservation - emphatically ‘yes’! However, I also think that people who want to have children be subjected to the same battery of courses and assessments; you need licenses to fish, to hunt, to drive – but any idiot is allowed to become a parent (which is arguably the most difficult job…

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I have to comment on a couple of articles which recently appeared in Holistic Horse – the Feb/Mar 2011 edition. The first one was about “Weekend Warriors  - Avoid battles during your horse time”. According to the dictionary, this phrase came into being in 1981 to reflect the average person’s increasingly hectic lifestyle. Free time has felt increasingly compressed, with the result that on the weekend you hit the ground running to get the most of your horse time. Often you pay the price on…

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The Controversy continues...

Many current books on equine anatomy will offer back up information to this statement (see specifically references to the supraspinous ligament system). Sometimes veterinarians are at a loss to explain equine 'problems' - often related to using the wrong type of saddle, or a badly fitting saddle. The unfortunate truth is that treeless saddles go against the logic of equine anatomy - they may work for a few years, but as has been reiterated, there is a…

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The ongoing controversy – Treed or Treeless Saddles?? PART ONE

 

This is a topic I often get asked about, and I feel very strongly about. This is my opinion – based on the facts that I have researched and believe – but of course you are entitled to your opinion as well, and I know that there are many ‘treeless advocates’ riding comfortably and successfully in their saddles. All I ask is that you keep an open mind to the potential damage you could be doing to your…

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I got this question from one of the osteopaths I work with in Germany, and asked my friend Dr. Joanna Robson, DVM (author of Recognizing the Horse in Pain) to give me her wisdom so I could respond on behalf of the client this was concerning. Apparently the Osteopath seemed to think that there were subluxations occurring on the horse’s spine due to the centre of balance of the saddle being too far back.

 

Joanna writes:

 

My understanding is that the…

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This will be my last blog of the year, so I will take this opportunity to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Healthy and Successful New Year! I hope to be back blogging for the January 10 due date, but am actually going to be enjoying a week in Margarita (by Venezuela) with my family and friends over the holidays. Then we are going to establish ourselves in West Palm Beach for the winter months and hope to see a lot of you down at the various shows! Pop by and say…

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One of the most common questions I am asked has to deal with both saddle ‘straightness’ and horse ‘straightness’ and whether the correct thing is to try and force the horse into ‘straightness’ with exercise or to accommodate their basic ‘non-straightness’ with a crooked saddle.…

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We are all just reading Joanne Thomas Yaccato’s latest book – the Gender Intelligent Retailer – especially since we have decided to finally capitalize on what it is that makes us different by marketing specifically to and about our largest clientele base. Joanne is a close personal friend of my wife, who has all her books; indeed has been…

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There are still a lot of ‘opinions’ on what constitutes a properly fitting saddle, but I think a large part of proper…

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Here is a question from one of my saddle fitting colleagues that represents a problem some of you may have experienced:

She wrote:

When I have the saddle on the horse, the tree fits, the panels are leveled (flair), the rider is sitting on both his seat bones, the rider is sitting in balance, so statically everything looks ok.

And then the horse start moving. The saddle does what is has to do, it stays in place and at this moment I am satisfied what I see, how the saddle is working… Continue