We are getting within sight now of the Olympic Games and the final selections of team managers are starting to appear in the news. Some teams, of course, don’t need to make a selection for the equestrian disciplines, having only qualified one or two riders. Others have a thornier problem – the Irish show jumping […]

I often find that many people are much more concerned about how their saddle fits their horse (which of course they should be) than how the saddle actually works for them. Beyond ‘feeling comfortable’ not much attention is usually paid to the other anatomical requirements of the rider when the saddle is being designed or […]

Last year while I was working in West Palm, Florida, with some of our clients, I met Dr. Sheila Schils of EquiNew LLC, one of the pioneers of FES in horses. At the time, we had discussed perhaps working together in some way to develop a research project involving FES and saddle fit, and we […]

I have been reading a lot about customer service issues and suggestions in various online newsletters I subscribe to (especially my favourite – Profitguide), so I thought it seems to be a hot button topic right now and perhaps I should revisit as it pertains to our industry (and more specifically to my company). Regardless […]

I am not keen on the FEI’s three-to-a-team proposal for future Olympics, and the inevitable catering for a lower standard of riding that will come with it. But in potentially opening up the Games to many more countries, we could at least see an end to desperate courtroom machinations like this one, recently buried in […]

In a long career you can’t remember every news story you ever wrote. However, one from the early 1990s sticks in my mind because it involved a conversation with Jacques Chirac, and it’s not often that a humble equestrian journalist gets her call put through to one of the most famous statesmen of his generation. […]

Okay I just had to share this with you as my final instalment on this topic because I am really thrilled that someone of Dr. Clayton’s reputation has substantiated what I have been preaching about treeless saddles for the last couple of years. Now you don’t just have to take my word for it! This […]

I already touched on this in my last blog but you cannot open any sort of equestrian publication at the moment without reading about the latest eventing fatality, be it either yet another theory as to why, or another teary eulogy. The trouble with all of it is that the few facts we have got are […]

I have done my piece filled with emotion due to the recent tragic death and now you will find my non-emotional response. This is not a new response for me, by the way. I have been quietly lobbying away now for years at this, but perhaps now is as good a time as any to […]

Not many people today have the luxury of time to learn to ride as well as the Native Americans did – with or without saddles. Many people still need to use a saddle to even stay on a horse, so you can’t really compare the two. Nothing would make us happier as saddle makers and […]