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Mara's Story by Leslie Nixon
I bought Mara when she was three years old. At that point in my life I had owned and ridden horses for seventeen years. In my mind, I though that I had acquired enough knowledge to develop a relationship with a Lipizzan. Little did I know that she would take me on a journey that continues to this day. She literally opened my eyes to many more equine intricacies than I possibly could have imagined. On a large scale, my biggest revelation was and continues to be with regard to their movement. How horses move determines how they act, how they respond, how they play, and who they are.
After my purchase, Mara stayed in training at the breeder's stable for one year. During that time I would travel there to take a lesson on her from that trainer. If you would ask me now about riding any horse before it was four years old I would strongly advise against it. That became very clear to me with our second Lipizzan. We raised her from the time that she was six months old. A very definite change occurred in her from year three to year four. Once she was four years old you could suddenly see her body movements become more purposeful and deliberate. Her gaits became more refined. She was no longer the gangly, awkward seemingly uncoordinated filly, running around at great hazard to herself as well as anybody or anything around her. She had more control of her body. It was almost an overnight change that seemed to happen right on her fourth birthday.
I liked Mara's trainer. He was a nice man, kind, gentle and patient with the horses. As I reflect back to that time, the one fault that I see was the trainer's saddle. He had one saddle for all the horses that he was training. That might have been okay except that I recall thinking how tiny the saddle was compared to mine. His saddle definitely gave me better contact with Mara than my own saddle. That contact led me to believe that his saddle really "fit" her. Keep in mind that Mara was very wide even as a youngster.
Shortly before I was to have Mara come home to me, the breeder called total me that she was lame. It seemed a mysterious lameness that the local vet could not isolate. The trainer felt that it was in the shoulder. After many inconclusive nerve blocks I sent her to the vet clinic at Oregon State University where she had a radiology test performed called Scintigraphy (sp). The test would determine if there was any hard tissue damage in her skeletal frame. It came back with no abnormalities.
I brought Mara home and took her to my own vet. He could find no conclusive problem. It was suggested that riding her would cause the problem to either go away or develop into something that could be diagnosed and treated. I began riding her with my saddle, the one that I loved, and the one that fit me perfectly. I was very comfortable in it. At that stage in our journey it was still "all about me". Mara was grouchy when I rode her. Her gaits were "off". She would go along and then take a sharp turn to the left or right. She would stop, plant her feet and not move. She would not relax into the nice round frame that I knew she was capable of doing. It was a struggle to get her to move off her hind quarters. She would frequently start to gimp along until I stopped. The light in her eyes began to flicker and eventually went out.
Thus began a long line of chiropractic therapy, acupuncture, cranial sacral massage, equine massage as well as supplements for joints and anything else that might help her movement.
My local trainer suggested a custom saddle. She worked with a saddler in England who would be able to make the perfect saddle for Mara. It sounded wonderful. She talked of a larger tree and it made a lot of sense. She spoke of how a 2x size was just not big enough for most horses these days and that larger trees in the form of 2xx and even a2xxx were available and that was exactly what Mara needed. I was excited about finding a solution to the problem. We measured Mara and took photos of her and sent them to England. It was a classic "static” fitting session. I patiently awaited my new "custom" saddle.
When the saddle came I was thrilled, but it was short lived. There was no difference in Mara's behaviour. I started to blame Mara for all the problems. One day I happened to notice the sizing mark on the saddletree. It was a 2x, not the 2xxx that I thought it was. There were lots of apologies and yet another saddle was ordered. This time when it arrived I noticed that it said 2xx but the second x appeared to be scratched onto the frame. As it turned out, I was told that 2x was the largest tree that any manufacturer made. No where in the world could one find a bigger tree than that. "How could that be?", I asked, "if there are so many horses that have wide backs and require wider saddles". The answer was sad: "Well, that is just the way it is, but we can widen this tree and make it a perfect fit for your horse". Since I didn't have any better information, I agreed. Subsequently, I was slow to admit it, but Mara’s movement did not improve. In retrospect, it had probably gotten worse. I reluctantly gave up on the "saddle fit" angle and seemed to have reached a dead end. A while later a visiting vet said that the calluses on Mara's back were from her saddle. How could that be??? It was a "custom" saddle. I finally began to come face to face with the ugly truth. The saddle did not fit Mara and she was paying a terrible price for it.
About this time that I started paying attention to Pat Parelli's Natural Horsemanship program. It provided a welcome break from my unsuccessful quest in dressage. The ground training that the program initially focused on allowed me to develop some new insights and gave both of us some definitive success without having to climb on her back. A little bit of light began to come back into her eyes. I began to ride Mara bareback and it seemed as if we both started to have a good time. Even at that, Mara was far from perfect. It hadn't yet occurred to me that Mara might have some physical problems that could be fixed.
