Thursday, February 12, 2009

One More Day

Into the Wind

Horribly windy today. When I went out to get something from my car during the day, a gust almost blew me over. However, it will dry up the last of the wet.

My Ansur should be here tomorrow--Friday, I hope.

Ansurs are totally treeless. I have been riding in an Ansur since 2000 and am not even sure I could ride in a treed saddle anymore.

I actually own 4 Ansurs already mostly because I am a distributor and need to have different models for clients to test. I do not have the western saddle--Muriel--but I have heard it is beautiful and a great ride for your horse. However, you cannot rope off it as without a tree there is really nothing for the rope to be braced against. I do know some barrel racers here in the US use treeless saddles and one girl who has a pretty impressive win record believes the treeless saddle allows her horse to be much more flexible in the turns.

The Elite is the new dressage model. The Classic and Carlton are more all-purpose/tendancy dressage, and the Konklusion is the eventing/cross country model. There is also a show jumping saddle, the Excel used for hunter/jumper show classes here in the US where the riders are very particular about how things look. I have not seen an Excel, nor ridden in one, either, but were I jumping again, the Konklusion I have would be just grand.

My dear beloved Russell R. always went better bareback. I often wish I had him now so I could ride him in an Ansur as I'd wager he would have been so much more willing to round his back for those dressage tests. And he might even be a happier jumper--which would be quite a feat as he LOVED to jump. PJ worked a little in the Ansur, Toby worked a lot in one, and both Tucker and Chance have spent nearly all their riding careers in treeless saddles. Not one of my horses has ever shown any saddle related issues when checked by my equine vet/chiropractor/acupuncturist.

Ansur has done a great deal of research and work to develop and improve the structure and design of the saddles. I have had a good relationship with the company and have great respect for their love of horses. There is a long, complex backstory to how the company has changed over the last few years, but I have always believed everyone involved has always kept the horses in mind with every change that has taken place.

As of right now, it looks as if my first ride in the arena in a long time will be in my new saddle.

Hope Mr. "Spooking in the Wind" Tucker is ready to offer me a good ride.

1 comment:

  1. i was just saying to YO this evening that we could do with a good drying wind, even if we would find it very hard to battle against - it's what we need right now!

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