Increased Stimulation of The Back Muscles

Now our distributor for Australia Lucinda McAlpine, International Dressage Rider works with an ever increasing number of riders from all disciplines. Lucinda searched for years to find a saddle that would enable her advanced dressage horses to execute the difficult movements she asked of them. Having found RP saddles over 20 years ago she prefers not to ride in anything else.

She says, “I work a great deal with young horses or horses undergoing rehabilitation and I consider my ReactorPanel Saddles as invaluable tools – whereas a conventional saddle is just a saddle, this is an advanced riding device!”

Lucinda usually starts a session with a remedial or severely muscle wasted horse in rehabilitation by loose schooling in her saddles. She also uses the saddle on non remedial horses to help them loosen up before training and young horses to get them used to movement on their backs .

The movement of the panels on the horses back without the rider acts like a massage and has been shown to increase stimulation  to the area which in turn can increase blood flow. this was something we experienced during thermal imaging trials.

During a research session with Livvy Adams and her Equiscan equipment we tested a well fitting traditional saddle against a ReactorPanel on our retired Grand Prix Dressage mare who has very big movement . With the same rider, same gaits and same length of time the difference showed not only an enhanced stability on a slightly asymetric horse but the thermal imaging showed vastly increase in bloodflow from ears to tail along the horses topline. This coupled with the largest weight bearing surface of any English saddle which allows the weight to be spread across the horses back spreading the riders weight over a larger area and eliminating pressure points when correctly fitted allows the horse to work in a correct and more dynamic way.