Thank you to Sarah Donnelly for sharing Craig’s story:

Craig came from a hunting yard in Gloucestershire. She had been a hireling and only ever hunted. The comment from my vet before I bought her was, "You will never get a saddle to fit this horse, she was built to pull a cart!"

I had originally test ridden a SMART saddle at the same time as a friend who later went on to become an Approved Advisor. She sensibly bought a SMART saddle following her test ride but I decided I couldn't justify spending so much on my fat cob. It took four brand new saddles, including one made to measure and every sticky pad and expensive numnah I could buy to discover I was still hanging off and rolling around on top of poor Craig. To make matters worse, I also now had a stuffy, lame horse. I realised that she was sound if I rode her bareback - so that told me everything!

I spoke to my friend, who promptly came over and fitted her SMART saddle to Craig. 

With a few simple pads fitted, I had a sound horse and a stable saddle. I ordered my own SMART saddle straight away and it's the best money I have spent!

After our first five dressage tests we have three firsts, a second and a third! We are now looking forward to affiliating!

Solution of the Month January 2015 - Stud Owner Has Impressive Results When Using Her SMART VSD Saddle.

The eye-catching Islestone Spider at her 1^st dressage competition in her SMART VSD saddle.

Owner of Islestone Stud, Jessie Johnston, has been using the saddle on a mix of her homebred horses with positive results.

 ‘’After lending my SMART saddle to a friend and returning to riding in a tree’d saddle for a short while, the improvement when putting the SMART saddle back on Spider was immediate. Both my Mum and a friend were watching at the time, remarking at how much better Spider was going before I told them that the SMART saddle had been put back on for the first time in a little while. They were all impressed!’’