Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Freeform Treeless Saddle with Haf saddle pad wins Tevis Cup


Jeremy Reynolds aboard CV Eli and a FreeWest Treeless Saddle with
a HAF saddle pad wins the prestiges 100 mile Tevis Cup.



More 07 Tevis Cup Pictures at :
http://picasaweb.google.com/FreeFormUSA/Tevis2007






Wednesday, August 09, 2006

Tevis 2006 - Fall from Cougar Rock




Tasha Duncan on Rambo Bay
2006 Tevis Cup ride was cut short when Rambo Bay, a almost 16 hand Arab slipped on Cougar Rock. In one of the pictures you can see that Tasha is out of the left stirrup, I think that is the point when she kind of just stepped off of him.
The pictures are in reverse order, so start from the bottom.
Rambo had a slight laceration which was treated at the Red Star vet station. Rambo actually vetted through sound by Dr. Melissa Ribley, but after a discusson with Tasha they decided that Rambo, who had lost that sparkle in his eye, shoud probably opt for a trailer ride.
I feel bad for Tasha, as it was I who suggested that she do the Rock. Below is the first email account of the fall to several groups I belong to.
Email Post
Yes this was the Tevis Cup week end, but ours got cut a little short. Takes many months to get ready, and sometimes a year. Not sure if you have seen the horses going over Cougar rock or not but looks quite dangerous, actually I tell everybody it is just the camera angle and it is a piece of cake, as I have two pictures and one go around (trail around Cougar rock). I had advised my young 18 year old rider that if you do Tevis you must have at least one picture of yourself and steed going over Cougar rock, so even if you get pulled you still have your picture.

Well, Rambo slipped and started to go over backwards, Tosha was able to kind of step off the horse as he went over. Rambo landed on his side, not sure if he went over completely backwards or not. Anyway, Rambo is not a horse that sticks around after an incident. Tosha had enough wits about her to capture him rather quickly. Rambo was bleeding a little on the left front and right rear, and had the scrapes with skin missing that you would expect from having fallen down a granite boulder. Tosha did a quick basement, no immediate medical attention was necessary, she started walking the rest of the way to Red Star, which I think is about 6 miles, I may be wrong and have not check. Tosha has both ankles in support braces due to the soreness and inflammation she gets on 100 mile rides, so the walking is not the best.

Crew is waiting at Robinson, takes hours before we hear anything. We have our ears glued to the radio chatter and listen for her number, which we never hear. I learned from a friend, Robert Palmerai, that Tosha and Rambo had fallen off of Cougar rock and that Rambo was pretty banged up.

We had arrived at Robinson at 8am, at about 1PM they had closed down Red Star and everybody was making the trek back to Robinson, and still no official word from Red Star as to there whereabouts or condition. Tosha's mother is part of the crew, and new to these kind of events, so I will let your imagination run wild................I kept walking out the trial leading into Robinson, asking everybody if they knew what had happened. Most of the comments I got were that they had gone around Cougar rock. One comment received when I asked if they had heard of someone falling over on Cougar rock was, " Which one!".

The head vet for Red Star, Melissa Ribley, stopped and talked to me as she was during out and told me what was happening with Rambo. She said that Rambo was one of the toughest horses she had ever seen and that they had treated him for lacerations and scrapes. She said that he did pass the vet exam and that Tosha could of continued on but after a short conversation they decided that Rambo, who had lost that sparkle in his eye, should probably be tailored. Dr. Ribley spent most of the time telling me what a fine young responsible lady she thought my rider was and that she commented on her adult and mature behavior and how well she took care of her horse.

Rambo was the very last horse and vehicle out of Red Star. They had lots of pulls at Red Star this year, I think more then any other years, I think it was into the 20's, and usually it is just a few. They have to take all of the metabolic out before minor injuries.

So at about 3PM our horse and rider is pulled from the depths of the Sierra Nevada's, the Tevis god appeased, and have left us with a healthy horse and rider and another year to get ready.

Once back in Foresthill we talked to one of the photographers who was at Cougar rock. He said that there were lots of video cameras there this year and that someone has to have this on video. If anybody knows about rider #67 on a big bay horse going over Cougar rock, please contact me....

Got lots more, but that's it...

Saturday, June 03, 2006

FreeForm wins 3Day Wild West Ride



Wild West Ride
3 Days, 155 Miles
Rambo Bay, and Tasha, on the 3rd day of the race they found themselves with a 2 minute lead out of the last vet check with only 6 miles to the finish.
2nd place rider caught Rambo with about 1.5 miles to go to the finish on a nice uphill gravel road. Rambo, a almost 16 Hand with a 18mph trot and race track experience kept the rider at about 10 lengths all the way to the finish.
Rambo & Tasha were 2nd the first day, 4th the 2nd day and 1st the third day.
Rambo recieved fastest time for the 3 days and Best Condition
Rambo had a CRI of 40 - 40 at his BC presentation on day 3.

Tuesday, May 09, 2006

IRS Motorhome


Picture for the IRS, for all those deductions I take.

Freeform loaded with packs


Michele Roush on Rambo Bay heading out for the Sunday 50 mile Wahsoe ride. FreeForm saddle with front and rear Stowaway packs.

Another FreeForm winner at Washoe


GB, a 4 year old CMK Arab wins the 25 mile ride wearing his very own FreeForm saddle with a forward girth. GB has only been off the ranch once before, but was well up for the task, he will be 5 this month. This was a walk in the park and he can't wait to do a real 50, he hardly broke a sweat.

Chris Martin riding.

Freeform Sweeps Washoe Endurance Ride


Jeremy Reynolds on Sir Smith, winner of both the Saturday and Sunday 50 mile Washoe rides. Jeremy broke the coarse record by about 30 minutes. Both days he finished the 50 Miles in 4.5 hours and change. Jeremy rides in a FreeForm Classic with a HAF pad with the sympanova on the bottom.

He also recieved the Best Condition award on Saturday and I am not sure about Sunday.

Wednesday, April 26, 2006

2004 Tevis Cup Winner




Jeremy Reynolds, 2004 Tevis Winner



This saddle has allowed horses of ours to compete with more comfort. We have eliminated back problems altogether because of the Freeforms in our barn. My wife and I would recommend this saddle to anyone as it has worked for all rider and horse combinations in our barn.

