Whit Watkins Dressage

10/10/2024

And slightly forward, near girth, helps create the bend 😊👍❤️

10/09/2024

Judges notes.... 👍😊❤️

10/05/2024

❤️👍😊❤️

10/04/2024

😳👍❤️😊

09/27/2024

👍😊❤️

Spectacular posture, not much help from the saddle in this 70 plus year old photo of Marjorie Haynes, an Olympic dressage rider from 1952.

I so well remember those saddles, because it was just 70 years ago that I first rode in an English saddle, flat as a board, slick, poorly made, zero padding, We used to joke that it was like strapping a block of ice on a horse’s back to sit on.

And yet we see something beautiful like this, proving that despite poor tack it is possible to ride like a Centaur.

The so called jumping saddles weren’t any better, also slick, slippery and flat. And as for having anything even approaching stretch materials for breeches or jackets, no such luck. Big flare jodhpurs, heavy wool riding coats, even in summer.

As much as we might look at the past through rose colored glasses, I doubt many of us would crave a return to the tack and riding clothes of “yesteryear.”

But one other thing that I remember was that even as little kids we were taught how to ride in double bridles such that we didn’t over-use the curb rein. Clyde Taylor at the Smith College riding stables taught me that in 1954, and drummed into me that when you rode with that much available leverage you had to be super careful.

But those terrible saddles!

09/26/2024

👍😊

Double bridles create less rein and nasal pressure on top horses than snaffles, according to research presented in a session on biomechanics at the British Equine Veterinary Association Congress (12–14 September).

Read more via link below

09/26/2024

😊👍🤔

**𝗡𝗘𝗪 𝗥𝗘𝗦𝗘𝗔𝗥𝗖𝗛 𝗣𝗨𝗕𝗟𝗜𝗦𝗛𝗘𝗗 𝗜𝗡 𝗘𝗤𝗨𝗜𝗡𝗘 𝗩𝗘𝗧𝗘𝗥𝗜𝗡𝗔𝗥𝗬 𝗝𝗢𝗨𝗥𝗡𝗔𝗟**

𝗡𝗼𝘀𝗲𝗯𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝘆𝗽𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗹𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹 𝗮𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗵𝗼𝗿𝘀𝗲’𝘀 𝗳𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗿𝗼𝘁

MacKechnie-Guire, R*, Williams, J.M., Nixon, J., Fisher, M., Fisher, D., Walker, V., Murray, R., Clayton, H.M

𝗢𝗽𝗲𝗻 𝗔𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 (read without a subscription):
https://beva.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/evj.14420

For the past four years, we have investigated the pressures beneath different nosebands when adjusted from 2.0 to 0.0 finger tightness (0.0 finger adjustment so that the noseband was touching but not compressing the skin).

Poor noseband adjustment could create high pressures that may risk pain or tissue damage. This study is a step forward in providing quantitative data relating to pressures associated with noseband type and fit when adjusted to various tightness’s.

𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝗛𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀:

🐴No significant difference between noseband pressures when the noseband was adjusted from 2.0 to 1.5 finger tightness.

🐴Noseband pressures were highest on the mandible vs. the lateral aspect of the nasal bones.

🐴No differences were found in noseband pressures between the cavesson, flash or Swedish (crank) noseband types at 2.0 to 0.5 finger tightness.

🐴The Drop noseband had the lowest absolute nasal pressures (mandible pressures not measured) and significantly lower values than the other nosebands. We need to be mindful of the position of the traditional drop. More work needed.

🐴Noseband pressures were lower when ridden in trot, compared with when chewing a treat.

🐴Noseband pressures were cyclical (rise and fall) and not continuous – changing during the stride and the chewing cycle of the horse.

As always, this is a team effort. Thank you to our research assistants, riders, owners and horses.. Thank you to our funders, World Horse Welfare, British Equestrian, Canadian Sport Horse Association, The Worshipful Company of Saddlers and Hartpury University.

NB image taken from pilot testing and was not included in the main study. All noseband types are described in detail in the manuscript.

09/24/2024

❤️😊👍