DefinitelyDressage.com

Look at the false color picture on this web site. If my saddle allowed that much concentrated pressure I think I would have to get it fitted better or use more padding assuming those differences are not minuscule which they might be and they just blew up the scale for clarity.

http://www.sensorprod.com/dynamic/saddl ... apping.php

Some discuss to learn and some discuss to win. Go ahead and notch a win Tsavo. Not sure what
you won, but congrats. I'll return to discussion with those who want to learn it share knowledge. I'm out.

This is not a debate. The only point is to gather data to understand better. I have no dog in this fight because there is no fight. On a boring scale of 1 (least) to 10 (most) I put this discussion at an 8 or 9.

The panels are designed to distribute the weight over a large area. They may largely do that but also have some pattern to the pressure.

I have been reading a few papers. This stuff is all over the place and I am not sure much of it is dispositive of anything.

One paper used air-filled panels. Well air is not compressible and is fluid so there was no chance of differential pressure. But the fact that it is incompressible makes me think it is completely unacceptable for panels. I think there needs to be give. I think a horse might move differently with that versus a regular pad. That study seems to be measuring mostly artifact.

I must be misreading you. Air is very compressible.

I don't have time to participate right now, but am loving this discussion because I'd like to understand saddle fitting better because I have so many saddle fitting challenges (mule backs, sway backs, etc...).

Ponichiwa wrote:I must be misreading you. Air is very compressible.

I meant under the weight of a rider.

Tsavo wrote:

Ponichiwa wrote:I must be misreading you. Air is very compressible.

I meant under the weight of a rider.

Exactly the problem with air

Ryeissa wrote:

Tsavo wrote:

Ponichiwa wrote:I must be misreading you. Air is very compressible.

I meant under the weight of a rider.

Exactly the problem with air

There is no way it wouldnt feel like a brick to the horse.

Again you cannot discuss compressibility of air without including volume. A soft car tire will compress, a highly inflated one will not. The compression of air is related to volume and pressure

The air will not compress. The container might change if the material is flexible. I don't know if air-filed panels are flexible. If they are then it will be like a bouncy ball. If not then it will be like a brick.

Tsavo wrote:I don't know if air-filed panels are flexible. If they are then it will be like a bouncy ball.

I think the bouncing is why the air filled panels have become much thinner.

I have 2 almost identical saddles because I couldn't decide if I liked the 17" or 17.5" better. One has CAIR and the other doesn't, and I can't tell the difference. Maybe if I really paid attention to how much bounce I could tell, but the differences certainly aren't glaring, and in fact, I was riding one of them last weekend and thought I was in the other, so apparently, I can't tell the difference in the sizes of the seats, either.

RE: WHere the weight is:
Standing in the stirrups. IMO The stirrup leathers transmit the "weight" to the stirrup bars and therefor to the tree and panels.

IMO WHen riding legs away, your seat bones transmit the weight to the panels more directly.

IMO When riding with a "wet towel" leg, some of the weight is transferred through the flap to the side of the horse so less is in the panels.

khall wrote:Let's just say if I rode with stirrups as short as Rye I would spend more time on the ground than riding Rip! I have to have longer legs to be safe on him. Even trying to raise them a hole feels unsafe. What I need to concentrate on is engaging my ileopsoas to raise the pubic bone and bring my knee forward a bit.

Was just thinking today after watching slow mo of horses cantering (a couple bareback) I need to pull Gallie out fit her up and ride her bareback. That brings my knees forward and boy I can feel it in my abs and glutes.

Why do you feel safer with a longer stirrup?

I feel more secure with a longer leg too, but I’m not sure my feeling is based on reality. In my mind, it seems that the longer the leg, the more it can wrap around the horse. Also, a longer leg would stretch out the surface area that contacts the horse, meaning more friction to hold me in place.

I think I have always been pretty secure in spooking situations because I grew up riding Arabians. However, there have been many times over the years where Ive come off and a longer leg didnt help in those instances. I definitely know that there is a point where it takes a lot more than surface area to keep my seat. Like huge spooks followed by bucking!

Same as Demi, plus my saddle has external knee rolls (BC Vinic X, picked because it fit the horse not for the external rolls) I cannot ride with short stirrups.

khall wrote:Same as Demi, plus my saddle has external knee rolls (BC Vinic X, picked because it fit the horse not for the external rolls) I cannot ride with short stirrups.

I can ride with shorter stirrups, but that just allows me to brace my thighs against my giant thigh blocks and I don't want to do that so I ride with a longer stirrup.

I also put endurance stirrups on my saddle this year, and they actually help quite a bit with stability because they're wide from front to back. Only trouble is that between the giant thigh blocks and the wide stirrups I find myself standing up and hovering over my (hovering) horse a lot, and have to sit myself back down in the saddle.