Today we spent quite a number of hours in the car traveling. It was a good opportunity to ask a few questions.
The first question I asked was Willy's opinion on the saddle pad the young man with Charlotte had used under the saddle on the mare. It was a back protection pad placed in between the saddle cloth and the saddle. Charlotte said it was an amortiseur. See http://kingsleyshop.fr/ for more detail and http://www.kingsleypads.com/.
I talked to Willy about it. Willy said that adding more padding between rider and horse just reduces contact and makes it more difficult to feel the horse. Once again the important question to ask is why you need a pad? What is the root cause of the problem? Is it because the saddle doesn't fit? If so get another saddle.Is it because the rider is unbalanced and sitting heavy in the saddle? If so get some help to improve your riding. I have seen pads like this used with a horse whose back is expected to change........if this is the case it is better to work the horse without the saddle....get the back fit and then have a new saddle fitted to the fit back!
Willy is always open to new ideas....but they have to demonstrate tangible results. He has invited the company to come and demonstrate the pad. Apparently they have an electronic pad which they put under your saddle which detects pressure and downloads the data to a computer. They are going to come and demonstrate this to Willy in March. I am looking forward to seeing it. I did a bit of research on pressure assessment on saddles.Here are some interesting articles: http://www.equitationscience.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Science-in-the-saddle-Nov13.pdf and https://www.researchgate.net/publication/246543326_Evaluation_of_pressure_distribution_under_a_too_wide_saddle_with_different_saddle_pads.
I noticed that areas are dry under Eric's saddle when I work him....think I need to get my saddle checked!!
Willy has two saddles. They are both made by Cobra in Germany.http://www.cobrasaettel.de/index.htm. He find that with his horses with a fit back these saddles fit them all.
The most important thing is that the horse is comfortable in his tack. In the case of the saddle the horse will not be comfortable unless the rider is also comfortable. All the bridles at Willy's have a comfort headpiece. He does not use a noseband. The fastenings for the bit to the cheek pieces always have the buckle on the outside.
Today we went to watch Josephine have another lesson with Jean. They started working the mare over single fences on a circle. Then they worked up to combinations and then a short course. At the more difficult fences (either due to height or difficulty of approach) the mare started running out to the right. Always the right! We need to find out why and fix it!
We talked about making and feeding hay vs buying a complete feed like Willy feeds. All hay will be variable in nutritional quality. Most people still feed short feed with the associated negative behaviours of stress and bolting of feed in the short run and risks of colic, ulcers and laminitis in the long run. It is difficult to find good hay without dust or spores. Hay has to be soaked with the associated issues of time, nutrient loss and extra work. You have to store the hay so therefore nedd to factor in the costs of a barn or other building and it's maintenance. If you make your own hay using a local farmer you are not guaranteed to get it cut when you want.....on the other hand if you have your own equipment it will be expensive to maintain and insure. Once you take into account the full costs of feeding hay and short feed vs feeding a complete feed like Willy's there is no contest!
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