I believe I have seen more atrocities towards horses from those without money than I have from those with money.
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Not to mention she rides them. Horrible thing to do according to the animal rights types.
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So to bring the thread back to the original topic, I’m going to play with using no thigh blocks on Friday. I have this weird theory that for me specifically and that saddle, that it may correct my chair seat a bit. Years ago I rode in a wintec Isabel and I remember at first I fought the chair seat and we either removed the thigh blocks or we replaced them with extremely small ones. And then I had a text book, perfect position and absolutely loved that saddle. This is a different saddle so I might not have the same result but it’s worth trying. I do suspect that in the next year or two I will be hunting for something different.
Right now my horse is going to be rehabbing a little bit. So if we will be tack walking or anything I’m going to spend that time working on myself a little ways. Or try riding other horses and other saddles and play with position.
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The fact that many of their horses are beyond 20 years old and still performing must say something about their training and horsekeeping standards.
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I’m still waiting for eightpondfarm to show where the Spanish riding school is wrong.
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Those poor miserable SRS stallions are currently on vacation ar the Piber Stud. At the height of the tourist season.
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I’ve ridden with Catherine Haddad and she rode my horse. She is anti-knee blocks and only rides in a Schultheis saddle that was not fit to my horse when she put it on. While many years ago, my horse did not respond well to her aids, that were different from mine. Parallel versus diagonal aids in tempis. Catherine forced her aids and that did not go well for my horse, 2-4 days before local and Regional Champs at 4th level.
Ripping out the knee blocks worked with my last saddle and horse, but doesn’t work with my current saddle and horse (I tried). Current horse has a saddle made for another horse but custom fit to him (Shleese). Ripping out knee rolls puts me on his withers. Sure, this is likely due to the saddle fit and design.
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I think she seems like a talented rider/trainer but she seems like an strongly opinionated person for sure. I’m sorry that happened. It’s always a mixed bag letting someone on our horses, no matter who they are!
Luckily my saddle has Velcro blocks so I can experiment a little easier. I do suspect that maybe the twist is a bit too wide for me but worth a try first.
She is very talented . I rode in her first clinic in North America and she was aggravated that my horse objected to her different aids. Catherine persisted and my horse persisted. I would have expected someone at her level would have been less confrontational with the horse given that she didn’t train the horse and the horse didn’t understand her aids. I never came this close to asking a BNT to get off my horse, but I didn’t.
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You’d be surprised (or not 
) at the amount of professionals that are like this. Or just rather inflexible in general.
Of course not all are, but my eyes were opened a bit this winter when I did a lottt of clinics. Very oddly rigid and “fighting” if you will. Never have I ever said, “No this isn’t for me, or more importantly my horse. This is not how he’s going to get there” and stopped my ride during a clinic. We had a civil discussion and I left. Took a lot of courage, but I had to be my horses advocate. I never imagined doing such a thing, but I don’t regret it.
Not much to do with saddles, but sort of. You’ve got to trust your instinct sometimes if something isn’t right or detrimental to your horse/your training. So ride in whatever saddle fits you and the horse, and don’t give a toss if it isn’t “trendy” same with training. Of course sometimes you(g) just don’t know better. It’s a never ending learning process.
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Yes. So far I have 2 horses who we still rode over 20 years. Dodge is over that now Sim is nearing 20 years old. I just had to get my 9 yo put down, but there was something wrong with him and it was the kindest thing to do. He was rideable up until the day he didnt eat his dinner. Not colic, but given a few scenarios like a cancer tumour that had detached and was in the body somewhere and needed to be removed, although it could be anywhere.
It pains me to hear of BNT fighting with a horse and being inflexible. Have they never learned to listen to a horse?
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Preach.
And there are definitely some who have a specific type of horse they like to ride and train, and just fill their barns with those horses. Which is a perfectly fine business model, but doesn’t lend itself to universally useful clinics, let me tell you.
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And some of them like bougie gaits. Like, once you ride a bunch of fancy warmbloods it can be really unappealing to go slug through some ottb and qh rides. Then you can really tell who started their career riding off tracks and craigslist flips…
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Today I did try the no thigh blocks. The jury is still out on that one but I will say it maybe helped my awareness a little bit? My instructor does think that it’s partly my aches and pains and tightnesses in my own body and potentially the twist in my saddle. That being said, She thinks there is room for improvement. No better time to work on that than during horse rehab! My horse loved the super duper easy work for him today while I played with different things in my position.
I’m going to keep the thigh blocks off for a little bit at least.
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How did it go without the thigh blocks?
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I’m not sure it made a difference honestly. I’d be interested in trying a different sized block- smaller that I could angle more. But I suspect that my tight hips, widish horse and wider twist on the saddle is the true struggle. I’m working on the hips (uphill battle) and will think of a new saddle next year perhaps.
One difference was my trainer had me length my stirrups when I didn’t have the blocks, But I know the saddlefitter advocates for shorter stirrups without the blocks. So I might have to try that again.
I’m going through Joyce Harman’s The Horse’s Pain Free Back and Saddle Fit Book again. She explains the uses of blocks and who and how they help. For very tight hips, she says “your hips will not allow you to comfortably drop your legs down the horse’s sides, and you will be better served without a thigh block or knee roll.”
I’ve never liked blocks for me, I tend to bang into them, but I have friends who are much better riders who love them so I kind of have a live and let live attitude towards them. Rereading her bit on the blocks, I understand a little bit better why I don’t like them but others do.
If my current horse and I ever get it together to the point her lovely movement is in full display, rocking along in harmony, I may change my mind!
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I’m at the point of considering physical therapy!! Very various things but my hips are on the list. It’s very frustrating, I used to not be this way but I stretch more now.
I will take them off again and shorten my stirrups just to try that. But I might be reporting back in a year and might have a different saddle then lol!!
I do physical therapy for mine. They became sore. I was lifting my right leg over the cantle with my right hand to get on while using a 3 step block.
I don’t think Harman’s guidance is hard and fast but it seemed to parallel preferences as stated on this thread.
Blocks are contraindicated for me as well by her guidance.
I’m saddle hunting again for my horse’s sake but also realized if it doesn’t fit me as well, that is hard on her too.
It’s a good book. I wish i could say I read it, retained everything, and now I know what I’m looking for. Sometimes I just feel more confused. I get more out of it each time I read it.
In the end, I think it’s still what the horse seems to relax and go well in and what we can sit in with a decent position and no or at least less pain.
She also said blocks could really help riders on the big movers at the height of the movement. That seems to explain the top riders having them. Also that ordinarily, if the blocks are correctly placed, the rider should not notice they are there.
She goes on for a bit with different scenarios. Rider long legs and short legs, thick thighs and slender thighs, long femurs, pelvis angles, horses with round barrels or slab sides. High withers or low.
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