Jeremy and Heather Reynolds

HAF vs. Equipedic

Well I finally got a chance to try out the HAF pad. Only for an 8 mile walking some trotting training ride. My family was in town so figured it was as good a chance as any. Given that Tally has extremely high withers, I inserted the wedge pads they sent with the original (taking out the thin ones and replacing with the thicker wedges). The pattern on his back afterward was good (but that may be more the FreeForm saddle). What I was impressed with was how well Tally carried himself. I'm not sure if it was the dressage lessons I've been taking or the pad but I was impressed. Interesting also was the absence of sweat marks given that he has quite a bit of hair (more like fur) covering him. It was mostly up and down steep hills (I wanted to show the family the bay area 'view')! How's it going with yours?Thanks, Sandy

Freeform and choice of pad

My Toklat, Supracore and dressage pads would not work for this saddle. Only the Equipedic or HAF pads do, the later of which I've only tried twice. Two things about the Equipedic and HAF pads that are different from other pads (this coming from a person who did 2 seasons in a dressage saddle with nothing but a thin cotton dressage pad). The FreeForm - which is the only saddle after trying out 5 others that works for my boy once he started to fill out - is treeless (although it does have firm injection molding as the base of the structure) and therefore needs to have 'help' (this is my opinion but shouldn't be construed as fact) to stay above the withers. I have a very high withered horse so I'm only talking about my needs. In any event, the Equipedic is marvelous for distance riding and the HAF pad the two times I've been out riding in it, has worked very well. Since I've only ridden the HAF pad in moderate to cool temperatures, I can't say much about whether it has heat build up issues or not, except to say that Tally didn't sweat where the pad goes on this last training ride but did have some sweat from his shoulders, neck and between his legs. On another note, I've had some difficulty with the stirrup leathers chafing me so I'm going to be using my half chaps until I can either get leather covers or have my daughter make me a saddle seat that completely covers the leathers. This could be just me but thought I'd mention it. Otherwise, I'm the biggest fan (maybe) of the FreeForm saddle. I say this because it cost me $10,000 for 5 saddles including the custom built one that still didn't work, a couple of rides I couldn't do after trailering a significant distance (Twenty Mule team last year - 6.5 hours to get there) and too much anguish that my horse had a slightly sore back because of poor saddle fit. Anyway, the FreeForm fits all our horses (check the archives, I've said a bunch about this point) and works pretty darn well for me. Not for heavyweights though, as it doesn't work for my daughter (yet - but Chris Martin at www.freeformusa.com is working on it). Good luck! Sandy and Tally (who's lovely picture from Tevis is on Chris' website) p.s. I'm just a regular endurance rider, I don't sell nothing except good wishes!!

HAF pad with FreeForm

Heh Chris - just wanted to give some feedback on the HAF pad. As you know, I'm sort of opinionated (for better or worse). Tally popped an abscess this past Tuesday before the Warner Hot Springs Ride so I stole my best buddies horse (now how's that for a 'friend') and took him instead. Just to let you know, cold turkey - so to speak - I rode him in my FreeForm as well as the HAF pad. We took it easy on the last loop (he doesn't like heading back out without a buddy horse and there was no one in sight) and still finished 12th. Great scores on the final vet check - including NO TENDERNESS on his back. How's that for trying out a new saddle and pad for the first time on a 50 miler! Great ride - thanks again Terry - and great saddle/pad combo. Best part was Dick Carter (my buddy) was over my house first thing this morning 'double checking'. He said he just wanted to make sure his horse 'hadn't killed me' but the first thing he did was check out his back - he was 100%!!! :+D Just thought I'd let you know how it went!!

Rambo & Chris


This is Rambo Bay, a 12 year old Arabian. I got him when he was 4 yo and was off the track.

"My last Tevis Ride??"


My last Tevis Ride?
2002
by Chris martin




This story is about the 2002 Tevis ride (Western States Trail Ride) and the horse that fell off the cliff on Cal 2 better known as the California Loop, just out of Foresthill.

I first rode the Tevis in 1999 and since that time, the ride has kinda taken on a life of its own. Tevis is a 24-hour event that takes 365 days of your life. You pack a whole year into that little 24-hour period, especially for those of us who have the BUG. The Tevis gods rule, and this year was no exception. I have pre ridden most of the trail, at least twice and as many as 10 times, except that portion from Robie to Robinson. This year I started in January, riding different parts of the trail once a week.

The horse I have been training and conditioning for four years came up with a reoccurring problem with his right fetlock, fracture of the sesamoid that never really healed. He could go for a couple of fast 50's and then he would start to have some problems. This was to be by top-ten Tevis horse.

I had another horse that I’d started along last year and he was doing fine until he came up lame in May. I knew you had to have a backup horse but I didn’t think I needed a backup for the backup. The Tevis god’s have spoken.

Being desperate, I borrowed a horse from my neighbor on June 23rd, a 12-year-old Arab named Bo who had been bought at auction. The horse had done some endurance back in April of 2001 and had 150 AERC miles with one metabolic pull. My neighbor’s daughter was riding him when he panicked about a loose saddle and fell off a cliff, hurting himself pretty badly. After he’d healed up enough, he was put out to pasture on 900 acres for that whole year. When I rode him home from, a distance of about 3.5 miles, I thought he was going to die. I had a heart rate monitor on him and it took him over 20 minutes to recover from the ride/trot home. I had some big question marks at that time.

I started conditioning rides with the horse (Bo), riding every day and sometimes twice a day. He did very well, some days being able to do twice what he had done the day before. I recorded all his training rides keeping track of milage, heart rate files, and recovery times. We did quite well on our first 25-mile training ride and then the next week we did a 40-mile training ride. During the last weeks, we were doing about 80 miles a week with our long ride days being on portions of the Tevis trail with our training buddies Jon and Spider. Spider is the horse. We did hard/easy workdays with a high carbo supplement after each work and feeding the work with grain. He had taken to the work very well His most training miles were 83 miles in one week. By his 8th week, which was the Tevis week, I was sick with the flu and we did almost no milage, but Bo was looking very fit, a much different horse from the pasture potato that I had started with seven weeks earlier.

One week before Tevis I decided that I should buy Bo., just in case something happened, so we worked out a price, just a little more than the price of meat, and the deal was done. The eight weeks of conditioning were actually six He had once week off because of a swelling on the left rear caused by a kick during one of our long rides about the 4th week. He had another week off, the week before the Tevis, as he had caught his right front in the lead rope while tied to the trailer. On Monday prior to Tevis, I came down with the flu and was down in bed until Wed. On Thursday, I left for the ride. Jon and Spider had saved us a spot at Robie

Jon and I rode on Friday before we vetted in. We rode about 10 miles, Bo looked fine when we got back, still swollen but not lame at all. Anyway, I vetted him through and he got all A's, so we were good to go. I kept ice on it until we went to bed. Jon got Spider a massage and he looked like he really enjoyed it.

Ride morning started for me at about 3 a.m., with the ride actually starting at 5:15 a.m. I was kinda worried about having lost about 12 pounds with the flu and not having eaten anything since Sunday (not to mention having liquid coming out each portal). Needless to say, I was pleased when I made that first important stop to the Porta Potty and I did more than dribble; now we were really ready to ride.

