"Seat belt" for a Hunt seat saddle

Velcro straps are definitely configured for English saddles for disabled riders.

This example is a bit funny looking but I couldn’t find an out of the saddle photo of some of the riders I know who use them.

3 Likes

Try the Gel Out version of the seat saver. It’s comfortable and the stickiness makes it more secure.

3 Likes

I inquired about sheepskin seat savers over in the Trail/Endurance forum and got suggestions for this one:

https://www.thedistancedepot.com/Shear_Comfort_Full_English_Sheepskin_Seat_Saver_p/sc-fe.htm

I ended up ordering a Mattes from Dover that only covers the seat, but it fits my Collegiate Marathon English endurance saddle, deep seat AP/jump saddle (Stübben Siegfried style), and flat CC saddle (Crosby PDN style). Though I haven’t gotten a chance to ride in it yet, I’m really impressed by how snugly it seems to fit the saddles. I like the fact that the strap running underneath the channel is adjustable, the pocket that fits over the cantle is nice and deep and is a nice, snug fit, and it has straps that fit underneath the skirt. I had issues with my Fleeceworks slipping and this one seems like a much better and more secure fit.

I also love the ThinLine seat savers, though the close contact ones run very small in my experience (I ended up with the dressage one for my 18" deep seat AP/jump saddle, and I think their all purpose seat saver is sized between the CC and dressage). They are very thin, so they don’t add bulk and you still get the close contact feel, yet they both add shock absorption/a slightly more cushioned feel and nice grip.

1 Like

Admitting I only skimmed replies, but could you try wearing roughout full chaps?
Stateline used to sell them.
If fit is a problem - too loose, too tight - I’ve had shoe repair* places move the zippers to adjust.

*they have the heavy duty machines that can sew leather.

ETA:
These
https://www.statelinetack.com/item/tough1-suede-leather-schooling-chaps/E018338/

1 Like

@hallie2, yes, please, thank you. you are being incredibly generous to me. Please send me all the details of how I can get this saddle that promises to be part of a solution to getting me riding again.

I don’t know for sure but I show symptoms of having a broken hip. I am being incredibly careful when I move around, I am using 2 canes, my DH us helping me A LOT, and it could be much worse.

This morning I realized that the effect of the aspirin was to hide the pain from something it cannot “cure”. I stopped taking my supplements today, just something my body “told me” to do.

It is not so much that my dosage of Dronabinol is “bad”, it is that the pharmacy benefit managers decided that it was not really suitable for me to get more than 4 pills a day. If I understand this correctly this applies to most prescreption medications. I am not alone in this.

I did best with my MS symptoms using the Dronabinol if I took little doses throughout the day. If I had the possibility of getting 2.5mm pills my sense of balance and my proprioceptive sense would have been working MUCH BETTER, and I would have been able to react quicker.

It is sort of simple. If a rider irritates the horse in any way explosions can happen–horses. There are wonderful horses who will actively and voluntarily “take care of you” even though they could be so sensitive that only the best riders can ride them safely. I have 2 from the last 15 years in my mind, the probably Russian-bred Arabian gelding Glow and the possibly high Crabbet blood Arabian mare Mia.

No horse is perfect. However one day two dogs exploded out of the “shrubs” on the fenceline of the ring. Glow immediately flinched, shied away from the dogs, I started to fall off, Glow instantly reduced the speed of his shying down to what I could handle then. I told him to “go to Debbie”, he trotted in a polite mild curve and came to a smooth stop in front of her. We were both laughing, it was so obvious, that this Arabian gelding, a hellion as a lesson horse, was taking care of me.

Mia was just Mia. Debbie and I had discussed that if either of us had gotten Mia and trained her she would have ended up being a very superior riding horse. That mare had heart. She was relatively unflappable, when she reacted she did little “starts” in place and did not move her feet. This mare was amazing as a riding horse, within her limitations. One lesson early on, when Debbie asked me to canter her (physical therapy intensification if you like) I obviously did not give enough rein and all of a sudden I felt like I was on a rocking horse, and Debbie was shouting “keep on going” for 6 strides then we transitioned down to a walk. Neither one of us knew what the mare just did. At home I delved into my rather extensive classical dressage library, and in de la Guirniere (sp?) and I found it, Mia did a terre-a-terre. What was amazing to me was that he wrote that the horse needed decent muscular fitness to be even able to do a terre-a-terre. I had only ridden Mia for maybe 3 months, she was still a very weak sort of shambling mare, I had been riding her 30 minutes twice a week, and she was out 24-7, a low mare on the totem pole.

