weeeeeeeeeeeee
Beejy-goodness.
sunday evening i rode out in the bush with kelli. OMFG my horse was a saint. he walked along on a relatively long rein. got a BIT antsy at various stages, but no silliness really, just 'tenseness'.
i rode in my 30yo barnsby, with kelli's Physio Pad (from her london dressage). he was fine. not fussed at all. even sweat marks on both sides at the end. the pad seemed good for the saddle fit for HIM but not for me. my knees, hips, ankles all fucking ached like hell at the end of it. AND the seat was ROCK fucking hard, my poor seatbones!
Today, Lucy the saddlefitter came out to re-fit my wintecs. she was a bit grumpy about the fact that i hadn't called her sooner - pffft, i started work & she doesn't work on weekends... whatever.
anyway.
she reckoned the packing on the dressage wouldn't cause pressure points & the unevenness of it was really not of a concern BUT she did tamp it down hard later on.
she refitted both gullets from a Wide to a Medium Wide & added flocking to both. Then she watched me ride in both of them.
what a difference. even pressure along the panels of the dressage. no air underneath the seat, no rocking. he had a bit of a BOOM into canter, so we'll see what that means with more riding. i rode like a fucking inept beginner tho cos the stirrups were too long & i just don't really feel comfy in it? idk.
then the ap. MUCh improved. very nice rockinghorse canter, both legs. nice & forward at trot. good stuff. no air at all underneath it, no rocking etc. solid as a rock on his back.
she said that she "really loves my horse. he's the most balanced horse she's seen" which i think is a super nice compliment! he is very balanced!
after she left i hooned around for a while in the arena. couldn't help it! was so much fun. we went all over the place & did some fun transitions & stuff.
Cair vs Flock
karen asked Lucy what her thoughts were on Cair panels. well. she said that as a saddle fitter, she dislikes them. there's no room for minute adjustment as there is with flocking. additionally, Cair panels expand. when cold they sit rather flat. some ppl often mistakenly believe their cair panels have 'popped' or something. they expand with heat. especially with high impact/riding sports like Endurance & eventing, where both horse and rider get quite hot. so with heat, the panels go from fairly flat to quite round and sausagelike - causing uneven pressure & little protection for the horse.
this was interesting for Karen who has just bought a wintec Isabell with cair. Lucy relayed a story (without knowing karen had cair) about an endurance rider who rode in an isabell & the cair panels caused both sides of the horses spine to grow in with white hairs (pressure points, but a whole BACK's worth). she bought another isabell with flocking and eventually the white hairs went away.
interesting.
sunday evening i rode out in the bush with kelli. OMFG my horse was a saint. he walked along on a relatively long rein. got a BIT antsy at various stages, but no silliness really, just 'tenseness'.
i rode in my 30yo barnsby, with kelli's Physio Pad (from her london dressage). he was fine. not fussed at all. even sweat marks on both sides at the end. the pad seemed good for the saddle fit for HIM but not for me. my knees, hips, ankles all fucking ached like hell at the end of it. AND the seat was ROCK fucking hard, my poor seatbones!
Today, Lucy the saddlefitter came out to re-fit my wintecs. she was a bit grumpy about the fact that i hadn't called her sooner - pffft, i started work & she doesn't work on weekends... whatever.
anyway.
she reckoned the packing on the dressage wouldn't cause pressure points & the unevenness of it was really not of a concern BUT she did tamp it down hard later on.
she refitted both gullets from a Wide to a Medium Wide & added flocking to both. Then she watched me ride in both of them.
what a difference. even pressure along the panels of the dressage. no air underneath the seat, no rocking. he had a bit of a BOOM into canter, so we'll see what that means with more riding. i rode like a fucking inept beginner tho cos the stirrups were too long & i just don't really feel comfy in it? idk.
then the ap. MUCh improved. very nice rockinghorse canter, both legs. nice & forward at trot. good stuff. no air at all underneath it, no rocking etc. solid as a rock on his back.
she said that she "really loves my horse. he's the most balanced horse she's seen" which i think is a super nice compliment! he is very balanced!
after she left i hooned around for a while in the arena. couldn't help it! was so much fun. we went all over the place & did some fun transitions & stuff.
Cair vs Flock
karen asked Lucy what her thoughts were on Cair panels. well. she said that as a saddle fitter, she dislikes them. there's no room for minute adjustment as there is with flocking. additionally, Cair panels expand. when cold they sit rather flat. some ppl often mistakenly believe their cair panels have 'popped' or something. they expand with heat. especially with high impact/riding sports like Endurance & eventing, where both horse and rider get quite hot. so with heat, the panels go from fairly flat to quite round and sausagelike - causing uneven pressure & little protection for the horse.
this was interesting for Karen who has just bought a wintec Isabell with cair. Lucy relayed a story (without knowing karen had cair) about an endurance rider who rode in an isabell & the cair panels caused both sides of the horses spine to grow in with white hairs (pressure points, but a whole BACK's worth). she bought another isabell with flocking and eventually the white hairs went away.
interesting.