Better Riding/Different Saddle?

[joiedevie99]

@IdahoRider

ddle fitting clinic with Debbie Witty a couple of years ago and learned so much. She even took the time to put her hands on my mare after the clinic and talk about what she was seeing and feeling.

I can try a Trilogy that my instructor rides in and we are built the same.
Sheilah

I agree!! It looks to me like you are reaching for your stirrup. I’d have you shorten your stirrups a hole.

That said, that saddle block and flap don’t look right. That looks like the Icon Short Roll - which is meant to support your thigh, not your knee. I also ride in that roll, and my knee sits just below the bottom of the roll. The flap is also 1, maybe 2, sizes too long. The flap should end around the fattest part of your calf. To me, that’s about 2" below that silver dot I see on your boot. But you have maybe 3" more flap below that. It makes it so much harder to get your leg on your horse’s side.

[soloudinhere]

I’m reviving this topic as I have a question that’s related.

A lot of comments are that the block is wrong, etc.

However, I wonder what the proposed solution is for the short rider? @sheltona01 any comments?

I am 5’2” and despite having basically limitless custom options as far as finances, I fail to see how someone with my length of leg (or Sheilah’s) will ever have a block that is only on the thigh, unless the block is about two inches long and part of the skirt. We simply don’t have long enough legs.

So what is the proposed thing for those riders? I have tried saddles with no blocks and I can ride in them but they 1. Look goofy compared to most modern saddles and 2. Have seats that are hard as a rock because they tend to be old and/or German.

I recently tried a saddle I really liked but all block options will look like this on me, visually. Curious what other fitters do in this scenario.

[no.stirrups]

@soloudinhere
Saddle makers are more and more moving the blocks higher, so a block incorporated into the skirt is no longer out of the question, or even terribly unusual! Here’s the model I just ordered for myself: https://www.frankbaines.com/saddles/dressage/rococco/
Among the customizations I’ve asked that the block be rotated a little straighter to match the angle of my thigh. You can pretty much get the block put wherever you want it.

[soloudinhere]

Just looking at the shape of the seat versus the block on at least that demo version, I think the problem would still be the same. Maybe with a deeper seat it would work.

Maybe the answer really is something custom with no block.

[IdahoRider]

I know for me, because I don’t have any feeling in my feet, legs or butt, I have to have a deep seat and a decent sized block or I would have no idea where my body was.

I am going to ride in a clinic next month and I will specifically ask for feedback. Debbie Witty came to my barn a couple of years ago for a saddle fitting clinic and ended up spending a lot of time with my mare after the clinic. I did not have the money to buy a Trilogy, but she gave me some great tips on what to look for and this Custom that I am currently in was as close to those points as I could get and still be within my budget.

I still think that I could drop the stirrups down a hole and still be stable. But I do have short legs. I might want to try some Trilogy saddles, just for comparison. I have a new job and it pays so much better than my old job (I have sold out and moved to the private sector). So money, within reason, isn’t as much of a consideration as it has been.
Sheilah
Sheilah

[NSC_Los_Angeles]

I think your leg looks good. I had a hell of a time with my Custom and other Custom’s I’ve ridden in with the exception of the Steffen Advantage. For me there was something so painful about the deep seat. I went through a phase where I thought if I dropped my stirrups that would help. Four horrible years of terrible back pain and I finally tossed the damned thing out and bought a used JRD that has eliminated back pain even on my enormous moving 17.1HH green mare. That said so many people in my life seem to like these saddles but for me the pain was really problematic.

[IdahoRider]

Since I don’t have any feeling from just below my waist down, who knows? It might cause pain if I could feel it?

I do know that the first Custom I sat in was a new Steffan Advantage and I loved it.
Sheilah

[sheltona01]

The answer is that you get creative. Depending on the manufacture I have done some of the following for my fellow short legged riders.

I have had custom blocks made for the rider. I am going to add a link to a picture of a Black Country with a custom block. I think it was only 8" from top to bottom. I did it about 5 years ago. It is also on a short flapped saddle. It also worked well because of the tapering. So it gave support up high, but was not near the knee. They now have the carlo block which is also shorter than a lot of dressage blocks

As no.stirrups said some of the manufacturer have started placing blocks up higher on the the saddle.

Another thing I have done is use more of an all purpose or the bigger jumping blocks as external blocks on a dressage saddle. I can not find a picture of the saddle I am thinking about.

https://www.facebook.com/Jacobsons-Saddlery-Jacobsons-Saddle-Fitting-1422469524642801/photos/1864670247089391

Here is a picture of the Carlo block: https://www.facebook.com/Jacobsons-Saddlery-Jacobsons-Saddle-Fitting-1422469524642801/photos/1790668974489519

[sheltona01]

Because I was curious and I know I would not be able to sleep until I did so, I measured the icon short block. It is about 10 inches long.

[IdahoRider]

I need to lose weight! The medicine I was recently taken off of had weight gain as a side effect. So at least I won’t have that working against me.

I wish my body was more conducive to dressage: legs that go up to your arm pits, size 11 feet and no boobs. Alas, I am built all wrong. And I can’t feel my ass.
Sheilah

[joiedevie99]

@sheltona01

Because I was curious and I know I would not be able to sleep until I did so, I measured the icon short block. It is about 10 inches long.

Here is a chart showing the dimensions of all of the blocks they offered as of a few years ago. It’s the first picture on the bottom row.

https://saddlesnarts.com/en/dressage/wolfgang-solo.html

[sheltona01]

I was close and thank you!

[IdahoRider]

I love the looks of the Wolfgang Solo. I like the idea of the long block. I am going to reach out to my Custom rep and see if she has a demo I can ride in.
Sheilah

[joiedevie99]

If you try that block and like it, you aren’t committed to putting it on that saddle. I love the Icon Short Roll but hate the seats on the Icon saddles. So I have an Everest R and a Wolfgang Omni Monoflap with the Icon Short Roll. Also, it can take some looking once you know what you want, but there are many custom combinations floating floating around on the used market.

[netg]

I just ordered a Gemini with R1 block and 15" flaps. The flap on the Gemini seemed to be a more forward flap, a nd the seat allowed me to ask for both collection and lengthening. My fitter had thought a Steffen’s Advantage would work for me and I could not get off my crotch with it - seat shape, the block wasn’t putting me there. Too bad since it’s a less expensive saddle. But not worth the money if it doesn’t fit!

I exchanged my Advantage Monoflap with a standard short block because it was hitting me more like a knee block on my youngster. My old guy’s back is getting the age dip so he is no longer in that saddle either. My Advantage R has an R1 block as well and I love it… it just isn’t the right saddle for this horse. I also need extra room to move on her because she has so much gait - so what works on my other horses is restrictive on her.

[soloudinhere]

How tall are you, again? I just replaced my Icon Alpha (2020 model) and it is a 17.5 xtra short flap/Icon short roll. It’s with my Custom rep to be sold. It might suit you quite well actually.

[fordtraktor]

I agree the roll is in the wrong place and this flap is too long. I have an icon flight and the short roll ends well above my knee but I have very long legs at 5’10.

I think a long roll would work better for a short person. The short rolls seem to be a fix for those of us cursed with legs so long the older long rolls pushed our knees back too far. A shorter genus shouldn’t have that issue.

[fordtraktor]

Femur, not genus. Haven’t figured out the edit function with the new forum!

[IdahoRider]

I am 5’4" and fairly stubby.
Sheilah

[IdahoRider]

And when the block isn’t long enough, we end up with a chair seat. Since I can’t feel my legs, I think I need the longer block to help me keep a longer leg.
Sheilah