Lari Shea of Ricochet Ridge Ranch

"It couldn't have happened without a great saddle between us. "

At Ricochet Ridge Ranch, my horseback riding vacation business in Mendocino, California, our 50 horses have been tacked up in a wide variety of saddle makes and styles over the years. We offer English, Western, Australian and "endurance" types of saddles for clients of varying ability levels, from the complete novice to the very advanced rider.

But over the decades, it's come to pass that most of the folks who attend our weeklong Redwood Coast Beach and Forest Riding Vacations tend to ride "English", and whether hunt, dressage, or pleasure riders, they are quite accomplished. Folks want to know why I personally ride a ReactorPanel saddle.

I lead these rides myself, riding for six days in a row, carrying about 35 pounds of "dead weight" tied on to my saddle and carried in various pommel and cantle bags... veterinary and human first aid supplies and emergency gear, as well as two huge pruning saws and heavy duty clippers, as well as my lunch, of course! All this weight tends to pull the saddle forward or backwards on steep up hills and downs, particularly cantering the ups. But not my RP.

Then, for the fun of it, when not working on the back of my horse, I compete with him in 50 and 100-mile endurance races, where I usually carry weights to bring my total weight high enough to be competitive for Best Conditioned Horse awards. My "personal best" was weighing in at 187 a couple years ago... that's me, at 112, along with my tack and weights....75 extra pounds. As we've learned, it's a lot harder for a horse to carry dead weight than live weight. Many's the time I've envied some 200 pounder whose horse is matching mine stride for stride on an endurance ride, but who will have a great advantage at BC judging. My horse has to finish either faster, or with a much better veterinary score, in order to compensate for the other rider's superior weight advantage.Needless to say, all these hours and miles, 'specially carrying extra weight, could put a great degree of stress on my horse's back.

Years ago, I tried to substitute a heavier Western style saddle for my German and British made hunt and dressage saddles, both of which were comfortable for me in the arena and on the endurance trail, but neither of which had a wide weight-distributing surface for my horses. But the balance wasn't right for me, and the twist was too wide. I grew up riding bareback, and am still comfortable that way trotting and cantering down the trail, feeling every movement of my horse's back. In the last decade, I tried a saddle with adjustable independent panels and knew that the future was going to belong to this modern advancement in saddle design.

Two years ago, I talked with Carmi and Lisa at the AERC convention, was very impressed with the quality of their RP saddles, and subsequently hosted Carmi for a saddle-fitting clinic at Ricochet Ridge Ranch in Fort Bragg, CA. We really enjoyed cantering for miles on the beach and trotting through the redwoods, talking shop all day long. It was clear to me that Carmi doesn't just own a saddle company. She lives and breathes horses, and understands at a gut level the intricacies of the biodynamics involved in the saddle/horse interface. She left, two saddles lighter!

I decided on a black dressage saddle for my extremely high withered, narrow backed half-Russian Orlov gelding, and a VSD Summit in the fanciest roeberry & black buffalo leather for my three Arabian endurance horses. So, how can one saddle fit three horses, one might ask? Ranging in size from 14.3 to 15.2hh, my three geldings share common traits such as well sprung ribs, defined withers, and long, springy strides. Although custom fit by Carmi for my winning endurance horse,Avantii, we also tried the saddle on my up and coming horses, Rascal and Indiana Jones. Carmi showed me how to tweak it to fine tune it for them if necessary, but in truth, I really haven't done so. Obviously, the saddle has enough flex to accommodate these three similar backs, because both Indie and Rascal have excelled, placing 1st or 2nd in their 50 mile endurance races, with extraordinary vet & BC scores. And they carry me with all my doo-dads on the saddle, leading riding vacations during the week.

Since I bought my two, four of my employees and friends have purchased their own ReactorPanel saddles after hearing me sing it's praises and riding in mine. These folks have tried out various of the 20 or so other types of saddles I own, but chose the ReactorPanel not just because it's my own personal favorite, but because it became theirs.

Why do these saddles work so well? The ReactorPanel web site does a marvelous job of explaining the how's and why's of saddle fitting. But the proof is in the pudding, as they say. I've been impressed before by what I've read. This time, I'm impressed by what I've ridden.

The last 50 mile endurance ride I rode was in September, at the Chamberlain Creek 50. Although I've led many Redwood Coast Riding Vacations on Rascal, he'd never completed a 50 mile endurance ride. Two years ago, I loaned him to my dear friend, Sky Carrithers, but he tied up on the first loop, no fault of hers. (They were not riding in the RP.) Rascal can get tense at a competition. He had completed the Ride & Tie World Championships, but that was on home turf, since I'd produced it. So my main goal on the Chamberlain 50 was to keep him calm and comfortable. From the moment I got on him in my ReactorPanel that morning, I knew it was going to be a good day.

Rascal left base camp at a determined walk, stretching forward into my aids. At the start line, he sprang forward into a relaxed trot, even though other horses galloped past him. Up the first mountain, as he continued his ground covering gait, the horses in front of us started to fall back. Within a few miles we'd gained the lead, much to my surprise. Now, "dressage" is my other passion in riding. I recall with great fondness a conversation I once had while serving as secretary for Hilda Gurney as to whether or not the same horse could win at Grand Prix dressage and win the Tevis, the same year. I thought I had the horse at the time who could do it. She said "no". (I now agree with her!) But that day, Rascal tried to prove my point. Although I now believe that traveling comfortably and normally, a horse covering distance does not affect a frame that would score well in dressage competition, Rascal stretched, lowered, and carried himself in extended gaits that would be rewarded in any discipline. If I noticed a rock in the middle of the trail, my leg against his side (through the saddle leather, since I'm so short) effortlessly floated him sideways. As the miles got longer, Rascal got stronger. I've mentioned his tendency towards tenseness..... Whether vetting in with tack on, or accepting re-tacking after a tack-off vet check, Rascal clearly felt great about that saddle on his back. At every vet check and after the ride, he received all "A"'s, including the state of his back and muscle tone. He absolutely floated down the trail, winning the race over an hour ahead of the second place horse, and taking Best Conditioned Horse award with one of the highest scores among the 28 BC's my horses have won over the years. But the most important thing to me was the harmony Rascal and I felt for those 50 miles. It couldn't have happened without a great saddle between us.

Lari Shea of Richocet Ridge Ranch
Mendocino, CA
Endurance and Trail

Lari Shea creates amazing riding vacations from her Ricochet Ridge Ranch in Mendocino, California as well as in destinations around the world. If you haven't ridden with Lari before, we highly recommend you do. It will be a vacation of a lifetime. http://www.horse-vacation.com/

VSD Summit Saddle