![]() ![]() Now modern riders are discovering the suitability of this unique saddle for American trails. ![]() The R & D was done by countless Outback riders who depended on the saddle for their very life - and livelihood. It evolved over two centuries to be bush-perfect. And if you think this is not a good position for a rider on a galloping horse, check out where they ride on racetracks with million of dollars in the balance! Put simply, there is NO saddle more comfortable for the trail horse, AND the rider, than an Australian stock saddle. Yank mouth, and you'll certainly buy bark. This will enable you to control the direction of the horse with leg pressure and body weight shift, a good thing in thick timber at a flat gallop. Now, the faster you go in an Aussie saddle, the more your weight comes forward, so, at the full gallop, you should be in the jockey position, with your thighs secured against the knee pads, your head down, back straight, reins short, and your leg will AUTOMATICALLY be in full dressage position. If the horse stumbles, and your ankle is inline with your elbow, which is in line with your shoulders, you will not have time to tell your brain to tell your foot to get forward to prop against a fall. The straight up and down leg, as in dressage, and as in Western pleasure, is deadly on the trail, although it does look pretty in the arena. They are there to STOP you going over the top. You will also be helped by the knee pads, or poleys. If the horse at the walk puts his foot in a hole, and drops on his knee, you may not go over the front, BECAUSE YOU WILL ALREADY HAVE YOUR FOOT IN A POSITION TO PROP AGAINST A FALL. The bearing weight of the rider is thus spread over a greater surface of the tree, lowering pounds per square inch for the horse. This rider position does the same for the horse. Which is why we sit in the back of chairs, not on the edge of them. This spreads the bearing weight of the rider not just under the butt, but also under the thigh, making it more comfortable for the rider. At the walk, the rider sits in the back of the saddle, with the leg slightly forward, and the heels down. Interestingly, the Aussie saddle is somewhere in between. So, the Aussie saddle is actually a FORWARD SEAT, as in an English saddle, and certainly NOT A REAR-READING SEAT, as in a Western saddle. even horns (which I don't particularly like! But at least half my customers do!) I have always liked Big D western rigging, fleece lined panels, fenders. Many Aussie saddles I have designed since the early 80's incorporate aspects of Western saddles. The stirrups hang in a dressage position, and they are free swinging. The Australian saddle is, quite simply, a BIG DRESSAGE SADDLE. Most just do not know, and do not want to know. Yet each desperately clings to dogma (invariably incorrect) as far as Australian saddles are concerned. Each camp, however, seems to know very little about Australian saddles, although opinions abound. For the horse, the saddle either fits, or it doesn't fit. And as far as the horse is concerned, there is even less difference. I say so-called because the difference between the styles are actually very minimal. Or how locked-in so-called English people are to English saddles. However, it does surprise me how locked-in so-called Western riders are to Western saddles. I jump in a jumping saddle, steeplechase in a jockey saddle, do dressage in a dressage saddle, rope in a roping saddle, shoot competitive in a vintage Western saddle and I blast through the Malibu hills at night in an Aussie saddle. Now consider, I am a horseman not locked into any particular discipline. Obviously, as selling these saddles are my business, I have given the question much thought. Is a question I have been asked several times a day since 1979, when I introduced the saddle to the US. "WHY SHOULD I BUY AN AUSTRALIAN STOCK SADDLE ?" And not ending up with a burning butt is another. WHY SHOULD I BUY AN AUSTRALIAN STOCK SADDLE ? ![]()
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