Riding in saddles with big blocks?

[atr]

I dont know about you, but I’m not physically quite the same rider now I’m in my 60s as I was as a younger person. (Better in many ways mentally, though.) But I’m still riding.

I’m quite happy to take advantage of all the comfort and assistance I can find nowadays. And if that means a cushy, deeper seated, perfectly balanced saddle that is built to be modern horse friendly, then, well, great, really!

An adrenalin-driven emergency dismount is still just as doable within my physical range as it is in a flatter seat. I’ve tested it. (Its the non-emergency, end of lesson, jello legs dismount that’s got harder but thats why I’m just about to go do a pilates class…)

And yes, those SRS saddles do look pretty locked in and cushy! I like the nifty stirrup hold backs, too.

[Scribbler]

The SRS apparently learn to ride bareback on a longe before being allowed into those cushy saddles. I would say if a person continues to be able to shift between deep seat, flat seat, bareback, etc without loss of security then the saddle isn’t doing their riding any harm. But if someone gets so used to a big blocks saddle that they have anxiety in a flatter saddle, then that’s a problem they are becoming dependent on it. I don’t think this would happen to an experienced rider but I could see it happening to a beginner.

[FitToBeTied]

I hate blocks on a saddle. My most recent saddle purchases (2 jump saddles) both companies said they would remove the rear blocks but not the front. Luckily since I ride in a very forward flap on both, the front blocks don’t come into play and I used the smallest the company would make.

[Impractical_Horsewoman]

Disagree. Some people (often long, leggy people with very balanced pelvises and minimal asymmetry) fit into a wide range of saddles. Other people without the typical rider’s body are not taken into consideration when most saddles are designed. Not being able to ride in a slippery, hard pancake saddle designed in the 90s doesn’t make someone a bad rider anymore that it makes a horse a bad horse because those saddles don’t work for them.

[Rackonteur]

@Scribbler I can too. And I’ve been told by people who run trail rides for tourists here in the US that that is why they use western saddles instead of English saddles. “It makes the riders [feel] more secure.” “It gives them something to hold onto.”
On horses who invariably have long manes.
So are American tourists just generally more klutzy than British and European ones?

[eightpondfarm]

I learned to ride in a Morgan and Saddlebred training barn. My first 5 years of lessons (7-12) were there. So, in my mind, that first kind of flat flat flat saddle is what fits me. Still have my cutback saddleseat saddle too. On display in the library. (it’s a beautiful thing)

And after lessons…once i had my own horses, i rode bareback more often than not.

To me, a deep seat dressage saddle with knee rolls makes me claustrophobic. If i ride western, i like a saddle that is larger than i need just for the space.

[eightpondfarm]

@Rackonteur

So are American tourists just generally more klutzy than British and European ones?

probably.

[Rackonteur]

That makes sense to me. I don’t have a “typical” rider’s body and I am more comfortable in a flat saddle without blocks.

[eightpondfarm]

I wonder… What IS a typical rider’s body? ( I would think it would be one that is limber and flexible and strong)

[Rackonteur]

I LOVE flat flat cutback saddle-seat saddles!

[Rackonteur]

I would agree … to a degree. That said, from much of what I see in pics, catalogs, etc., the “typical” rider’s body is of “average” height, lean, with skinny legs.
While that may be some arbitrary “ideal,” IME it isn’t typical.

[Impractical_Horsewoman]

My femurs are very long relative to my calves, and I feel that has me working against the design of some saddles, but particularly saddles from, say, the 90s, where it seems the assumption is the rider has calves for days but relatively short femurs. In a deeper-seated saddle, I find it much easier to use my whole leg and also to compensate for my asymmetries in my pelvis and lots of those old skool saddles seem to throw the top of my body very far forward.

Everyone has a different preference, and I totally agree that some saddles go over the top with the blocks, but a lot of people who are vehemently anti-block IMHO just rode in one saddle that didn’t fit them well. Liking a particular type of saddle doesn’t make someone a better or worse rider. I think there is more acknowledgement today that it’s beneficial to have more options. (Also, riding bareback is totally different from riding in a saddle that seems to be actively working against you.)

[spurofthemoment]

@Impractical_Horsewoman

My femurs are very long relative to my calves, and I feel that has me working against the design of some saddles, but particularly saddles from, say, the 90s, where it seems the assumption is the rider has calves for days but relatively short femurs. In a deeper-seated saddle, I find it much easier to use my whole leg and also to compensate for my asymmetries in my pelvis and lots of those old skool saddles seem to throw the top of my body very far forward.

Edit to add: my anatomy is similar! My hips are a bit more wide set so while my demo saddle has a narrow twist per its specs, it errs on the side medium. The seat is also wider at the back to accommodate the totality of my tush. It’s really comfy and I’m loving sitting in it.

This has been my recent experience! I grew up riding in an old Prix De Nations that thankfully had knee rolls BUT the flap was straight. I felt like the build of the saddle lifted my leg off my horse’s side and I’d get caught in a chair seat.

