PrintThe information in this blog will probably be my most important life contribution to the contemporary world of dressage. Be warned, my opinion comes from a school of traditional riding. It works for me, and I have witnessed it work over and over and over again, at clinics all over the world. If you study the information in this blog and look at the previous blogs called “About the Saddle”, “About the Saddle Part 2” and “GRFS,” you will have all the simple secrets to my success.
Dear Rita,
Unlike the world of fast food, where you get more for your money if you “Supersize it!” the same is not necessarily true about saddles. Having just returned from a short clinic tour in the USA, I think it is my duty to tell my fellow Americans what I have already told many riders across Europe: “Stop the Insanity!” When it comes to dressage saddles—don’t supersize it!
Here are some facts that need to be visited:
1) If a little knee roll helps you a little bit, a big knee roll will not necessarily help you more.
2) Your saddle should not distribute your weight evenly over your horses back.
3) Lengthened and broadened panels do not make your horse’s back more comfortable.
4) A short girth restricts shoulder/front leg freedom.
5) When you engage your pelvis in the saddle, your back pockets should not come in contact with your supersized cantle.
6) The ear, shoulder, hip, heel line that has been touted as an equitation ideal is useful in saddleseat riding, but not in dressage.
7) Sitting on a ‘three point’ seat—pubic bone and two seat bones—is painful and wrong!
8) In balanced riding, the rider’s knee should never be behind the horse’s center of gravity.
9) THE RIDER HAS TO BE IN NATURAL BALANCE WITH HIS HORSE SO THAT HE CAN—THROUGH GRAVITY AND RELAXATION—LEARN TO FOLLOW AND ENCHANCE THE NATURAL MOTION OF HIS HORSE’S BACK.
1. If a little knee roll helps you a little bit, a big knee roll will not necessarily help you more.
Oh Rita, this is going to be a long night! Let’s start with No. 2 as No. 1 sends my blood pressure to the top of the charts! A knee roll should only be found on the menu of a Chinese restaurant. It has nothing to do with good riding. That will become clear if you read the following.
2. Your saddle should not distribute your weight evenly over your horses back.
Your dressage horse is not a pack animal. He is not carrying a dead weight of 150 lbs over long distances at the walk. He is an athlete in motion. He is being asked to shift his own balance more onto his hind legs than his front legs. His back and his rib cage have to swing freely in order for him to engage his loin muscles and achieve these goals.