At about 5 a.m. Jon and I headed for the start line along with 250 other riders. Bo and Spider were all hyped up and ready to go. The trail was set up in three sections, red for the people who wanted to start up towards the front, blue for those who wanted to be in the middle, and white for those in the rear. We started moving up towards the front and just made it into the red section when the line started moving. The trail is only 20 feet wide at this point and we were all packed into this little space with very excited horses, some behaving better than others. As we started moving down the trail, I heard someone behind us holler that a person was down but do not know what happened. As the trail opened up, we started moving faster and faster, riding with someone beside us and of course someone in front and someone in the rear. As we came to a small wooded bridge, there is a guy on a mule trying to pull it across the bridge. He got out of the way and we continued on, heading down to the highway just below Squaw Valley. We crossed the highway and up the steep trail that led us the to top Squaw. Bo was flipping his head and trying to get the rains over the top of the bit. Jon noticed that Bo had managed to get his tongue over the bit and was now bleeding. I looked at the heart rate monitor and it was in the 170-180 range. People were in front of us and behind us, so there was no backing down the way I wanted to. Before the ride, I had decided not to let him get over 160 for any length of time during the ride. As soon as I found a place we could pull over, I pulled the bit off and just rode him with the reins attached to his rope halter (what a mistake). After I pulled the bit we continued down the trail for a quarter of a mile or so when we heard people yelling. We looked up and saw that we (me) had missed the trail and would have to go back up the mountain to catch it.

Jon was in front so I just put Bo on Spider’s tail and off we went. He was pulling on me but when I headed him directly into the other horse's butt there was nothing he could do. We made it up the top of Squaw where they had a water stop. Both horses drank well and we gave them their electrolytes. There are no bathrooms so you just use your horse as kind of a shield and go for it.

From the top of Squaw where the lift stops, you have to go about another half a mile to mile to get to the real top. Wow! What a view, if you take the time to look. From there, the trail drops off into what they call the Granite Chief wilderness area. There is a five-mile stretch so terrible it’s hard to describe. It is a rocky (large and small rocks), steep, downhill stretch with large slabs of rock that you slide down into. Many, many horses are injured on this part of the trail. There are spots where it is muddy and almost boggy. Bo, not having a bit in his mouth, was almost uncontrollable. Spider would get a little bit ahead and Bo would just race through these rocks and mud; scared the hell out of me. My hands were so tired from trying to hold him back that I decided that I had to get his bit back in his mouth, but had to wait until we had a safe place to do it. As we were making our way though this nightmare, a lady in front of us fell off her horse when it slipped. Jon stopped and we blocked the trail until she got back on, after a couple of attempts, and then we were off again. I finally found a spot to stop and redo the bit for Bo; wow, power steering again!

The next obstacle was Cougar Rock . Not as hard as it looks; they take the pictures so it looks like you’re doing something superhuman but it’s a piece of cake. Both horses went up and over, looking good. A lot of the trail is fine dust so if you don't have a mask, you will be blowing a lot of dirt clods. I wore an outlaw-type bandana, which worked great, just pull it up and pull it down. We finally made it to Lyons Ridge, the first kinda vet check; horses get to eat and drink a little, heart rate checked, trotted to make sure they are not lame, and then you are off to Robinson Flat, which is at the 36-mile mark six miles down the road. From here, the trail is pretty nice all the way to Robinson. We had crew waiting for us with all the stuff we would need, plus some food and replenishment of the drinks we carried with us. We arrived at about 10 a.m., both horses vetted through, and we settled down for our one-hour hold. It seemed like we no sooner sat down before we had to get back up again to saddle up.

They pull a lot of horses at Robinson, mostly for lameness and some for metabolic (going too fast). The average pull rate of the ride is about 50 percent with this year closer to 60 percent. The finish rate was in the 40th percentile, with 94 riders finishing.

Jon and I had pre ridden the rest of the trail from Robinson to Auburn in different chunks during the last several months. Because I had to start a new horse, Bo had seen only some of it.

When we left Robinson, we were in 40- 50th position. From there, the ride goes to a water stop at Four Corners and then on to a vet check at Last Chance (an old mining location). The trail was not too bad but very dusty in spots, and they run you down a couple of canyons and back up again, all on single-track trails. We were following three other riders when the female rider’s horse tripped and fell. The rider went over her horse’s head and landed sitting up in the middle of the trail. Her horse skidding on his chin until he was almost right on top of her and then got up and trotted down the trail. One of the other riders got the horse while the lady slowly got up and made sure everything worked. At that point, we passed them and went down the trail. The vet check was just a few miles down the road. We were pleased and surprised to see the woman who had fallen off vetting her horse through, though she had a thick layer of that fine dust all over, especially were she skidded on the trail. Her horse looked fine and she ended up finishing the ride, as we found out later. We ended up staying at Last Chance for a while to let the horses eat. It was only a 15-minute hold but they had good eats, ice-cold watermelon, lemonade, Coke, etc.

From Last Chance, you head down into a canyon with a swinging bridge at the bottom, takes about a 30-minute ride with switch back after switch back. Some people get off their horses and jog down the trail which is single track and rocky in spots, but for the most part you can make good time over this stretch of trail. Time at this point was not a factor. There are cut off times at each vet check and you have to make that time or you are done; over time, you’re out. We started down the trail going pretty fast with the horses feeling great and everything looking good. All of the sudden riders start stacking up on the trail and we’re moving at a snail’s pace. We could see what the holdup was as we looked down the switch backs. I spied some unfit overweight female, slowly walking her horse down the trail. I kept my mouth shut for at least a couple of switch backs and was very proud of myself for that. Then I could no longer contain my frustration and started hollering. I asked for the trail, asked her to speed up, asked her to jog, asked her to pull over when safe and let us by. She basically said she didn’t have to and she didn't. We ended up passing her just before we got to the swinging bridge and didn’t see her again; I don’t think she finished. On the way down, we saw the same mule that we had seen at the beginning of the ride (the one that would not go over the bridge) coming back up towards us. The rider said that his mule would not go over this little tiny wooden bridge that was on the trail just before the swinging bridge, so I guess he was going back to Last Chance.

From the bottom of the canyon, the trail, which is all single track, goes straight up via switch back, for over a mile to Devil’s Thumb. A lot of people tail their horses up, walking behind the horse and holding its tail. It takes 30 minutes riding and a little longer tailing, but you can only go as fast as the people in front of you. When we got the top, they had water and some hay for the horses. After that, the trail flattens out until you get to the vet check at Deadwood, about four miles away. The trail to Deadwood is actually more like a road and doesn’t have many rocks so you can pass there.