Mia had heart. If Mia decided that I really needed to be politely cussed out because face it, carrying me was not the easiest thing for this arthritic mare, she gave me little tastes of the movements leading to–the terre-a-terre, to a year or more later giving me the polite cussing out of a really nice croupade, the one without the kick at the end. My son was watching me, he had been watching me ride this mare for over a year, exclaimed "what did she just do? It did not really look like a buck but there was definite movement upward. She didn’t even disturb my seat, her back was NOT stiff, it was a supple “bump” under my seat bones, easy to ride (and if it is easy for me to ride it I am sure other people would also find it easy to ride.)

TWICE, in the years I rode her I came to the stable, hobbled to Debbie, told her I was having an attack, and that I NEEDED to ride Mia. My son was helping me get Mia ready as usual, and Debbie saw me walk, with two canes, extremely slowly out to the ring. I rode Mia for 30 minutes, got off, strode confidently back to the barn mostly with one cane, and thoroughly converted Debbie as to the efficacy of horseback riding as physical therapy for MS.

Neither Mia nor Glow took advantage of my bad riding when I was having active neurological problems. Two very sensitive horses bore my continually shifting balance in the saddle, uncoordinated spasmodic movements in my lower legs, and sudden “hardening” of my hands with equanimity. Yeah I irritated these horses big time by just riding them, but neither one took advantage of my physical limitations even when they rapidly got worse.

Universe, I NEED another “angel Arab” to ride at Debbie’s stable. A horse that can earn its oats, shoes and veterinarian by being a lesson horse too, preferably for beginners. This horse does not need to be forgiving for beginning riders (Glow) or able to give beginning riders a decent ride either (they had to put a standing martingale on Mia when she did group lessons.) But so long as I was polite and accepting of their limitations they kept me on their backs.

Unlike, ahem, some supposedly quieter and safer Quarter Horses.

This goes beyond “being able to take a joke”, these are the actions and behavior of “angel horses.”

Thank you Mia and Glow.

6 Likes

Please, tell me you have or will be shortly, getting this checked out by a medical professional? I’m worried about you!

8 Likes

Yeah, I will, probably on Monday.

I got a new cane that has 4 little projections to the sides of the base which gives me some stability. I am not taking aspirin and if I am REALLY careful, lucky and the Universe agrees with me walking gives me minimal pain. If the Universe does not line up I hurt more, painful enough to encourage me to take great care when moving.

2 Likes

@2DogsFarm, yeah I considered roughout full chaps. The problem is that I would quickly overheat big time.

So many limitations come with MS. In the summer I have to wear an ice vest even though I ride pretty early in the morning. I do not think I would be able to ride in the heat of the afternoon, at all.

Thank you for the suggestion! There are some people reading this thread that will find these an ideal solution for their riding problems.

2 Likes

Please don’t wait until Monday to get looked at, you could do more damage to yourself and make it so much harder to fix the problem if you do have a fracture. I’m not trying to be pushy, I’m just really worried.

9 Likes

^^^^ THIS @Jackie_Cochran!

4 Likes

I agree with the others–you need to be looked at sooner than Monday. Think of it this way–it is already a huge challenge to continue riding with the state of your MS. Now imagine you do permanent damage to the hip joint–it could go badly enough that you would not be able to mount or stay in any saddle. Please, please get thee to a medical professional!

Regarding angel horses, my Paint mare Sassy was one of those. I rode her only a few times in all the years we had her because my main focus was driving the ponies. I’d mount and then sit there and shake (due to fear from two bad crashes off my Appy gelding several years before). She would patiently wait for me to calm down, then she would amble off when I asked. If she felt my balance shifting, she would shift to get under me. And nothing bothered her.

