Look at the deepest point of the saddle. It will put you in a very comfy chair seat.
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Actually not. See trotting pic above
Really, do I have to endure more snark? FFS - if you bothered to read the entire thread you’d see that we have already established that I am “profoundly” stupid and have no business opining on anything Western ever again as long as I live. Let it drop.
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They created the Western dressage for western people. If OP wants to ride in a western saddle in a regular rated show she probably can with permission from the organizers but her scores will not count towards her gold which she said was next on her list, She will have to ride HC.
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your big saddles are nice. Like the flat seat a lot. Here is one of my custom saddles. It is a bucket seat for me which i do not really like that much, but good on my mule. I originally tried center-fire, and once i got the position/angle right it worked good, but did not work well enough to keep the saddle pad in place, so then i tried center-fire WITH rear cinch. Now days i ride it with a normal girth front and normal rear cinch and a 3/4 felt pad.
I also switched the stirrups to synthetic lightweight black ones.
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There was not one bit of snark in my post. Rather than let bad information fly, I stated the correct uses of both pieces of equipment. If I did not say anything, it gives people the incorrect idea of how things are used, and incorrect use can actually be dangerous.
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No, she cannot ride HC at a rated show in a western saddle. Even HC, you must follow all USEF rules. That includes tack and dress.
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This 100%.
HC is supposed to be used very, very rarely. I’ve seen it mostly used for someone who wants ring exposure, but due to unfortunate circumstances cannot be “officially” judged by thta judge, usually due to a conflict of interest or having taken instruction from that judge in the form of a lesson or clinic in the last 30 days.
Officials and the associations usually frown on HC, they don’t want it abused to avoid having a bad score count towards their year end average. I’ve seen judges refuse to allow a rider (usually a pro) to excuse themselves in the middle of a test if they feel that the rider would rather record a retired than a low score.
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That is why once you ride HC in a show, you may no longer ride that horse for a score at that show, all subsequent rides must be HC.
This became a rule after people tried using an HC ride as a warmup test, or an introduction to the ring that wouldn’t impact their scores.
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You beat me to it!
Actually, I need to clarify further: the horse is no longer eligible for prizes, placings, etc at that show. This prevents a trainer from riding a horse HC as a “warmup” for a client to show later at that same show.
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If you can find an older Kieffer Rhein saddle with the doeskin seat and flap inserts, try it. Some ‘newer’ versions only have the flap inserts. In some the inserts are not doeskin. The doeskin is like a soft suede. I think these saddles were made in the late 1980’s-1990’s.
The trees can be adjusted to open or narrow the front gullet. I think Pelham Saddlery does that. It is the closest thing to a western saddle; in a dressage saddle IME.
This is a close contact no frills saddle.
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My goodness you’re dramatic. You were profoundly wrong. No one called you stupid.
You might consider accepting that everything you wrote in that one post WAS wrong. All of it. Facts. You might drop it and take your lumps.
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True, but the trainer can still ride and show the horse at the same level/test as the client in the open division as long as the number of rides doesn’t exceed the limit as defined in the rules. Granted, they need to convince the show secretary to schedule the open ride first which apparently is not that difficult given the number of times I’ve seen it happen.
I guess I still wasn’t clear. Once shown HC, the horse may not show for placings at the same show, no matter who rides it. My first post made it sound like it was the horse/rider combination that could not show for placings. In fact, it is more strict than that.
For regular rides that count, of course they can do as you listed.
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That’s positively false, cutter. You clearly did not read any posts past mine because if you had you would have known that at least four different people corrected me. I had a sense of humor about it the first few times, but yours was the straw that broke the camel’s back. I did absolutely NOT need to be corrected a sixth time. Maybe read an entire thread before you decide that you are the only arbiter of truth?
As long as we are making corrections, I’m a little nonplussed that no one called out the OP for saying she’s schooling 2nd level and then in the same paragraph, that she has her bronze and silver medals. That doesn’t add up to me.
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I dont recall her saying it was on the horse in question. Perhaps I missed it though.
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I read it that she at some point in her life had shown and earned her bronze and silver medals. Not that it was necessarily particularly current show experience or on the same horse.
She has said several times that she has no interest in showing or working towards her gold medal at this time, which if that is the case I find it odd that she’s pushing the issue this much. As several of us have said, she’s perfectly welcome to school, take lessons, and clinic in whatever tack she wants and the instructors are willing to work with her while using that equipment.
We’ve mostly said, use what works for you and your horse, but don’t expect a rule change that drastic anytime in the foreseeable future. We’ve also tried to suggest options that might more closely mimic the western saddle she has seen success with, to no avail.
I, who has never ridden western in more than whatever inexpensive saddle was available to me at the time when I was a teen, have appreciated the insight from poster like you and have gotten a bit of a education about western saddles via this thread. In a snotty english rider kind of way, I will freely admit most of the western saddles have looked the same to me other than various levels of decoration and had no idea that there were so many different styles for different purposes. I won’t make that mistake again.
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You might want to read the rules a bit more for WD. Judges do not judge movement in WD but rather the harmonious relationship between horse and rider. A short strided POA (or example) can win WDAA Worlds if they have meet all the other requirements (balance, bend, regularity etc…) and likewise if you have big lofty moving WB you can still win if you have all the other things going for you.
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