My Butet P is a 2005 with regular, slightly forward flaps (2.25). I never really had any huge problems with it - it just doesn’t fit my new horse, so that’s why I started shopping in the first place. I bought it when I was leasing a horse I needed to ride primarily in a half seat (the flat seat made that easier but I would still rip forward.) My new mount is a sit-down kind of ride, and I could sit fine on the Butet but would catch myself standing up and leaning forward when my abs and hips got tired. It had regular front and rear blocks.

I’m coming to not like the huge blocks on my demo saddle, but I can easily remove them (they’re Velcro). That said, I sit up MUCH straighter in the deeper seat saddle. I read somewhere that a deeper seat helps people with long femurs stay in the center of the seat and WITH the horse’s motion (rather than ahead or behind). I would say that checks out so far in my experience.

[Impractical_Horsewoman]

This is so great to hear! It’s nice to know I’m not crazy!

Sorry for the thread derail, but I rode for years at a stable which had very old, flat saddles, and my position was constantly criticized (and I felt unstable), so I started doing weird things to compensate for it in the saddles that did exactly what you said, lifted my leg off the horse’s side. Once I started riding in a deeper seated saddles it was like, wow, I feel in control of my body for the first time and so much more effective!

[spurofthemoment]

Not a derail at all! I love hearing the different perspectives and experiences. Yours definitely mirrored mine.

I’ve been told a million times that saddle fit is so personal. It’s also easy to blame riding faults on the saddle, especially a deeper seat saddle that “locks the rider in.” I’m so scared to buy something that I’m going to later get told “you need something different, try this current trendy thing/really old school thing” and be back at square one.

I need to remind myself that I’m not going to the olympics - I’m going to SOMETIMES show at A shows when my horse is ready. Until then, I’m doing fun horse woman things and unrated shows.

[Pico_Banana]

What I have found makes the biggest difference to me is having the correct width of the seat/twist of the tree. I prefer a wider base as it makes me feel close to the horse’s back. Then my leg falls more naturally around the horse and it’s easier for me to sit up in alignment.

When that fits me, the height of the cantle and the size of the blocks is fairly inconsequential.

Put me in a saddle with a more narrow twist and seat and all of a sudden I prefer a somewhat bigger block to help me maintain position.

It took me a long time to figure this out, especially given all of the Schleese marketing about narrow twists being better for women. I always knew what it felt like but I never knew how to describe it. Now I do and it makes finding the right saddle much less painful.

[spurofthemoment]

@Pico_Banana

It took me a long time to figure this out, especially given all of the Schleese marketing about narrow twists being better for women.

So I was about to consider Schleese saddles, but their website scared me!! I was kind of shocked/overwhelmed. It was unlike any other saddle brand marketing I’ve seen and I started to grow a little skeptical of them. The reason why I’m really hoping a Prestige saddle works for me is because my area’s rep is amazing and well-known for doing great fitting work. She also is very careful not to bash other brands or coerce you to feel a certain way about the saddle.

I’m with you - I’ve found I like the wider/medium wide twists and wider seats. The seat depth on my particular demo doesn’t feel deep despite the fact that it’s labeled that way. In a previous demo that I tried a few months ago and then again a week ago, the seat depth was flat, but the seat width was more narrow and I felt perched/like I was sitting on the saddle instead of in it. I couldn’t feel my horse’s back.

[Pico_Banana]

@spurofthemoment

In a previous demo that I tried a few months ago and then again a week ago, the seat depth was flat, but the seat width was more narrow and I felt perched/like I was sitting on the saddle instead of in it. I couldn’t feel my horse’s back.

Exactly!

FWIW, I recently bought an EQ saddle for my mare and am narrowing down my options for a second one for my gelding. Both dressage saddles. I am a huge fan of the tech behind these saddles (both horses LOVE them) and there are many options for the tree and seat (more than what’s on the website). Plus they are super adjustable in the block shape, size, and position, AND you can get an adjustable stirrup bar that has probably 3 inches of variability so you can get the stirrups exactly where they work for you. What I’ve found for me is that I like the stirrup bar placed significantly further back than most saddles place it and I like the shorter blocks angled to follow how my thigh falls and placed so that I can just barely/almost not at all feel them.

When it comes to blocks the other thing I have finally figured out is that I really, really don’t like the long ones that extend down to my knee. Basically I think my knee is claustrophobic.

I don’t know if they are too non-traditional for hunters, but in my opinion, the unusual panel isn’t so obvious in real life. If you look at their website, the shaped sheepskin saddle pad makes it difficult to see it’s not a “normal” saddle at all.

(No affiliation, just a very satisfied customer!)

[Libby2563]

@spurofthemoment

The reason why I’m really hoping a Prestige saddle works for me is because my area’s rep is amazing and well-known for doing great fitting work.

Would you mind sharing who that is please? Prestige (as a brand) has been recommended to me as well, and if dmveventer means what I think it does, we might be in the same geographic area.

[spurofthemoment]

Are you able to PM? I’d love to share her contact info! I can’t PM you, but you should be able to send me a message.