My Soapbox for Equestrian Writings
Back in 1999, Dr. Robert Cook, professor emeritus of the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University, introduced his bitless bridle and did a tremendous job of creating the bitless vs. bit debate. Bitless is supposed to be kinder than putting a bit in a horse’s mouth. Bits, according to Dr. Cook create pain […]
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Have you ever had a saddle that you just adored? The one that you’d dreamed about? The one you said would need to be pried from your dead hands? And that no longer fits your current horse or discipline? Maybe one of those old, flat equitation saddles that are hard to even give away? To […]
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In my quest to ride in as many different saddles as possible, my latest acquisition was a Heather Moffett Vogue. This is one of those “neither fish nor fowl” designs. It doesn’t have a typical tree and it isn’t technically a treeless saddle. It is a leather tree, which they call a “SoftTree” and a […]
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My Sensation treeless saddle is one of the most comfortable saddles I’ve ever owned, but one of the challenges to riding in a treeless saddle is that without the rigid structure of a tree, the saddle can slip more easily. There are a few tricks to keep your saddle secure. First, of course, is to […]
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Readers of my blog know that I have a pretty full-blown saddle addiction, but the one thing I’ve always resisted is ordering a custom saddle. Well, not quite. I have a saddle that was made to measure for me — a Roosli Pilatus dressage saddle. Not technically “custom” it was assembled to fit my measurements […]
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Bitting up for hunting can mean the difference between a fun ride and a continuous tug of war. Whenever someone says you should be able to ride every horse in a snaffle, I chuckle and think, “you’ve never been foxhunting.” That’s not to say you can’t hunt a horse in a snaffle. My Trakehner was […]
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Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to jump downed trees in a single bound. Look! Running after the hounds! It’s Zelda! For sure, Zelda had the locomotive part down pat. Riding her was a bit like being on a runaway train. Without brakes that worked well. Zelda and I had […]
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When you lay down big bucks for a saddle pad, the temptation to keep it clean is very strong. I started using a SaddleRight pad under my treeless saddle some time ago as it provides spinal clearance, it distributes pressure and doesn’t compress over time. These nifty pads run about $350 new (although you can […]
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