The vet check at Deadwood was good, with lots to eat, and we spent lots of time letting the horses eat. From there the trail goes down into another canyon and then back up to the check at Michigan Bluff.

The Michigan Bluff check was even better, with fried chicken and lots of other good stuff to eat. Then it’s only six miles to Foresthill. While in Michigan Bluff, I encountered Bo’s previous owner. She said that the horse would only go so far and then he would just lay down. She asked if I had any such problems and I told her no; nice information to have at about the 60-mile mark in a 100-mile event.

The next stop was Foresthill, the main vet check and a one-hour hold. Our horses vetted through fine, we changed clothes and got something to eat, and then we were gone. The ride goes through the middle of town and all the local yokels were out hootin’ and a hollerin’ as we went by. We headed down into another canyon called the California Loop, on our way to Fransisco’s about 15 miles away. We started this loop in the dark at about 9 p.m. Again, we weren’t too concerned about time as it was just a buckle ride (riding for the finish and not top ten) and trying not to be in the other 50 percent. We’d just headed down the trail when we noticed another rider following quite a way behind us and hollered out for (him) to join us. He turned out to be from Japan and was riding a leased horse. Anyway, as time went on, we started picking up more and more riders. At last count, I think we had about 15 riders following. I started to pick up the pace. Bo had light bars on his breast collar so the other riders could see him as we trotted down the trail. Bo w
as doing a great job. At one point, a rider asked who was leading them and doing such a great job, and I answered, “Bo, a gelding.”

The top part of the trail is called Cal 1 and the next section is Cal 2. Bo, who was leading us, had never been on this section of the trail. On about the third switch back of Cal 2, Bo was trotting fast with Jon and Spider right behind us when I heard some scrambling and then Jon saying, "Going down." I turned and looked and could see the light bars on Spider tumbling over and over. My heart sank as I heard Jon yell for Spider, that frantic scream you would yell after your child when he stepped into the path of a freight train. I yelled at Jon to see if he was OK and all I could hear was him yelling for Spider. The other riders were now on top of me as I halted Bo. By that time, I was at the corner of the switch back. Two riders were in the corner, apparently coming up the trail as Spider rolled right over the trail in front of them. As they let me by, I thought that Jon had gone on down the switch back that I was on. I sent the other two riders on to get help, let all the other 15 or so riders pass me, and then went back to find Jon. I finally found him and he was okay, having only gone down about 30 feet or so. We thought sure that Spider was dead because of how steep it was where he had gone down and because of the fact that he had gone completely over the trail in two spots. He went out of sight tumbling over and over and then there was dead silence. After the second switch back there aren’t any more as the trail continues west. Jon asked if I would go on to Francisco's and make sure we got some help. I gave Jon my flashlight and left my good friend in the darkness. Bo easily found his way through the darkness as my tears clouded my vision. I knew that Jon would be okay but I could still hear his screams for Spider in my mind. I knew that other riders that had passed me would get to Francisco's long before me. At this point, alone in the darkness and knowing that Spider was dead, the ride did not seem to be very important. Waiting year after year for the Tevis ride did not mean anything anymore. Bo and I just kind of plodded along and finally came to the vet check at Francisco’s which seemed like forever.

Wonderful volunteers, a couple of young ladies, held my horse while I went over the to person with the ham radio. He said they knew what had happened and that the sweep riders had already been in contact with Jon and were making plans to get him out. I kept worrying about what I was going to tell his wife, Anne Marie. I looked for the signal on my cell phone but no such luck. I decided that Jon had probably already been in touch with his wife on one of the radios that the sweep riders had and that he would beat me back to Auburn by a long shot.

I pretty much took my time at Francisco’s, watching at least 20 riders pass along down the trail. I had no clue what time it was and really did not care. Bo and I started walking on down the trail, a section Bo had been on at least once. We walked along the trail about 200 feet above the American River, the full moon shining brightly, which would have been pretty nice if tragedy had not struck. We just walked in the darkness, not a soul in sight. I could see the tiny green light bars that they had marked the trail with dangling in the air. As your horse moves up and down along the trail you can make out all kinds of shapes and visions. I could see outlines of giant houses with windows and doors. The whole time I was thinking about Spider and Jon’s frantic scream. I decided that this is my last Tevis ride and a DNF (did not finish) at that. I never wanted to feel like this again. I am sure that my eyes were all red and blood shot.

We finally got to the river and crossed without incident. Bo was used to going fast on this last section of the trail. I knew that the last vet check, the quarry, is just four miles down the trail, but really didn’t care. I didn’t even look at my watch to see what time it was and had no idea what the cut-off time was. Bo kept trying to trot and I kept pulling him back to a walk. About two miles after the river crossing, I heard riders behind me. Bo and I just kept walking. Soon there were three riders, the drag riders coming from Francisco’s. Well, that meant that I was the last rider on the trail. They started chatting with me and I told them what had happened. By this time, I could see the lights from the vet check at the quarry. The ladies said that the cut-off time for the quarry was 4:15 a.m. and gave us some encouragement. I started thinking about it and decided that if Bo had it in him, we would give it a try for our good friend Spider.

Bo and I left the drag riders in the dust as we cantered that last two miles into the vet check. The people at the check could hear us coming and started yelling that we could make it. As we neared the check, they lowered a yellow ribbon they had used to direct the horses. The vet ran out to check Bo who got a quick drink and then had his pulse checked. Reaching the mandatory 68, he did a quick trot out and we were good to go. We nailed the 4:15 a.m. check-out time but now we had to go almost seven miles in under 60/minute. Bo had done this section of trail at least three times so he knew it well, but we had never done it in the dark and 60/minute was a real push even for daylight hours on a fresh horse. Bo had already done over 95 miles

Bo seemed to have taken on new life and had to be held back almost the whole way. I knew that if I got to the top of Robie Point by 5 a.m. I could make the finish by 5:15, the cut-off time. Bo ran through a section of the trail called the Black Hole of Calcutta like a champ. He strongly trotted all the way to the top of Robie Point were I checked my watch at 5 a.m. We then sprinted down the trail that weaved in and out, up and down, over some rocky areas, through the star thistle, and under the tree limbs towards the finish. Soon we heard someone screaming from the finish line. Some young girls (bless their hearts) started yelling,” You can make it, you can make it.” We crossed the finish line at 5:15 a.m., the last place finisher with maybe the fastest time between the last vet check and the finish line. I could not have been prouder of Bo if he’d had the four years of conditioning instead of his meager six weeks.

We walked into the stadium where Bo vetted through, looking very good, I might add, for a horse that just ran and last six miles of a 100-mile ride. We would get our “Spider buckle”.

I stood around for a few minutes looking for someone I knew. It wasn’t a very big crowd of people who had stayed up to see the last place finisher at 5:15 a.m. I finally spotted Jon’s wife, Anne Marie, and the tears welled in my eyes.

