Omg adjustable stirrup bars! I forgot - that was another reason I bought an EQ. Absolutely love them. Very, very hard to find this feature in any other brand.
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Adjustable stirrup bars?! Like, you can move them further back or forward? This might be pushing me over the edge to trial an EQ!
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Yes! Super easy to change. Multiple positions. For the very long legged, they’re a game changer.
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okay, I gotta try one now! I can never find a saddle with the stirrup bar set far back enough for me!
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Thank you so much for taking the time to respond to me…this was very helpful 
As for the bonus of being super close contact, do you find you’re able to sit “better”, or hypothetically, if a horse decided to happily buck along for a few strides, do you feel like you’d be able to stick through it more efficiently, lol
I don’t, this is a bit of a loaded question being that though I’ve never seen my boy buck under saddle, he’s a true sure footed, powerfully elevated, bucking machine on the lunge & turned out…it’s playful though intimidating, & of course I used to ride through something similar as if it were a super exaggerated center, I have doubt my older self’s ability these days, lol
As far as sitting or sticking, I am a long time proponent of Mary Wanless Rider Mechanics.
I am also a fan of R+ and R- training. And I have been studying in hand straightness training for the past 16 months.
I am nearly 52 years old, and currently riding 1 horse. I chose the open, jump style seat, in part, because the super deep modern dressage style saddles are very uncomfortable for my hips, and the back of those saddles does a super job of launching me off the back of the horse if the horse starts jumping around for some reason. So I would not choose an EQ with a super deep ‘dressage’ seat for that reason.
But…. I have also never sat in an EQ dressage saddle. I took a jump saddle on trial and ordered an even bigger one with an ever more forward flap than I had in the trial saddle.
I hope you can get something useful out of that tale. Lol 
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I have a demo coming on Monday! Will update with how mine goes. I’m still interested to hear more from folks who’ve been using them a long time too.
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I think my picky warmblood baby approves! She has always been behind the leg/sucked back in my other saddles, and she cantered off with me from a very forward trot without any real encouragement. This is our first canter together!
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Edit: Here’s a link since the video doesn’t seem to work directly. https://youtu.be/bI0nY54Z2XU
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Great!
My barn mate has now had one on trial for about three weeks. It is not the miracle saddle she was hoping for so it may go back sadly…
Did the horse just not like it? I’m curious since it seems like you only really hear from the folks that loved them.
I’m still curious about these saddles and may yet try one. One thing stands out to me. Of all the trainers who are on their list of those who have used them/liked them, why aren’t they riding in them daily and showing in them? I’ve contacted a couple of them that I know personally and asked. I’ve gotten a fairly vague “We used it for a short time on a hard to fit horse”. If they are really so much better, why not continue to ride and show in them?
I know 2 people who initially really liked the saddle, but returned them after a few weeks because the horses started exhibiting back pain.
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My one EQ saddle is my only experience, but my gelding is very happy in it. I do place a premium on my own skill and influence. By which I mean I’m not expecting the saddle to make up for my technique. I work as hard as I can to make sure my influence on the horse is as good as it can be.
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They probably got a sponsorship offer from another brand and decided to try that?
The horse has some specific resistances that are thought to be caused by saddle fit. This saddle, with all the different adjustments that have been made to date have not caused a miraculous change in the horse’s happiness under saddle. I know there are those reading who will assume this is a rider issue, but it really isn’t. For example, the horse was warmed up in this saddle with the usual issues, he was then changed to a bareback pad, he showed a marked improvement to his way of going, his freedom and his general demeanor, he then was put back into the saddle and the teeth gnashing and ear pinning began before the rider even mounted. Back in the pad all that went away.
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I wonder if the demographic of people prone to be interested in even entertaining an out-of-the-box solution/saddle are the type that have already tried more conventional methods that for whatever reason have failed: horse has KS, or existing back pain, etc.
In other words I don’t think people with perfectly healthy-backed horses tend to gravitate to this brand of saddle, they have no reason to try it if their current schtick is working.
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No, people with perfectly healthy backed horses whose saddles fit don’t tend to change saddles at all - why would they?
I bought my first Reactor Panel (precursor to the EQ - same panel type) because we had a shark fin wither horse with a very tall beginner rider. The panels on these are such that there’s almost no way you don’t get great wither clearance, and the weight distribution and stability are just much greater with the larger panels too. And lastly, getting one in an 18.5" was easy. So I wouldn’t say we tried everything before buying one, but we tried a few saddles, came across the RP brand and could see right away that it was far and away better for multiple reasons.
Since then I bought a dressage model that worked for several horses, and would still be riding in it if my current mare wasn’t wider. So I bought an new EQ for her. She didn’t like the first panel style we tried on her - that was resolved by changing the style.
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Right? 
It makes me wonder about the validity of reviews, too. If you’re[g] looking for a saddle outside the box because your horse’s back hurts or they have KS, and then that saddle doesn’t work for you and you leave a negative review, is it really the saddle’s fault?
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So in reality, this EQ saddle , despite all the ways the website claims to make it a good fit— can still not be a good choice for some horses?
For the price I would want better results than your friend got. Is her horse an odd shape/ size?
