Amy Tetervin, Bronze and Joselle
A Multi-Horse Success

In 1993 I bought a 3 year old registered Morab filly to train and ride in dressage and on trails. She and I became as close as two species can get, reading each other’s thoughts and learning to trust each other 100%. As she matured, her saddle, an old-style narrow gulleted dressage model, started to shift to one side in the rear so I called a saddle fitter to come and restuff it.

I had an unwelcome thought that the saddle was now too narrow for her and that turned out to be true. So I started on the dreaded quest to find another saddle that would fit her and be comfortable for both of us. We went through a treeless, a ‘wide’ high quality German dressage saddle, and an inexpensive synthetic adjustable tree saddle. None of them suited her. A few accusing white hairs started to appear on her back underneath the stirrup bars of the last saddle, and she gave me the ‘nasty face’ when I would mount, or even approach her with the saddle.

Since we had been doing some distance rides along with our dressage training, I was aware of the Reactor Panel saddle from some posts by Truman Prevatt on the Ridecamp list. His raves about this saddle offered me one more ray of hope, although by this time I was very skeptical about finding a saddle that would fit Joselle.

However, with ReactorPanel we did find just the right one for her wide, flat back! The RP Baker Dressage was made to fit Joselle and she let me know it immediately, being the expressive and wise soul that she is. She was much happier under saddle and more fluid in her dressage moves, as though she was not afraid of the saddle hurting her anymore.

We both loved the feel and fit of the saddle, and it was exceptionally well-made. I also liked the ability to customize the saddle by removing any of the accessory padding underneath the flaps. Up until Joselle was sidelined by insulin resistance and Cushing’s disease, we did dressage up to Prix Saint Georges and went on long tough trail rides where we often jumped obstacles, even in a dressage saddle. I loved being able to tweak the fit as her body changed with the positive effects of the Baker.

A year ago I finally bought a 3 year old, out-of-the-pasture buckskin registered Morab gelding to train and ride in place of Joselle, who is still not able to be ridden. My sweetheart Bronze started his lunging work in a surcingle and bitless bridle, and then the adjustable tree synthetic. He was so quick to learn, and we had a cooperative rather than an adversarial relationship. Bronze is also the only horse I have known who gives kisses on the lips! As the time for mounting approached in the spring of his 4 year old year, I knew it was time to call Carmi. Joselle’s Baker was far too wide for Bronze, so Melissa Whitney, the RP saddle fitting agent for Virginia, came out and expertly measured Bronze for a VSD Traditional. I planned on doing more trail riding than dressage with him, so I decided to give the VSD a try, along with a Centrelastic girth.

Once we started riding, Bronze was quite happy and I was getting used to riding in the more all-purpose type saddle. It was so nice to not have any saddle ‘issues’ to complicate his training progress, which was proceeding smoothly and without any mouth issues either, because he was still being trained in a bitless bridle. I had adjusted the optional padding under the flap to make it feel ‘just right’ and we did our ring work and trail rides in the VSD. All was well.

But, 5 months later he developed a more forward girth groove, outgrew his Centrelastic girth, and then his size small halter. Then on one trail ride he started to stretch his neck out and twist his head. I just knew that the saddle was bothering him, since I had recently needed to widen the panels in the rear to their utmost in order to accommodate his now wider and flatter back. The front and the back of the saddle felt tight to me when I ran my hand around the edges I was now sure of what the problem was- he had outgrown his 13 inch wide VSD! What to do? Re-measure him to confirm his tremendous growth, and then get out the Baker and cross my fingers that it fit him. And it does! I love riding in the Baker again, being a dressage rider at heart. The beauty of the RP system is that I am able to fine-tune the fit of the Baker for Bronze, whose body will go on changing as he continues to develop, but hopefully grow no wider. Those belly lifts work wonders!

Amy Tetervin
Bronze and Joselle
Dressage and Trail

VSD Summit Saddle and Baker Dressage Saddle