She told me that Jon was on his way in and would be there shortly. I assured her that Spider had to be dead, that there was no way he could have survived that fall, and vowed never to do this ride again

Bo ate some hay as we were talking and we saw a truck pull into the parking lot. Jon got out and we hugged and cried, then got down to business of finding Spider. Works were already underway for the search party. I left Jon talking to the search people and went to tuck Bo into bed. I had told Jon to wait because I was going with him. I had Bo squared away and was changing clothes when Ann Marie appeared and said the search party had already left. I didn’t think that I would be able to sleep but told them to come get me the minute they heard anything. I jumped up in the camper bunk at about 7:30 a.m. I laid awake for some time but finally fell asleep. At 10:30 a.m., there was knocking on the camper door and voices yelling that they had found Spider. I could not believe my ears. The first info that we got was that he was swimming in the river. Not all that info was correct but much better than dead. We waited for what seemed like forever for Jon and Spider to show up at the fairgrounds. The Tevis Gods had spoken again, only this time they were smiling.

We spotted the truck and trailer pulling into the parking lot at the rear of the Fairgrounds. I ran out and could see Jon riding in the back of the trailer with Spider. I jumped on the side of the trailer, looking in at Spider and Jon. The truck pulled as close as it could to the barn area and then stopped. I opened the trailer door and out jumped Spider, looking like he had been in a knife fight with straight razors. We walked Spider to the wash rack and washed his cuts and abrasions. He appeared to only have one (1) significant wound, a puncture wound to his left upper front leg. He was not lame and was eating up a storm! His right eye was somewhat swollen and he looked like a prize fighter, (the looser).

I got Bo and took him over to keep Spider company while we waited for the vet to show up to treat Spider. Jon told us of the rescue while we waited.

Jon said that he and two volunteers, and the vet, Jamie Kerr followed the path that Spider had taken off the trail of Cal 2 on his journey down towards the river, with Jon in the lead. He said that he got to a ledge about 50 feet above the river when he looked down and thought he saw Spider’s head lying with his mouth open on top of a giant boulder. Thankfully, what Jon saw turned out to be a piece of driftwood. Just as he decided it was not Spider, Jon heard a noise to his left. He looked and there was Spider, 30 feet away, standing with his hind feet on the up slope of the hill. Jon could not believe his eyes. Spider was trying to reach around and grab a little patch of grass that was nearby. Jon called out for the rest of the party and they came on down the hillside. Jon led Spider to a small clearing where the vet did a quick assessment of Spider’s condition and was given some medical treatment by Dr. Kerr. The volunteers cut some brush and small trees out of the way so that they could walk Spider down this steep section closer to the river.

Dr. Jamie Kerr stayed with Spider, letting him eat the green grasses alongside the river while Jon went downstream to see if they could get to Ford’s Bar. The other two volunteers went upstream but ended up coming right back down. By the time Jon had turned around, Dr. Kerr and the other two had decided that the best way out was the way that Jon had gone, downstream, so they started crossing the river. When Jon met up with Dr. Kerr, the vet was soaked from head to toe as Spider had stepped on his toe and down into the river he’d gone. Dr. Kerr led Spider out about four miles to the waiting trailer in Todd Valley; or the way Dr. Kerr tells it, Spider pulled him up the trail the whole four miles

After Jamie Kerr returned to the fairgrounds, he made a more comprehensive inspection of Spider and spent some time cleaning out the puncture wound. Spider was cleared to go home at about four in the afternoon. Being pretty tired myself, I loaded Bo and headed for home.

The drive home went quickly as I reviewed in my mind everything that had happened in the last 34 hours. I did that same review for the next two weeks and then some.

At about 10:00 the next morning Jon called and said that he was going back to Cal 2 to retrieve his saddle. I told him I wanted to go and met him in Todd Valley, along with my precious Honda Rancher quad. Jon and his wife rode on the quad they had brought and Peter, their son, rode with me. We parked the quads at the beginning of Cal 2 and started walking. Jon shot a video on the walk to where Spider took his spill. We walked the two switch backs, marking Spider’s path with trail ribbon. We found where he had flown over the last switch back, marked it, and then started the climb down. We went down about 100 feet and then decided to use the rope that Jon had brought (300 feet). We secured the rope to a tree and the four of us descended the rest of the way to the bottom. We ran out of rope for the last 100 feet but the mountainside angle had finally started to mellow a little. We are guessing that it is about a 50-degree angle on the hillside. We took a reading on Jon’s altitude watch at the top and then again at the bottom, 750 feet. During the climb down the hillside, backwards, holding onto the rope, we could see small trees and other large bushes that had been dislodged by Spider’s fall. Whole tree branches had been snapped off the trees that he had come close to. His path was very definite. If Spider had gone the extra 50 feet to the river he would of died, but this 750 feet should have killed him too, so who knows? If it’s not your time, its not your time. We spent a few minutes at the water’s edge and then started the trek back up the hillside. Jon had purchased a large quilted BBQ bag, one of those real nice covers that you put over your Weber BBQ. We stuffed his saddle into the bag, tied it off with the rope and within the hour we were up to the trail.

On Thursday of that week Jon invited my wife Nancy and I, along with Tracy and Eric, our outstanding crew, and with their respective significant others to dinner at his house. We arrived about 5 p.m. and went directly to see Spider who whinnied when I called to him and paced around his pen. Jon got him out and I hand-trotted him around to see how he was. He was good to go. Jon told me that Spider wanted to look all scarred up like Bo so that’s why he fell down the mountain. Jon and his wife gave us a gift, it was a Manx Kitten, with the name of Tevis, who thinks that she “is the Tevis God”.

Three weeks later Bo and Spider were racing on the wonderful trails at Point Reyes, The hard rocky terrain of the Tevis seemed so far away.


Chris Martin
Penn Valley, CA

"Eight (8) weeks to Tevis"

Eight weeks to Tevis 2002
by Chris Martin



Eights weeks before Tevis and I find myself without a horse. I had been conditioning my 8 year old gelding for the Tevis Cup for 4 years. During one of your training rides he kicked himself in the sesamoid bone causing a fracture. After xrays and a chat with the vet, it was decided that he needed some time off to heal, and that eight weeks would not be long enough for the injury to heal.

I remembered that my neighbor had bought a nice looking Arab gelding at an auction in Healsburg the year prior. That horse, Bo Stegicc, a 12year old, 15 hand, had a serious injury to his hip, chest, and left rear hock when he fell off a cliff when a saddle slipped back on a steep trail. My neighbor’s daughter had not tightened the cinch enough, when it slipped back, the horse spooked and went over a small cliff and down into thick brush. The horse had some medical attention and was then turned out to pasture on a 1,000 acre ranch for a year to heal and fend for himself.

