Category Archives: Tack

The beginning of the end of the Ubersaddle

03 Thursday May 2012

Posted by in Tack

≈ 27 Comments

As shoulder pads are replaced by dolman sleeves only to be replaced again by shoulder pads…and English Country style is replaced by minimalism is replaced by Cottage Chic…as bistro food gives way to nouvelle cuisine gives way to comfort food, what goes around comes around.

And so it is with dressage saddles.  As it reaches its superstructured, overstuffed and over-intellectualized limit, the Ubersaddle may have reached the end of its useful life.  

Passier’s Freemove Dynamic

What makes me think so?  The new, old-fashioned saddle from Passier — The Freemove Dynamic Dressage Saddle, the popularity of the Stubben endorsed by Catherine Haddad, and the louder and ever-louder “buzz” from people discovering or rediscovering the joys of riding in closer contact.

I think every rider wants to be the best rider he or she can be, and an Ubersaddle can make it — or appear to make it — easier.  A superstructured saddle puts a rider’s seat and legs exactly where they’re supposed to be in order to be effective.  Unfortunately, once they’re there, that’s exactly where they’re staying.  Which prevents riders from moving with their horses.  

The problems usually arise at the trot, when you see bobbing heads and rocking torsos and undulating lower backs, because the movement of the horse has to be absorbed somewhere in the riders’ body, and if the legs and seat are blocked, the movement will come out somewhere else.  At canter, an Ubersaddle with too small a sweet spot can make even a good rider bounce her buns up and down in the saddle like a beginner.

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How to ride without reins

10 Tuesday Apr 2012

Posted by in Equitation, Tack

≈ 6 Comments

The best way to develop independent aids is to take some of those aids away and see how you do without them.

That’s what dropping your stirrups is all about…or taking your stirrups off your saddle for a ride…or getting a lunge lesson.  Or riding without reins.

If you ride hunt seat, there’s nothing like letting go of your reins to help you balance correctly, with the weight in your heels and your legs wrapped around your horse.  Putting your arms out to the side or over your head or behind your back over a jump or grid is the best way to build a strong, independent seat over fences — and to build confidence.

Riding without reins is also great for flatwork, whether you ride in a jumping saddle or a dressage saddle.  It’s a worthy exercise to see how still your hands can be at the sitting trot, and whether you can keep your body straight and supple while moving your arms and hands anywhere.  (The key is in the ball and socket joint in your shoulder, but when we ride, we often lock that joint in an attempt to preserve a stable torso).

Whatever you decide to do with your arms when they’re not connected to your reins, whatever are you supposed to do with your reins?  You don’t want them falling down your horse’s neck or drooping down over one side of his shoulder or neck, and you want to make sure your horse can use his neck to bascule over a jump.

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From the horse’s mouth

18 Sunday Mar 2012

Posted by in Horse Care, Tack

≈ 3 Comments

How well do you know your horse’s mouth?

If the answer is, “not very well,” it might serve you well to become better acquainted.

That’s especially true if you feel that your horse’s mouth isn’t exactly the way you want it to be — hyperactive…dry…gaping open…gnashing…or, worst of all, up in the air or with a tongue hanging out. Even worse if that’s a blue tongue, but that’s unlikely to be the case with your horse.  We’ll reserve that distinction for Patrick Kittell and his ilk.

If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you know that I’m always talking about hands, and a rider’s hands have a lot to do with whether a horse’s mouth is comfortable or not, but with the wrong bit, even educated hands can have a hard time making a horse feel comfortable, look comfortable or act comfortable.

So let’s put our hands aside for the moment and focus on your horse’s mouth. It’s critical to look at your horse’s mouth and understand what you’re seeing if you want to fit your horse with the proper bit, whether your horse has a perfect, untouched mouth or whether you’re trying to solve mouth “issues” (so often bit-related).

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Make him round

28 Tuesday Feb 2012

Posted by in Equitation, Tack, Training

≈ 7 Comments

There are certainly other phrases of three words that I don’t care for, but “make him round” makes my top ten list.

It’s a popular instruction to a rider whose horse has his head above the vertical — horrors! — and who seems stiff or hollow in the back.

Let me preface by saying that I have nothing against helping a horse to relax over his topline and stretch into the contact.  Unfortunately, that’s not usually the meaning of “make him round,” which is the dressage trainer’s answer to the hunter-jumper trainer’s equally misguided “put your horse in a frame.”

The command to “make him round” ignores both the why and the how — why is the horse not round?  And, if you try to make him round, how do you do it? Beyond that, there is an additional why — why would you want the horse to be round?  And beyond that, how round is round?

Let’s look first at why the horse isn’t round.  There’s a reason.  There may be many reasons.

Has anyone checked saddle fit?  Recently?

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Saddle saga, part II

22 Wednesday Feb 2012

Posted by in Tack

≈ 10 Comments

It takes an embarrassingly long amount of time to find a saddle that fits.  No other proof is needed beyond the time elapsed between this post and the post you’re reading now.

I didn’t just sit on my hay bales in the meantime.  Far from it.  About two hundred feet, in fact, on the chair in front of my computer, emailing saddle fitters and friends for suggestions and advice, and searching for a new saddle through my favorite online sources:  Trumbull Mountain, fineusedsaddles.com, Rick’s Heritage Saddlery, Pelham Saddlery, and, of course, ebay.

Kent & Masters

The local saddle fitter I’ve been using asked me about my budget (answer:  getting smaller by the minute) and, remembering what I like, suggested a new Kent & Masters (“under $2000, all leather, wool flocked, interchangeable gullet system, simple seat, simple saddle”) that I could try.  I replied that I would never, ever again buy a custom (read: “new”) saddle again.

