For as long as I can remember, I have had horses in my life. 

I came from a non horsey background, and was sent horse riding at the age of three.  Since then horses have been an important part of my life.

Through my childhood I was lucky enough to have my own pony, and on leaving school I attended Otley College in Suffolk, where my education really started and I trained towards getting my teaching exams.  After leaving Otley I worked for many years for various employers in different disciplines, and found that it was dressage where my heart lay.  The more I learned the more interested I became in the welfare of the horse. 

My involvement in treeless saddles came about as a bit of a whirlwind handful of changes I made to my life and the life of my horses.

In the first two years of owning Perry I had been through 9 saddles, ranging from off the peg to made to measure, but even if they fitted at the time, a few months down the line I was back to square one with the saddle not fitting and Perry putting a brave face on the discomfort he was feeling.

So then started the long slog around the internet to find a solution. I found various treeless saddles, but was confused as to which one was the best for us.  That left only one option, I had to try them all and let Perry decide which saddle was for him.  After trying nearly every treeless saddle, The Solution websit came up in the search engine.  The saddle looked good, so I contacted Anne Bondi to arrange a test ride.  The day came for the trial, then the big test came, the dreaded canter, that we had struggled with for months, and blow me down, WE'D CRACKED IT.  It was the best feeling, finally after so many months I had found a saddle that my horse loved, I felt great.  That day had changed me forever, finally I had found this amazing saddle that my horse for the rest of his life would enjoy a pain free and comfortable way of being ridden by his short and dumpy owner.

Owning  the saddle not only gave my horse a pain free experience, teaching him lateral work has been a lot easier, I have his back checked every six months not because there is a problem, but because I love to hear my back lady give him a clean bill of health everytime she comes out.  Perry's way of going has been fantastic, he is not restricted through his back or shoulders anymore, and feels and looks more relaxed, with bigger freer paces. 

I feel that the saddle has given me a much better understanding of how Perry is feeing on a day to day basis, it has made me ride a lot straighter, and question my own riding when something is not going as well, I have also found with the MS I have very little feeling in my left side, so the close contact that the saddle gives you to the horse has helped me feel more on that side.  It also helps with my joints, with a treed saddle the movement is forward/back and side to side, but with The Solution I have found that I move more freely with the horses own movement, and I feel a lot more supple because of it.

I now strive to give other horses an owners that same life changing EUREKA moment