I had my wife, Nancy, drive me down to the ranch were he had been turned out on the quad to take a look at him, I brought my saddle just in case. I found Bo in a heard of about 15 horses. His right hip looked like it had been crushed and his left rear hock was a mass of scar tissue. You could see the big scar on his chest and where the stitches had been. He was probably 100 pounds overweight with a big grass belly. I doubted seriously that he was sound but I should a least give him a try.

Getting him saddled was quite a chore, but soon we were underway back home, approx. 3 miles. I did happen to have the heart rate monitor on him as it was on the saddle. I thought that he was not even going to make the 3 miles. When we got home I let him rest for awhile and trimmed up his feet, which had not been touched in a long time. I then took him to a nice meadow next door which has a ¼ mile hill, approx. 100 foot of gain and the footing is real nice. I did a couple of laps with him and determined that he seemed to be sound, just fat and very out of shape.

I decided that I wanted to ride him for a least one week to see how he did before I invested any money in shoes. We did lots of work in the pasture next door.
We started on May 23rd when I brought him home and the Tevis was on July 20th, less than 8 weeks away.

My heart rate log shows that the first week was only 3 days and we did 11 miles. His recovery on the first day was 17 min to 60 bpm, with a max HR of 209. On the third day he was ridden twice, once in the morning and once in the evening. I could already see an improvement. Workouts were light, with lots of walking and some short sprints, 800 feet or so.

His second week started on Tuesday with a new pair of shoes as it looked like he might work out and we needed to expand our workout area. This weeks total miles was 40 for 5 days of works with one double day. This work consisted of hard easy days with a few short sprints thrown in for the easy days and the hard days consisted of a 10 mile coarse with lots of climbing, over 2000 feet of elevation gain. This took approx. 2 hours.

My third week started on June 2nd. This week consisted of five (6) training rides with our first long ride on the 5th day or 6th training ride. First day consisted of two rides, one in the morning and one in the evening. Ride 4 consisted of 4 hours on the Tevis trail and about 18 miles. He had two days off and then did a 7.5 hour 40 mile ride from Foresthill to Last Chance and back. Total for the week was 83 miles and 19 hours.

Forth weeks total was 60 miles about 11 hours. One long training ride on the Tevis trail from Robinson Flat to Foresthill with Jon and his horse Spider. We met at Foresthill where they have the Vet check. We then took one rig up to Robinson Flat which is about 40 miles. When we arrived there was lots of big patches of snow. It looked like we were the first riders through to Foresthill. The ride took about 6 ½ hours and is about 35 miles. This part of the Tevis trail is where all the major canyons are.

Week five consisted of two long rides and two shorter rides with a total of 74 miles and 13 hours. Monday consisted of another ride with Spider and Jon from the Tevis finish at the overlook in Auburn to Fransisco, which is the second to last vet check. Thursday was a 25 mile ride from Driver Flat, 3 miles from Fransisco, up the trail towards Foresthill and back for a total of 4.5 hours.

The sixth week were 5 training rides. One long ride of 27 miles in 4.75 hours. This long ride was from the overlook in Auburn, the finish line, to the river crossing plus another loop. Total for the week was 55 miles and 10 hours.

Seventh week was the week of June 30th. Twenty more days to go! This week we had 2 training rides one consisting of 5 miles and one of 40 miles. After the 40 mile ride, Foresthill to Last Chance, Bo came up lame after he kick himself on the left rear hock. 9.5 hours this week and 45 miles. After this ride Bo had 4 days off, until Monday of the next week.

At this point things were not looking too good, Bo was still had a swollen hock. I decided to boot the injury and start the seventh week. Bo was not lame so we continued slowly, this week, the week before the Tevis we only did 37 miles in 9 ½ hours.

Seventh week was my tapering week, but not exactly as I had planned.

Eighth week was a total of 3 rides one 6 miles on Sunday, one of 5 miles on Monday and 100 miles on Saturday and Sunday.

For the conclusion you need to read: My last Tevis Ride?

I know I mention most of the long rides over 10 miles or so. What you don’t see is one of our regular 1 hour rides includes riding down to the lake and back up the other side and then home again. This has approx. 900 feet of elevation gain on each side for approx. 1800 to 2000 feet of total gain. Bo would consistently do better then the day he did before.

Our goal was to get him back to a state where we could start a very carefully controlled conditioning program. Other than some 100 yard repeats he was never asked for an all out performance. We tried to take it a slice at a time, only doing a little more that we did day before.

Bo is not exactly my idea of an endurance horse. I never would of bought him except to get through one more Tevis year. He is about 15 hands, he is slab sided and rafter hipped, has small cannon bones and 00 feet, both front and rear. But if you read My last Tevis Ride?, you know that he finished Tevis dead last, my riding partners horse, Spider fell 800 feet off the trail at 11:30 at night on a portion of the trail known as Cal 2. Bo had the second fastest time from the Quarry to the finish line and finished right at the cut off time.
Bo Stegicc

Another Tevis?


Bo’s next ride for 2002 was the 2 day 100 Wild West Ride at Scotts Flat. As I was vetting him through and was walking back to my camper I head someone yell “Is that Bo?”. I stopped and went back to talk to a young lady who told me that she had ridden Bo for his previous owner. She asked me if I knew about the legend of the bloody hand and pointed to the reddish splotch on the right side of his face. She told me of the warrior who was felled in battle and that the mark on Bo’s face was his bloody handprint that he received when his trusted steed returned to his side. “The bloody hand of Allah”

I had looked up Bo’s endurance record when I first hauled him up from my neighbor’s pasture. I knew who the previous owner was and that he had been ridded in 3 fifty’s, with one of those being a top 10 along with one pull.
I had assumed that he had a relatively good base and at one point had been conditioned correctly. Just before the 2day 100 Wild West Ride I was informed that he had a very limited base and that on his pull he just laid down and would not get up. They did have a vet check him and could basically find noting wrong. This also happed on some training rides, and at that point they decided to get rid of him and sold him at auction to my neighbor for $800.00

As we started the ride I put Bo out front just for fun and to see who would come with me. About 4 riders followed my lead. I kept Bo in front for about 30 minutes and then slowed down a little. I was joined by a mother daughter team and Monsieur Joseph and his rider Michele Bloch. We rode along and talked some. The mother and daughter team had passed us a couple of times an then we would pass them. As it turned out we learned that the daughter, maybe 13years old was riding the 2 day 100 and that mother was riding just a 50. Of coarse we did not figure this out until the finish. So the finish for the 2 day 100, was Junior rider first, Bo Second and Monsieur Joseph 3rd.

