>>Wanda<"I believe it's impotant to have a breast collar for atability in treeless<<<
Being a dealer for Sensation & a saddle fit consultant for many years, I hear a lot of horrendous stories from around the country happening with all different breeds of horses. Maybe this is what colors me to be particularly cautious in my recommendations to others as well as how I choose to handle my horses. Many of the "accidents" I hear of could have been easily prevented by using safety stirrups, of course a helmut & a well fitting english hunt style breast plate in either treed or treeless. Even though my guys have been with me for almost 14 years & are quite calm family horses, things can go awry & if that does happen, I prefer that the lateral slip of the saddle is limited by a breast plate..and that my foot will come out of the stirrups if I do fall ..and my skull is protected. Even if 99% of the time your horse behaves in s safe manner, for the sake of that 1% I believe it's worth using a breast plate, safety stirrups, & most importantly a helmut any time you get on your horse. It certainly itsn't going to hurt either horse or rider. Just last week a woman called me for a Sensation demo (for her other horse) whose normally calm horse had gotten a foot caught in the stirrup of a saddle that had completely gone under when she came off in a spook around her yard. She was just bruised, but the horse has a very long layup ahead due to back/neck trauma from being flipped forward. This was with a treeless saddle with closed stirrup hangers & metal safety stirrups. Kaaren
