I’ve competed multiple horses at the FEI levels of dressage, including Grand Prix. After 24 years of law practice, I decided in 2011 to embark on a new venture in the saddle industry. I was trained to fit and re-flock traditional-materials saddles (wool panels and laminated beechwood trees) and spent years honing my skills, all the while realizing that so many of our modern sport horses change fre
quently and drastically depending on factors such as training, exercise, health, nutrition and season/weather. The pursuit of the perfect fitting saddle was, I admit, a constant frustration. When it came to fitting my own personal horses, I jumped from brand to brand trying to find the right tree shape that would encourage movement of the shoulders and back. Especially for my Oldenburg mare, Shantal Rox, the saddle became the most vexing issue. I competed her fairly successfully through Intermediare 1, but progress toward the Grand Prix was stunted by her and my general discomfort with any saddle. I needed support for my seat to stay with her big gaits, but she required something very minimal for her small, narrow frame. I was plugging along with no real options until one day when I was riding in a clinic with a well-known Olympian. He told me—very bluntly—that, without a saddle that supported my seat, I would never be able to do the Grand Prix on the mare. I wasn’t willing to just give up, so I realized at that moment that I needed to start to think about saddles in a different way. I needed to shift my paradigm and open my mind to new ideas. Trying new and different things in saddles, for me, was a huge departure as my training and history had always involved traditional materials. As I searched for what innovations were out there, I found the website for Dynamic Saddles. The claims were hard to believe—one saddle that would fit virtually every horse? It sounded too good to be true. I contacted Dynamic and a few days later I had one of the saddles in my hands. I had to breathe deeply just putting a non-traditional saddle on my mare. It seemed like such a compromise. But the first ride in the Dynamic was the best ride I had ever had on her. Her back was swinging, she was breathing, and her shoulders were free. The Grand Prix was suddenly within our reach. During the weeks that followed, I put the Dynamic on my small tour gelding—Vavite Fortuna—who had suffered a broken rib about 18 months prior. He also loved the Dynamic; the very same saddle I rode the mare in. I continued to put the saddle on client horses , certain that I would soon find the one it didn’t fit. Now, so many years later, I still haven’t. I have represented Dynamic Saddles exclusively since 2017. I haven’t found a traditional-materials saddle that fits as well, regardless of the skill or experience of the fitter. My wonderful young horse, a DHH named Harley—also loves the Dynamic and is excelling in his training. And my newest acquisition, the amazing Hanoverian GP gelding, Rasputin SRF, who I acquired September 2021, also has taken to the Dynamic!
