Mustang wrote:
I am in the market for a saddle, but until I can afford the right thing I was looking at pads as an option. I would not be riding for more than maybe 20 min. at a time 3 times per week.
I saw these and wondered if anyone had an opinion? Do you think it would offer a little more protection then a plain pad? Anything you see that could be a concern?
http://www.longridersgear.comGo to the section bareback pads, and it is the Skito bareback pad.
Thanks,
Leah
As I understand the argument so far against "bareback," it focuses on weight, not even a great deal of it, being concentrated on a very small area ... the buttocks with the seat bones obtruding into a relatively small area of the horse's back.
I think the logic is unassailable.
Even a small weight on my back, for instance, whether I carried it in normal standing human upright position (easier), or positioned horizontally as a horse is configured, it would become not only uncomfortable fairly quickly, but longer periods of time might well damage me.
Pads do not usually distribute the load over a large enough area to significantly
ease the burden to the horse.
While I admit this is a speculation on my part, and I have not seen any studies (but I'll bet they exist) it simply logical based on having tried for years to find a backpack that worked for me.
I eventually did, and it had the broadest possible area of weight distribution, with more being carried lower, given I am a vertical carrying human, and my hips could take the load of my best weight supporting area.
For the horse this is far more complicated because he uses his 'arms' as the major weight carrying portion, but not by much. His forehand and hindquarters together must do the job with considerable shifting of the bearing muscles and framework front to rear and back again.
Well made saddles take this into consideration. I'm not even totally sold (but strongly entertain the idea) of the treeless saddle as being best.
We might even find that with some horses and some riders, yes, there is enough inherent stiffness and padding that treeless works better, but in other horses and with other riders that a treed saddle might be less damaging and more comfortable for the horse.
I owned one western saddle for a time that, while very expensive, hurt every horse I put it on, and was not comfortable to me.
I considered selling it, thought better of it, and burned it, sharing a bottle of brandy with a few friends who had had to listen to my complaining about that saddle for much too long.
I bought a bare tree, western, semiquarter bars, and had a saddler friend build a level seat, only slightly padded on the bars saddle, with double in the skirt rigging, fenders/leathers hung back just a bit, that never hurt a horse or myself.
And wouldn't you know, after I quit riding and even working with horses that saddle was lost during forest fire that got my storage shed. All my tack was lost.
Why not wait and enjoy ground work until you can get a saddle, treed or treeless (though it would be nice to start with treeless if that's possible)?
It's difficult for me, as a long time rider, to get my mind around the concept of groundwork being of equal importance, value, and enjoyment, but it was the direction I was going when I left the horseworld, and I'm still on that track, as AND has proven to me.
Some days I don't ride at all, just play in the pasture, or in our training area.
If my feet were better I'd probably never ride again, but as it is I need a partner that is comfortable carrying me, and my wife absolutely refuses to.
Leah, give it more thought, would be my advice.
There is no hurry. Not even for me.
I have a challenge for the treeless folks building saddles. And that is the possibility of detached 'bars.' That is fully flexible side to side so they in effect flex with the horse's movement.
A horse moving straight and not in Levade, does not use both side at the same time.
One of the reasons for collection, I estimate, is to bring the two sides into action, though alternating, more closely in frequency.
But what if the saddle itself flexed under the human (who should be trained to move with it ... as is discussed here so often) and with the horse's action, yet maintained that wider area of weight distribution.
We have some very knowledgeable people on this issue posting to AND. I wonder what their thoughts are, and how far the technology has moved in this direction already.
Donald Redux - now