Saddlery Why Do We Need Alternatives? by Andy Beck (part 2)
Saddlery - Why do we need alternatives? - by Andy Beck (part 2) So, onto saddles. The job of the saddle is very simple - it must spread the rider weight over the supported area of the horses back, but must not bear on the unsupported loins. It must provide a good safe seat for the rider, without causing back-ache or discomfort to the horse. |  |
We have a situation across the developed world where an increasingly large percentage of the population is either overweight or obese. It is simply not reasonable to expect to be able to take part in a physically taxing and potentially fatal, sport such as horse-riding without attaining a minimum level of fitness - what is more the person that does so increases their risk of an accident or injury - plus increasing the likelihood of that accident or injury having more serious consequences. Simply put when you are overweight and unfit your balance is poorer, your muscles less supple and able to flex in response to jarring, plus you fall more heavily and with less ability to control the outcome. But even leaving danger aside there remains the problem of weight distribution, most specifically stirrup weight. What has to be considered, like it or not, is that as gross weight carried increases the degree to which efficient distribution of that weight is critical also increases.
A bigger horse may be muscularly stronger but it's skin is not, so the skins ability to withstand pressure and friction is no better than that of a smaller horse carrying far less weight. The historic response to this question of weight has been to increase the length of saddle - cavalry saddles being a good example.
Saddle fit also becomes increasingly important with increments to rider weight, and where a rigid or semi-rigid 'tree' is used it is absolutely essential to the horses well being that the fit should be very good indeed. In the old days the way a good fit was achieved was by having the saddler visit to take measurements from horse and rider, resulting in a saddle specifically tailored to the pair. Yet even then if the horse change shape by increase or loss of weight, or changes in muscular definition due to an altered work routine the saddler had to come out again, take new measurements, and then alter the saddle accordingly. And if all this sounds expensive it certainly was - and for all those that still follow the practice still is!
But then in those days horse owning and riding was considered an elite activity for many people, a mark of status and disposable income; in fact to such a degree that in several European languages the word for horseman and gentleman are the same; such as the Spanish 'Caballero'. The last 20 years have seen a democratisation of horse ownership, with a greater number of people than ever before, and from far wider range of backgrounds and income levels, taking up equestrian sport in one form or another.
So what about the owners that do not have access to such saddlers - for whatever reason? As with so many old trades, the number of saddlers able to carry out this type of work has decreased, so it has become not only prohibitively costly in many areas but also difficult to find - but then so too has the need for conventional tree'd saddles decreased. And perhaps that is just as well, for there is no question that poorly fitting tree'd saddles cause permanent damage to top lines as a result of muscular atrophy. Potentially the worst of all types are the heavy western, stock and 'vaquero' saddles. Carelessly used over a range of horses instead of custom fitted to just one. These brutish great things surely belong in museums rather than on the backs of treasured companions!
Take a look back through history and it becomes obvious that tree'd saddles were developed for war - to create a platform from which a rider could develop the necessary leverage to make use of weapons and to which he could attach all the essentials of his trade - bed roll, forage bag, kit bag, weapons and ammunition. Later on that same type of rigid platform was developed, and a horn added for the roping of cattle. But there are few people that now require that type of carrying capacity - and the growth in interest in treeless alternatives bears a certain testament to this change.
Treeless saddles are certainly not a new idea, more a return to a far older method, and the most common 'generic' patterns in use can be traced back many hundreds - if not thousands of years.
Coupled with new technology and 'space - age' materials, such as memory foam treeless saddles are now hybrids of the old and the new. Of course they have to be carefully designed to spread rider weight efficiently - as any saddle must - so it would be foolish to suggest that any old treeless saddle is going to be good - but they do offer a significant difference in one very important respect. The tree'd saddle is basically a rudimentary chair tied on to the top of the horse, and, as the horse moves so this chair moves in reaction- but not necessarily in harmony. During exercise the horses back continually flexes, going through numerous postural changes, both large and small. The tree'd saddle lacks the flexibility to copy these changes - even the semi - flexible 'spring tree' saddle. In contrast a good treeless saddle fits the horse more like a glove - and, because of it's flexibility can faithfully follow each change in the contour of the horses back. Typically this produces lighter paces with smoother transitions and greater elevation.
Even so, sellers of treeless saddles that advertise them as 'fitting any horse' are not being strictly truthful. There will always be those combinations of horse and rider, as we mentioned at the beginning of the article, or horses with physical injuries or deformities that no saddle can possibly offer a cure. Where riders themselves have postural problems, or ride out of balance, there is equally no saddle that will produce a solution - far better to consult a physiotherapist. In fairness to the buyer any seller of treeless saddles has to take great care to ask the right questions about the rider and horse before making any recommendation.
We now also have available to us an increasing number of high- tech saddle pads' designed to spread rider weight across the greater amount of the saddle 'footprint'. Choice of the right saddle pad to suit either tree'd or treeless saddles and the activity that will be asked of the riding partnership is critical.
The same variety in saddle accessories is also now available, from girth and stirrup types to chest straps. On many treeless saddles there are no safety catches, the job of which is to open, allowing the stirrup leather to slide free, and preventing the rider being dragged in case of a fall. So it is essential to use some type of safety stirrup.
Where western style oxbow and fender are used the tapadero is a reasonable safety option, as it prevents the foot from entering too deeply and becoming trapped as a result. Having watched alternative saddlery being used on a steadily increasing number of horses for the first time there is one thing that sticks in the memory and makes the process a very pleasant one. So often the owner will have complained that the horse is sluggish or unresponsive and grumpy until the new gear is tried out. What follows is very often an epiphany for the owner - enter one grumpy and unwilling worker - exit one happier, more comfortable and more willing partner - a potionless transformation from Mr Hyde to Dr Jekyll!
This article has been used with kind permission from the magazine Planete Cheval au Naturel (Natural Horse Planet)
Added on: 15/11/07.
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