By Flora of the treelesssaddle list: I have finally gotten the chance to use my Sensation Dressage Trail on the endurance trail this weekend -- on a very technical, very difficult, very mountainous 55 mile ride (No Frills) -- and all I can say is... WOW! I have never felt so good, never been in such lovely balance (when I compared this ride photo to the official photographs from other rides), and never been so comfortable! Even my Welsh/Arab pony did fantastic -- for the first time EVER in (now) 1,370 miles - he walked into every vet check well below parameters!!! Well below! Even though by afternoon the temps were almost 80 degrees!!! In the past I have always had to strip off tack to get him down, even when the temps were freezing and it was sleeting. Not anymore!! The Cloud Nine pad and the Sensation kept his back nice and cool. While I watched the other riders stripping off tack and sponging like mad to get pulses down, he and I just strolled into the pulse area, saddle on and girth still tight -- at 56!!!!!
I swear that never, ever in my whole endurance career have I ever been able to do this! I can't express how so very elated I am -- I'm just about dancing around the room for joy!!! He even ate at all the checks which he has also NEVER done before -- probably because his back had always hurt, which caused him ulcers which further worsened the back issue - a vicious cycle that I could never get a handle on. My poor guy! Now that he was feeling better both physically and mentally with a saddle he liked, we got to watch other riders (a fair number!) coming back, upset, without their vet cards because they were being held by the vets for gut sounds recheck... and we weren't among them. He was busy chewing and eating... and I was standing there in disbelief with a smile getting bigger and bigger by the second. He and I finished 13th out of 36 or so (think that was the number of starters) -- even though we weren't trying to place, just out to ride the miles to get to our goal of 3,000. Because he's turned 18 (as of yesterday) we took our time, enjoyed the trail, I got sunburned (rather than sleeted or rained upon like prior years), he got to stop a lot and eat fresh spring grass, I got to run down mountains, and get on and off from the ground without the saddle shifting even the slightest, and we trotted across the finish line 7 hours 17 minutes later happy and pain-free - both of us. Checked his back later that day and the next -- not even a hint of soreness, where before he would dip his back at a touch like a limbo dancer. So... not only do I give the Sensation an A++ and two very enthusiastic "thumbs up" for hard endurance riding, but it exceeded expectations on nearly every level -- comfort, stability, correct rider positioning, no heat build-up underneath. I have decided that this saddle will now be a partner in my 3,000 mile goal. ________________________ Judy http://iceryder.net
