Tino is your typical cob: wide, big shoulders and no wither. He’s only 14 hands and is short coupled.
We had issues with saddles from the beginning; they would constantly slip to the right, which was a) made worse by one shoulder being bigger than the other and b) made worse by the fact that he was fitted with 17 inch saddles to accommodate me, but that was too long for his back so the movement at the back of the saddle would cause them to slip too.
We had issues in canter; bucking in the transition, refusing to go forwards and unable to do more than about a quarter of a 20m circle before he would break into trot. He was stuffy in all paces and I often found his poll would drop below the vertical. He was clearly trying to “get away” from the saddle. We had physiotherapists and chiropractors and saddle fitters galore and the only conclusion we could come to was that he hated the saddle.
We tried saddle after saddle, and I was coming to my wits end, until I saw SMART saddles online and got reading stories of people with the same issues as me - I was sold!
My local SMART Advisor came out to us and we had a really good session trying the different sizes of SMART Native Dressage saddles. Tino likes his jumping but we both prefer to keep our feet on the ground, so we went with the SMART Native Dressage saddle. What a difference!
His ears are now pricked when working, he feels so much freer in front and relaxed over his back. We have started asking for some canter again, at first we would get a buck but he has begun to realise that this saddle is different, so each time he’s getting more settled and, today, he just didn’t! Not a single buck, he just got on with it at our first ever working equitation clinic, despite being away from home in an indoor arena that he’s not normally very fond of!
My SMART Advisor checked in with me this week to make sure all was well. He’d had to have a couple of days off due to the snow and ice, but we’d managed three days happy hacking, and we are completely happy and in love with our set up!
There has been a massive improvement in his way of going, and our first attempt at a canter test! No fly bucking and able to pretty much maintain the canter the whole way round on both reins.
I can’t believe how much he’s changed in this saddle. Thank you to SMART Saddles and my SMART Advisor!
Justine and Tino x
Victoria Adams photography.
© Copyright SMART Saddles. All Rights Reserved.