Second day, again we were out front along with some 50 milers who were racing. We stayed together until just before the last vet check when I stopped at an out of the way water spot. The vet check was about 3 or 4 miles away. Michele and Joseph made their get away, heading fast for the vet check. Actually the water was not there so we headed after Joseph who had about a 5 minute lead on us. We ran into the vet check to see Michele and Joseph at the water trough trying to Joseph’s heart rate down. Bo and I went to the same water trough. Low and behold my 8 week wonder pulsed down first and we got about a 3 minute lead on Michele. It was about 8 miles to the finish. Bo and I headed out the towards the trail to the finish. I knew that Bo was tired and decided not to push. Soon Michele and Joseph were right there………………..later.


Bo was first on the 2 day 100 but did not get a completion due to a muscle cramp he got standing around before vetting. Who did Bo and I ride with on that 2 day 100? Monsuier Joseph, and Michele Bloch the 2nd place Tevis finisher for 2003. Monsuier Joseph had just come off several top ten’ s and a win at the Gold Country ride in Georgetown, Ca..

Michele and I became good friends and have done several training rides together. One of these rides was a ride on the Tevis trail to Georgetown, about 20 miles one way. We rode up and had lunch and then back. Michele is always asking me what Bo’s heart rate is, I always lied to him, usually making Bo’s heart rate lower than Joesph’s. We would do maybe a mile run and then he would start asking where Bo’s HR was. The only time I did not lie was when we reached the watering trough at the Ridecamp at Georgetown where Bo was actually a few beats below Josephs. We went on into town and had lunch and then started the 20 mile trek back to our rigs. We went pretty fast, the horses feeling good and loving the competition from each other. When we got back to the trucks, in less than 2 hours, Michele was asking for pulse rate’s as the horses recovered. Again Bo pulsed down first.


Saddle Options and Pricing


FreeForm Classic,SB and FreeWest
Designer Series

These saddles can be custom designed with a varity of materials. Real Italian Calfskin in Black, Brown, Newmarket, Black or Brown Nubuck, Black,Brown,Red,Navy,Green Suede
Standard pricing is $1250, for an extra $75.00 you can custom design your personal saddle with the leather and color combinations you desire.
FreeForm Options

Girthing-A - Forward/Arab Girthing Option $50.00
Girthing-F - Full Girthing Option (combination of standard and forward girthing) $75.00
TB - Rear thigh block $90.00
D-rings-9 - 4 front, 5 rear around seat $30.00
D-rings-11 - 6 front, 5 rear $30.00
D-rings-13 - 6 front, 5 rear around seat and 1 lower panels $40.00
SYM-red - Sympanova underlay - red $100.00
SYM-blu - Sympanova underlay - blue $100.00
LEA - Matching leather underlay $100.00

FF-AirnetG-red - Freeform Airnet Girth Red, sizes 18" - 30" $75.00
FF-AirnetG-blu - Freeform Airnet Girth Blue
FF-AirnetG-yel - Freeform Airnet Girth Yellow
FF-AirnetG-brn - Freeform Airnet Girth Brown
FF-Fenders - FreeWest Western Fenders for the Classic, SB . $100.00
FF-Lea - Std matching leathers for Classic or SB, conway buckle $80.00
FF-Tlea - "T" buckle leathers in black or brown, sizes 24",28" or 32" $80.00

First FreeForm

Hi Patsy, I've recently purchased two FreeForm saddles from Chris. The first was a direct result of my THIRD saddle (a custom made to fit my high withered horse) FAILURE! I have spent more than my mortgage for 4 months on saddles prior to buying this one. Here's my story - after traveling 6.5 hours to Twenty Mule team, doing a short 10 mile easy pre-ride and my horse (with his custom made saddle) a little bit 'touchy' in his back (and thus we didn't even start the ride), I was pissed. I talked to Michelle Rouch who was riding in a FreeForm and ended up buying my first one (1/3 the price of my custom made saddle). It works great for all our horses. They fit my high withered angular (skinny, hard keeper - 15.3 h, 900 lb boy), our "porker" who finished her first 50 at Diablo's Pistalero's this weekend (she's 1100 pounds, 15.1 h) as well as the short coupled one (14.2 h and about 800 lbs.). The thing about it is, it's not just a piece of leather sitting on the horses back. It's injected molded foam (very firm) that sits above the center of the horses back (not on it). I use an equipedic pad that DOES NOT MOVE under the saddle and my normal sheepskin on top for comfort and PERFECT sweat marks (completely dry center channel). I'll do Tevis in it this year. Only negative I can say is don't buy the girth (sorry Chris) because it's galled the two different horses I tried using it on. I use my Wintec shaped girth and everything is great. By the way, my 'break in' of the saddle was taking it on a 50 mile ride the first time I rode in it (didn't have any other choice if I wanted to do Cuyama). We finished all three days (155 miles). . . Just my 2 cents worth. Good Luck, Sandy

Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Treeless Saddles

I think any considerate rider would want both feel and flexibility from their saddle, particularly those who ride bareback.In our own experience, Endurance riders value the ability to feel their horse beneath them which gives them the opportunity to make the choices on ideal gaits, speeds or even to withdraw if they feel a problem coming on. There is no doubt that the ability to feel is far more pronounced in treeless saddles, irrespective of make or design, than it is in any treed saddle. The added beneift of the flexibility in a treeless saddle is also beneficial, when the endurance horse is working over many many miles, over different terrain, they need a saddle that will allow the full range of movement needed to deal with the aspects of this type of sport. Helen

Customer emails

I have put in several rides with my Freeform. Both Chris and Candacewere very helpful. I will put a lot more miles in before I say awhole lot, but like the saddle quite a bit so far. It is my firsttreeless, and I lurked around on this site and ridecamp for about 6months. I also asked a lot of questions, but you can really only findout so much without actually trying. I am an older, experienced riderand have ridden many different horse/saddle combos over the years. Itrail ride now with some LD's, and the hope of doing some distancerides on my current 6 yo Morab. I tried 5 different treed saddles onhim before the Freeform...old Passier dressage, Crosby eventing,Wintec 2000, Bighorn endurance, off brand close contact. * Mark seems to like the saddle ok. He is much more comfortable goingdown big hills(with crupper) and cantering. I think he is just gettingused to the idea that he isn't getting pinched anymore. He is thekind of horse that anticipates stuff if it has EVER happened to himbefore.*The saddle is pretty comfortable for me. I like the webber typeleathers ALOT. The saddle I tried had the conway buckles that dug intomy shin and were hard to adjust. I can ALMOST mount from the groundwithout letting a stirrup down a couple of notches. I'm 5'2" and inpretty good shape, but not as spry as I used to be. I can't rely on amounting block as I am out on the trail all the time. The leatherscan easily be adjusted from the saddle. I could also easily tightenthe girth from the saddle. YES!* Sweat patterns were excellent..no dry spots in bad places. I may doa little more shimming and tie the pad to the saddle (today'sadjustments). * I will probably be switching to a hackamore or some other form ofbitless as there are issues with bits as well. This horse is Mr.Sensative. I'd appreciate any advice on that although i know it is offtopic for this group. **the quality of the saddle is excellent. Very nice leather andworkmanship. Adjustability of stirrups is great. First saddle I'veever ridden in where I could get my legs where I wanted them! This isactually why I wanted the Freeform. I have seen Ansur saddles and Ithink the quality of Freeform is as good or better. Know this is toolong....sorry.