She could be quite a bitch working with her on the ground. She was a very strong alpha among the horses and felt humans (except DH) were below her in the hierarchy. My daughter and I had to do occasional round pen sessions with her to get her back to respecting us. This made her behavior when I rode her that much more magical.

Rebecca

6 Likes

what makes you think it is fractured? I doubt you could weight bear on a fractured femur. Even so, take a little of the energy you are using to find a solution to staying in the saddle and get yourself to urgent care for an x-ray. broken bones aren’t a joke.

I just got back from the local emergency room.

I did NOT break my hip!!!

I am still hobbling, my hip still hurts pretty bad, I’m still using my two canes or my wheeled walker when I need to walk.

But I did not break my hip! Hurrah!!!

15 Likes

I know personally, my mother-in-law, broke her hip and had been walking on it, driving a car, and doing some housework for WEEKS before she got it X-rayed and found out that she had been walking on a broken hip bone for weeks.

I have read similar things from other women who had not realized they broke their hip, and kept on walking around in pain.

If I had broken my femur I am positive I would not have been able to walk.

My x-ray showed that my hip was not broken though they found some femoral necrosis at the top of the femur. I am going to call the recommended doctor about that on Monday.

5 Likes

Good News on your hip.
Well, maybe not the necrotizing…

Re: full chaps
You might be able to find a pair in a synthetic material. I think I’ve seen those…
Could be cooler than suede.
I’ll Google :wink:

ETA:
found them :grin:
One review says “lightweight for Summer”

https://www.statelinetack.com/item/tough1-synthetic-suede-western-show-chaps/E002812%20XLG%20SND/?&srccode=GPSLT&gad_source=4&gclid=CjwKCAjwo6GyBhBwEiwAzQTmc_F3x9gVj5ZH41D2WqiJjuTidLhvtKWJ5u64ulpV-0HObqwGOHeRqRoCI1wQAvD_BwE

2 Likes

I am deliriously happy about not breaking my hip.

Now I need my patience so the soft tissue injuries can heal.

I cancelled my Home Horse ride tomorrow. I cancelled my lesson next week. Soft tissue injuries still take time to heal.

Patience, patience, and more patience while I gingerly make sure to keep on walking around.

But I did not break my hip!!! All those doctors that tried, like a dealer of heroin, to push the osteoporosis drugs on me were wrong, wrong, wrong. If my hip would break easily this fall should have at least cracked it. No breaks, no cracks, no fractures of any type.

Hurrah!!!

6 Likes

These look possible for winter riding when the bitter winds blow. I’ll have to remember to get some before winter.

Thank you for finding these!

2 Likes

No prob :smirk:
Google is my GoTo for everything.
Including the Prolia my oncologist wanted me to take.
I got the 1st injection, Googled side effects - tibia & femur fractures, dental issues - & told him #2 wasn’t happening :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:
That was 5yrs ago.
I supplement with D3, get an annual bonescan.
Still mostly osteopoenia, but the ‘porosis’ is creeping.
At 73 I shouldn’t be surprised :roll_eyes:

Take care of yourself!

5 Likes

I have noticed with the REALLY EXPENSIVE drugs medical doctors end up acting worse than the most hard bitten heroin dealers of days of yore (I never did it, but I had friends who fell into the addiction trap.)

Dronabinol is not cheap at all, but it is MUCH CHEAPER than all of the modern MS drugs which literally cripple me and put me into suicidal depressions, for which the doctors have another wonderful drug that ends up causing me to go into even deeper suicidal depressions. I refuse to go on them, the last two I tried, the so-called easier to stand MS drugs, made my MS so, so, so much worse and put me into suicidal depressions. Suicidal ideation all the time is not a fun way to live at all.

At least nowadays I have doctors who listen to me and do not act like drug pushers. I lost a lot of respect for doctors when they tried to push the expensive prescription drugs on me.

This is why I got into homeopathy, from which I have had good results for depression and my MS, usually on one drop every 6 months or one drop a year. Much, much cheaper.

6 Likes

I’m so glad you went! And really appreciate you telling us the result.

Rebecca

4 Likes