I reached out to one of my friends, who lives nearby and has bought even more saddles than I have during the years.  She sympathized with me, as she spends at least as much time as I do buying them, selling them, and beginning a new search.  As far as I know, the only saddle she has kept all these years is her Billy Cook.

Reactor Panel “Elegance”

She had none of her own to sell me (she may still have that Reactor Panel, but knows I like a close contact fit). A friend of hers, though, has a 17.5″ Sommer mono flap with a wide tree that’s for sale.  I could “keep it” and ride in it for as long as I wanted, because her friend was waiting for a new, custom saddle…of course, she might want the Sommer back, if the new saddle didn’t fit.  I understand.  

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Another look at the two-finger rule

04 Saturday Feb 2012

Posted by in Horse Care, Tack

≈ 1 Comment

Yesterday, I contrasted the “two-finger rule” established by the United States Dressage Federation with the “two-finger rule” proposed by the International Society for Equitation Science.

There are many points of divergence which I highlighted yesterday, among them being where those two famous fingers actually go.

To recap:  The USDF says “under the noseband on the side of the face under the cheekbone.”  The ISES says “between the noseband and the horse’s nasal midline.”

What difference does it make?

Well, let’s take a look at a horse’s skull:

Drawing by Pisanello, c. 1433-1438 @ The Louvre

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The two-finger rule

03 Friday Feb 2012

Posted by in Horse Care, Tack

≈ 4 Comments

The International Society for Equitation Science (ISES) released a position statement a few days ago relating to nosebands.  Yippee!  Every little bit helps (actually, often a smaller bit does help, but we’re talking about nosebands now…more about bits later).

The ISES states that the “two finger rule” should be applied to nosebands in competition.  Just like the USDF.  Where they vary is where the two fingers should go, and in their general attitude towards the welfare of the horse.

According to the ISES, the two fingers should go (actually, they recommend they should “fit easily”) between the noseband and the horse’s nasal midline.  To avoid any gray area, the ISES further recommends that the noseband tightness should be officially measured during competitions, with a taper gauge.  The statement reads, “The gauge should be placed without force and be clearly marked to show the desired stop which, in alignment with established industry guidance, should be the dimensions of two average adult fingers.  Riders should be advised and encouraged to use the same gauge in practice.”

Pretty taper gauge commonly used for body piercing

Don’t you think that taper gauges similar to the one I’ve pictured at right could catch on?  They’re so pretty.

Much prettier than the USDF rule regarding nosebands.  Here it is, rule DR121.6, established in January of 2010 (the italics and boldface are my own):

“6.  Only those bits listed with Figure 1 are allowed.  At any level of competition, a cavesson noseband may never be so tightly fixed that it causes severe irritation to the skin, and must be adjusted to allow at least two fingers under the noseband on the side of the face under the cheekbone.  Cavesson nosebands may be used with a chin pad.  At any level of competition, a browband may be multicolored and may be decorated with metal, beads, gemstones and crystals.”

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I hope this isn’t Dasher or Dancer

01 Thursday Dec 2011

Posted by in How to Spend Your Money, Tack

≈ 6 Comments

Kieffer's reindeer saddle pad

Kieffer claims that their reindeer saddle pad is not just an “eye catcher.”  It also “supports with the treatment of abraded positions.”  Huh?  Is this translated from German to Japanese to English?

You may be wondering why a company as venerable as Kieffer would market a reindeer saddle pad (and be too cheap to hire a decent translator if their in-house copywriters didn’t learn how to speak perfect English in school, which is what I thought they all did in Europe).  Oh well, never mind, they may not be on the cutting edge of German-English translation, but I’m guessing that they’re right on the cutting edge of the news published online in the Equine Veterinary Journal.

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How to spend your money – leather care

26 Saturday Nov 2011

Posted by in How to Spend Your Money, Tack

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If you’re like me, you’ve spent more money than you care to tally on leather goods related to your horse obsession. You may be a member of the “my saddle cost more than my horse” club (as I have been).  Or you may have more saddles than you have horses (as I still do, even having gotten rid of a few saddles in the last few years).

Maybe you have a nice stash of unused tack that might come in handy one day (and you’re right, it might — a well-constructed drop noseband is hard to come by these days).  Maybe you have no idea what’s even in the stash of unused tack you own.  Having just recently become reacquainted with my own stash, I know it includes a Portuguese bridle for my fantasy Lusitano as well as an assortment of white cloth girths (perhaps my most insane purchase ever).

If you’re like any normal horse person (which practically defines you as abnormal), you have more tack than you can use (or remember).  You might as well start a leather care collection, too.  Or, if you’re the frugal type (and if you are, I have no idea why you’re reading this), you can wait until you’ve used up what you’ve got and then try the items I’m going to recommend.

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Brown is the new black

28 Friday Oct 2011

Posted by in Attire, Tack

≈ 3 Comments

Have you noticed while driving around that there are some gorgeous new brown cars out there?  I’ve seen Volvos, BMWs, Lexuses (Lexi?) and more, in an array of shades from shimmery cocoa…

2011 Volvo

to milk chocolate…

2012 BMW

to 70% dark…

2012 VW Eos

Volkswagen calls their color “black oak brown.”  So there you have it, definitively.  Brown is the new black.

How long do you think it will take for this trend to crossover into tack?

Personally, I think it’s already happening, but it’s still a bit avant garde.  Which, if we take away the word’s outlandish and bizarre connotations, simply means “vanguard,” at the forefront of new developments or ideas.  Who is leading the garde?  Heather Blitz (and if you saw her electric blue fly bonnet at the Pan Am Games, you shouldn’t be surprised).  And Tina Konyot, who doesn’t mind riding Calecto V in a combination of brown saddle and black bridle.  Arguably, these two have the best (although different) seats in the dressage world, so they can put them on any color saddle they want.

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