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WHY
HEATHERS?
When Heather started her yard in Devon, she tried fourteen different makes
of dressage saddle, what she found was that not one assisted the rider
to sit in the correct balance. The saddles were pulling her students out
of balance, Heather then started to discover the cause of the problems,
when she quit her stirrups without crossing them over, she became aware
that the stirrup leather hung in front of her thigh, which meant that
when she took her stirrups back she was constantly fighting with the stirrups
to bring them back 2 or 3 inches.
In every saddle she examined, the seat was not central to the rest of the saddle. It is widely accepted that the rider should sit in the lowest part of the saddle, which is actually not the area with much padding, you then have seams and the riders seatbones. Consequently, the seatbones move further back onto the wider paddedpart of the seat, to avoid discomfort, drawing the knees up and pulling the lower leg forward.
At this point Heather set about designing her own saddle, she made certain that the stirrup bars were much further back under the riders thigh, so that the leather does hang perpendicularly. She designed the top in one piece to eliminate seams, the whole seat being covered in an inch of special foam which moulds to the riders seat. In this way, the seat can be placed totally centrally, on the lowest part of the saddle, without damage to the seatbones, and loss of balance and position.
We sell the Heather Moffett Fhoenix Fits-All in both the GP (General Purpose) and Dressage style
The Heather Moffett Fhoenix has come a very long way in appearance and feel since the first prototype eight years ago, and is entirely treeless, the only hard part are the stirrup bars..
CONSTRUCTION
The Fhoenix Fits-All is made from long tried and tested materials. The
seat and top are moulded from the slow recovery foam used in the Heathers
seat bone savers and her conventional treed saddles for many years. The
central core is of Platizote which is a closed cell foam which is used
in the manufacture of almost every treed saddle, the panel is made of
layers of pure wool felt, Prolite and Dunlopillo latex. The sweat flaps
are a sandwich of leather and wool felt, the whole saddle is covered in
soft, high quality cowhide.
DESIGN
The seat has been designed to allow the riders thighs to drop easily into
a more vertical knee position, causing ear/shoulder/hip/heel. The saddle
has a definite waist , which does not leave the rider feeling straddled
as if bareback. The Fhoenix offers the same level of support as a conventional
treed saddle.
The saddle has been designed to appear as conventional as possible.
Above right: The Dressage showing the position of the stirrup bars
GULLET
The Fhoenix Fits-All has a gullet, but this is to assist with the lateral
stability rather than spinal clearance. Saddles only need a spinal clearance
if there is a hard wooden tree, treeless saddles generally do not have
a gullet, due to the soft and moulding nature of the design. Questions
often arise regarding whether there are pressure points caused by the
riders seatbones, as there is no tree to support them, but the saddle
is as thick as conventional saddles and made of shock absorbing/pressure
dissipating material. We have experienced no soreness at all with the
Fhoenix, and those who have suffered sorebacks through conventional saddles
being incorrectly fitted, accept theFhoenix Fits-All willingly.
STIRRUP
BARS
The stirrup bars are set back as in all of the Heather Moffett designed
saddles, this enable an instant ear/heel line. The bars have been designed
to permit the use of normal stirrups, allowing the leather to come away
and prevent the rider being dragged in the event of a fall. They are attached
to strong webbing, which is in turn, attached to wider bands of webbing
strained front to back, to ensure that the weight is evenly distributed,
and which also carries the girth straps.
.....
STABILITY
The Fhoenix is extremely stable, even though it has no tree points for
lateral stability. Myself and my partner and many others have tried these
saddles up and down extreme inclines, and the Fhoenix has not moved.
TESTED
The Fhoenix Fits-All has been tried and tested on many different horses
from very wide to very narrow with severe atrophy. The saddle has been
designed to fit any size horse.
With all treeless saddles, and indeed with conventionally treed ones,
additional pads are required to buffer horses with muscle atrophy in the
saddle area. Heather recommends her own backsaver pad, which is cut to
push well up into the front arch of the saddle, and also the new polypad
air filament pads, the Pod and the Butterfly.
The Gel-eze pad is another excellent aid to ‘stickability’
which is perfect for use under treeless saddles for extra adhesion if
necessary.
The great advantage in that the saddle moulds to each horse is that there
is now no need to have a saddle for every horse you own. Your horse will
not only change from season to season but more than likely week to week,
it gives great peace of mind knowing that your saddle is changing DAY
to DAY.
Prices
The Dressage
and GP saddles are priced at £995.00 each plus £20.00 p &p
More information on choosing and fitting a saddle can be found on our advice page. If you would like to discuss your requirements please call Jill on 077899 63891
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