In a round about way the Parelli program led me to the BALANCE saddle. Little did I know what a wonderful learning experience this would come to be. Having recaptured some of my original enthusiasm and while getting smarter every minute, I decided to try the "custom saddle" route one more time. Most of my motivation stemmed from the fact that I had heard of someone that had just received their 8x saddle from the BALANCE company 8x?????? Could it really be true??? This was just a few short years after I had been told that there were no saddle trees larger than a 2x manufactured in the world. Where in the world did this 8X come from?
Upon receipt of the order forms from BALANCE I began to fill them out. A video of the horse was requested. Since I did not have a video camera I tried to avoid this part of the ordering process. It took awhile but after many questions and very patient answers it finally sunk in that this was one of the most important aspects of the fit process and was crucial to determining the specific needs of each individual horse. A “dynamic" fitting process - WHAT A CONCEPT! - I borrowed a video camera, and for the first time in my and Mara's life, got serious about proper saddle fitting..
The first thing that Carol and Lesley noticed about Mara was the sadness in her eyes. I had become accustomed to it. They noticed that she carried her head off to the right side at the trot in either direction they noticed that she could not stay in canter for a full circle because she was not in a balanced frame. HMMMMMM They noticed that she was just plain stiff all over.....where to begin.
We began at the beginning. First, no riding. We started working through the BALANCE Remedial Programme. This, initially consisted of using the lunge line to encourage slow, regular tempo walks, being there for Mara when she would lose her way, gently helping her to recapture her natural balance and confidence. Amazingly, it didn't take long for Mara to respond to the remedial work.
Then we sent BALANCE another video to show our progress and get feedback and support. Wow! What an amazing training tool; the video camera. We then introduced a little riding and some more remedial ‘exercise’s. I finally, had some wonderful riding experiences. We were finally on track and making terrific progress. During our rides both of us, (horse and rider ) were clearly having an enjoyable time. That had been an important goal.
As we moved along I was able to participate in one of Carol and Lesley’s ‘Straight Forward Riding’ dismounted riding clinics. I re-live the lessons of that clinic every time I ride. My knowledge of equine bio mechanics continues to improve as does my understanding of the working relationship between the horse and rider. Much of it seems so amazingly simple and obvious now. If only I had known of the BALANCE system when our lameness journey began.
I now have empathy for the trainer who recognized that today's horses are bigger and broader than their ancestors. Unfortunately that person had neither the experience nor the knowledge necessary to solve the problem. The collective wisdom of the BALANCE team is profound. It makes me appreciate how hard Carol and Lesley have had to work. Their studies have provided and continue to provide a factual basis for the simple case that most horses usually need a wider saddle than whatever they are under. This is especially true if there seems to be any behavioural or mechanical problem with the horse. It cannot be an easy job to affect change in a very staid and traditional industry such as saddle making.
We are so fortunate to have had our minds broadened by the BALANCE experience. Our second Lipizzan has had a wonderful young life. We have been training her from the ground ever since we got her at six months of age. Her body changed many times before we actually made the decision to measure her for her own saddle. It was very difficult to not ride her early. She was a very big two year old. People would just shake their heads when we said we were not riding her yet. We are confident that with the BALANCE system we have made the right decision for the horse. We will always be able to adjust the fit as necessary with the variety of saddle pads that are a part of the system. That has already proven itself to be true with Mara. As her shape changes for the better we adjust the combination of padding to make sure that the saddle fits her perfectly.
I recently heard from a friend of mine that a very popular saddler company seems to have a very different theory on equine athletic development. When she asked the sales rep why their saddles were on such small trees his response was this: "the more work you do with your horse the smaller your saddle tree should be because the horse loses all that “fat" at the withers". No wonder there are so many horses who can't move forward and who look so skinny at the withers. The muscles have atrophied because the shoulder has been pinched in by a small narrow saddle. How very sad.
This brings me back to the women who are behind the development of the BALANCE Saddling System. I applaud them for all their hard work. All the research they did, all the diligence they were required to have in order to meet the industry head on and demand change. It speaks of their true love for the horse.....any horse. For the horse is the one who benefits the most from their careful research and proactive response to their findings.
It's a wonderful thing, this BALANCE Saddle System. It changes the lives of horses and their owners for the better. And it just gets better and better. Yes, it is truly a wonderful thing.
Leslie Nixon
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