The saddle have to be positioned between the withers and no later than the eighteenth and last thoracic vertebra: the muscles in this area are stronger and we are closer to the horse's center of gravity. Beyond this point begins the lower back, much more delicate and not suitable to support the weight of the rider.
The drawing shows the arrangement of the vertebrae and the best area to position the saddle (thoracic vertebrae).
A common mistake is to place the saddle in a forward position, thinking that the saddle finds the correct position during the training. It is important to immediately adjust the saddle in the correct position. It is wrong and painful for the horse start the training with a wrong positioned saddle.
2
WHY A PRINCE SADDLE BETTER FITS COMPARED TO A TRADITIONAL SADDLE?
With rigid saddles we have different problems, and the solutions are often unsatisfactory: If we examine the traditional saddles we see that every saddle has a own longitudinal curvature, so every saddle has its own position on the horse's back, but this position is not always the best one for the horse.
Aforward position of the saddle has the advantage of removing the weight of the rider from the lower back, so the rider is closer to the withers and the center of gravity. Unfortunately in this way the tree will go on the scapula,limiting the movement of the horse, this is painful and the horse is constantly tweaked: we have contracts movements, inflammation, pain and progressive atrophy of the muscle compressed by the tree.
A rigid tree in a forward position. You can see that his front extensions are over the scapula (S).
A saddle in a backward position will release the articulation of the scapula, but the weight of the rider will be over the lower back of the horse.
Backward position of the tree
Prince Saddlery solves these problems. We can position our saddle correctly because of the flexibility of the front part, there are no risk to limit the movement of the scapula. So the rider position is near the horse's center of gravity and before the lumbar region.
Our saddle in the correct position.
3
WHAT IS THE "FLEXIBLE LEATHER CORE"?
The "Flexible Leather Core" is the technology developed by Prince Saddlery.
This is a revolutionary process in the world of saddlery, we developed a thermo-molded leather structure to give lateral and longitudinal flexibility to the saddle and at the same time, grate stability for the rider, that is often a weak point of treeless saddles on the market.
The surface of "Flexible Leather Core" is larger than that a traditional saddle tree: this unique feature completely embrace the horse, distributing the weight of the rider in a larger area.
Traditional saddle tree compared to Flexible Leather Core.
Looking at the picture it's easy to understand the differences between the "Flexible Leather Core" and the traditional tree: the tree has a smaller surface area, whit all the pressure in few points. The '' Flexible Leather Core '' embraces all the horse back distributing the pressure in a better and larger way.
With this technology our saddles can be used at the same time on different horses with different backs. This is not possible with traditional rigid saddles: it's very difficult to find a rigid saddle that is right for one single horse; to use the same rigid saddle with more different horses is simply impossible!
4
WHY IN PRINCE SADDLES STIRRUP BARS’ POSITION IS BACKWARD COMPARED TO A TRADITIONAL SADDLE?
Often in traditional saddles the stirrup bars position is too forward, that’s why we have a wrong position of the rider, called "the chair position" (Fig. 2): the legs are before the torso and the rider sits towards the cantle of the saddle, pushing in the lumbar area of the horse, where the horse's back is more sensitive. This damages the overall balance bringing the rider to an unnecessary strain, already in the simple rising trot constantly searching the correct position. Advanced legs will only increase the leverage of torso and arms, with the result that rider will be unbalanced, searching support pulling the reins and the horse's mouth.
Prince Saddles have the stirrup bars in a backward position compare to traditional saddles, in this way we help the rider to get and maintain the correct position immediatly and in a natural way, with ears, hips and heels on the same vertical line (Fig. 1).
Fig. 1 The rider in the correct position
Fig. 2 Unbalanced rider. ("chair position").
5
WHY YOUR SADDLES HAVE LONG BILLETS?
There are two reasons:
1 - Using a conventional girth, the buckles would placed right under the leg of the rider, limiting feeling and sensibility.
2 - With long billets buckles of the girths they are no more above the horse's ribs, extremely sensitive and delicate zone. Not surprisingly this solution is used in dressage saddles!
Long and short billets
We recommend you to buy girth with elastic ends at both side, to have a symmetrical traction during the training. It is important to tight up the girth in a symmetrical way, on the right and on the left, in this way we'll have a perfect and central position of the girth.
6
WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN PRINCE SADDLES AND THE OTHER TREELESS SADDLES ON THE MARKETING?
It is important to pay attention in case of too cheap products: There are many brands of treeless saddles on the market, some good quality, others less, up to be dangerous for horse and rider. Most of treeless saddles are not thought for equestrian sports, for design and technical solutions. Some of them haven't panels and gullet space, that is necessary to preserve the spine from traumas, so with these saddles it’s important always to use special saddle pads.
Prince Saddlery designed a saddle for show jumping and dressage, without forget endurance and treking. Thanks to the bigger panels area in high-density polyurethane foam, the saddle is able to completely preserve the spine, supporting the rider in a stable position, another problem of many treeless brands on the market
Hight density foam panels, with gullet space to preserve the spine.
7
I'M A BEGINNER, ARE THE PRINCE SADDLES RIGHT FOR ME?
Our saddle is designed for riders of all levels. It does not require a minimum of ability or experience level, but can be a real help for the neophyte, who will be supported in reaching and maintaining the correct position. In the same way the professional rider will only appreciate and take advantage of its characteristics: grate confort and horse connection.
8
CAN I USE PRINCE SADDLES IN DRESSAGE AND JUMPING COMPETITIONS, OBSERVING F.E.I. AND F.I.S.E. REGULATION ?
The answer is yes! Our saddle complies with all regulations It can be used in all equestrian sports.
There are no restrictions of the Regulation about the technology of the saddle, the only limit imposed by the federations is that the saddles must have the classic "English design".
Our saddles meet these requirements!
9
WHY FOR THE PANELS OF YOUR SADDLES IS USED HIGH DENSITY FOAM? WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE WITH THE TRADITIONAL WOOL PADDED PANELS?
Even today, in the most famous saddleries for the panels is often used a wool paddain. However this material has great limitations: the wool over time becomes flattened, creating empty zone and protuberances, causing pains of back muscles of the horse, not to mention that a handmade wool padding can not guarantee a perfect symmetry between the two panels.
For these reasons Prince Saddlery replaced the traditional wool with a stratification of polyurethane foams, undeformable over time, with shock absorbent qualities, without pressure points, with a uniform distribution of the rider's weight, able to adapt to different backs without permanent modifications .
Our saddle will embrace the back of your horse, following the natural conformation.
10
ALL SADDLES NEED MAINTENANCE. WHAT ARE THE ADVANTAGES OF PRINCE SADDLES?
We designed our saddles limiting the stitching and developing an assembly system to easily remove and replace the main parts subject to the wear of time. In this way we have a dual utility: make it easier to clean the saddle checking each part, and the possibility to change very quickly each element of the saddle, without long and expensive saddle maker operations.
Flaps, panels and billets are replaceable very quickl.