Freeform owner

I too have a Freeform that I ride dressage in. It is the only saddle that I have found to comfortable fit my Thoroughbred. She is the classic princess from "Princess & The Pea." In the first 1.5 years of ownership, we went through 5 different treed saddles. I even looked at the Ansur, but it wasn't the answer for us. ;) We were constantly stuck at lower training level tests because saddle discomfort made for horrid transitions. However, since purchasing a Freeform last fall, we have made tremendous progress. We were are now we're schooling first level in all gaits and higher than that at the walk (we worked on half-pass, haunches-in and shoulder-in in our last lesson). Its amazing how much you can progress in a matter of months when you have tack that comfortably fits your horse. :) Thank you Freeform!!Amy Brachthauser (& Jewel)

FreeForm Comments

Isn't it amazing how being able to customize the stirrup placement and seat position can make such a HUGE difference in your riding? I found that many treed saddles had stirrup bars that were just WAY too far forward for MY conformation. I was constantly tilting forward and fighting to keep my feet back beneath me. With the Freeform, I haven't had ANY of those issues. I'm finally aligned: shoulders, hips, heels. My dressage trainer is constantly commenting on how much my position has been helped by this saddle (not to mention that my horse is actually happy to do the work). Amy

Customer emails

I like the FreeForm saddle. The molded foam gives the saddle shape and flexibility and has fit every horse I've put it on. My dressage horse is a funny build...uphill, short backed, and dip behind the wither. All saddles I've had on him to date, bridge to some extent. The Freeform settles into his conformation. I'm thinking that with more use and with warmer weather the Freeform will be like a second skin to him. The way the Freeform is made also distributes the rider's weight over the surface area it covers. I can see that in the sweat/dust pattern. The haf pad really keeps it off the spine and wither. I'm not sure what keeps it so stable but it is incredibly stable. It doesn't roll. My treed saddles roll! I would love another one of those neoprene girths in the larger size 28"? That is the stretchiest girth I've ever used and my horses LOVE it.

I still owe you photos. I've been waiting until the horses are a little cleaner.

Charleen

Clinicians thoughts on FreeForm

Grr! I just had a long informational post written about my recent dressage clinic ride and what the clinician thought of the FreeForm. And then the power went out in the building. Grr.Anyhow, I rode last weekend in a 3-day clinic with Eric Horgan, a USEA instructor and member of the Irish Olympic 3-Day Eventing team. Aside from being an eventer, he also studied classical dressage in Germany and has a wonderful eye for correct dressage. We rode in semi-private lessons last Fri, Sat & Sun. More info on Eric: http://www.erichorgan.com/For the sake of saving some time, I'll be very brief.He thought the saddle was a good thing for the horse. However, on Friday & Saturday's lessons, he commented that he thought it was tipping me a bit forward and causing me to loose my balance. Before the lesson on Sunday, I adjusted the stirrup placement about 1/2 an inch forward of where it had been. On Sunday's ride, I didn't tell him that I had adjusted the stirrups, but he commented on his own that we were in much better balance. It was evident in my horse too, who finally was able to come over her back and really carry herself. It was very cool.Essentially, with the re-adjusted stirrup placement, the Freeform got the thumbs up. :)Amy

FreeForm Comments

I've had a FreeForm Classic for about 6 weeks. Due to weather, changing girths, and being out of town for awhile I've only donelonger rides the last few weeks. The saddle is as good as I hoped itwould be.My difficult to fit Morab has a much better attitude. He is movingout well, and going down steep hills in a calm balanced way for thefirst time. It's finally warm here (KY) so Mark has been sweating alot...the sweat patterns are perfectly symetical with a nice dry spinearea.For the first time in years my knees don't ache (as much) and no backproblems. This might be partly due to the nice wide easy ride stirrups. It is really great to be able to adjust the stirrup position. Also thesaddle is very stable laterally..I'm short and can mount with noproblem. I do use a breastplate and crupper. I just got a new Morganand will probably start riding him later in the summer...I'll beinterested to see how the saddle does on him as he is built verydifferently. I think the FreeForm is a really well designed saddle with qualitymaterials and workmanship. I haven't ridden in any other treelesssaddles to compare it to, but if you are looking for a treeless with atraditional look and feel, it is definitely worth trying out. I've learned a great deal from this forum...thanks everyone!! Annie

FreeForm Comments

I've had a FreeForm Classic for about 6 weeks. Due to weather, changing girths, and being out of town for awhile I've only donelonger rides the last few weeks. The saddle is as good as I hoped itwould be.My difficult to fit Morab has a much better attitude. He is movingout well, and going down steep hills in a calm balanced way for thefirst time. It's finally warm here (KY) so Mark has been sweating alot...the sweat patterns are perfectly symetical with a nice dry spinearea.For the first time in years my knees don't ache (as much) and no backproblems. This might be partly due to the nice wide easy ride stirrups. It is really great to be able to adjust the stirrup position. Also thesaddle is very stable laterally..I'm short and can mount with noproblem. I do use a breastplate and crupper. I just got a new Morganand will probably start riding him later in the summer...I'll beinterested to see how the saddle does on him as he is built verydifferently. I think the FreeForm is a really well designed saddle with qualitymaterials and workmanship. I haven't ridden in any other treelesssaddles to compare it to, but if you are looking for a treeless with atraditional look and feel, it is definitely worth trying out. I've learned a great deal from this forum...thanks everyone!! Annie

Customer emails

Chris,My saddle was delivered on Tuesday and I tried it right out. My horse loves it. I put your inserts into the HAF pad and got great gullet clearance. I will ride with them as is for a little while and then see if I can take some filling out. I realized he liked the saddle fit when he quit fussing at me as I was adjusting the girth and stirrups. If he's not comfortable, he snakes he head at me andshows his teeth. Once he felt how comfortable that saddle and pad is, he stood as still as a stone and let me suit him up. Then we had a nice little ride.Yeah!!!I'll let you know more when we get out for some longer rides. Great job on the invention of the inserts. I really like how the HAF pad seems like it will disperse heat and moisture. I admire how you have worked on these inventions to pull this system all together for the benefit of the horses. Keep up the good work.

Laura Pyke