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Contact Saddlery is a danish webshop. On this page you will find information in english on the treeless Contact® saddles and other Contact® products. The rest of the website is in Danish. For all orders outside Denmark, you will see the shipping price when you check out, after writing the delivery address. All prices on the shop are incl. danish sales tax. Orders outside EU will not be paying danish sales tax. Please feel free to contact us by phone or email, if you have any questions. Tel. +45 40964707, contact@info.dk
Contact Saddlery has developed the 100% flexible dressage og jumping saddle to ensure an easy and perfect fit at all times, combined with the perfect support for the rider. Veterinarians, chiropractors, and massage therapists, treats many horses with injuries caused by poorly fitted saddles. That is why we have developed the flexible Contact® saddels. The Contact® saddles fits your horse when it is in top shape, and after a long summer holiday with lots of fresh grass. With the All in one correction pad, it is possible to make the few adjustments needed to make the saddles fit any horse. It also makes it possible to use the same Contact® saddle on more than one horse.
Because the saddle is flexible, there are no risks of pressure points, and the horse can move freely. The Contact® saddel helps you to the perfect seat, and gives a close contact to your horse. The Contact® saddel has more schockabsorbing material build in to the saddle than any other treeless saddle on the marked. The English design allows for use in competitions. The Contact® saddles are produced in the EU, and comes in sizes 16”, 17” and 18” in the colours black and brown. Danish design in quality leather.
Do you wish to be our new distributor? – Please contact us. mail@contact-saddle.com
There are many advantages;
- No expensive fittings of the saddle needed. - The same saddle can be used on many horses. - The horse can move freely through the entire back. - Full freedom of the shoulder. - No pressure points. - Better development of muscles under the saddle. - Close contact between horse and rider. - Improvement of the gaits
When you start using your new Contact® Saddle take pictures of the back of your horse from several angles. Do the same after 3 months and again after 6 month. Then compare the pictures. The difference in the muscle volume can be amazing. Some horses improve the gaits immidiatly, when you change to a Contact® Saddle. Others improve over the first few weeks.
Correction of the saddle, to make it fit the horse.
It is easy to fit the Contact saddles to any horse. A correction pad with pockets in each side is used to ensure that the saddle rests on as large a surface as posible. If there is space between the sides of the saddel and the horse, incisions are added until the entire saddle is resting on the horse. The horse can change shape in a very short time, so it is important to check freequently that the All in one correction pad is ajusted correctly. The saddle can be lifted at the front with half size incisions to ensure the comfort of the rider.
Why a flexible saddle / treeless saddle?
As an equine massage therapist, I have for years seen and treated many horses, with injuries caused by the saddles. Pressure points, unsymmetrical muscle development, over- and underdevelopment of the muscles, and general signs of incorrect movement. I found that the main problems were caused by three things. 1) The stiffness of the saddle that limits the range of movements by the horse. 2) The stiffness of the saddletree that causes pressure points when the horse moves under the ridged tree. 3) The front tree causes pressure to the area behind the shoulder blades, where muscles providing movement to both the forehand and the hind quarters are passing.
The idea that the ridged tree distributes the riders weight over a large area, works well in theory, but not so well in praxis. Explanation: Place a wooden board, flat on the floor and step up on it. Now you have distributed your weight out on the entire surface of the board. Now step down and place a small pebble under the board, and step back up. Now you have transported your weight into small points covering less area than the area of your feet. Conclusion: The wooden board distributes the weight when it touches the floor on the entire surface, and creates pressure points when the surface is uneven. Now back to the saddles. - As soon as the horse is moving, the back moves too and changes shape, if the saddle does not change shape with it, pressure points will be created. Another solution can be to tie the saddle so tight to the horses back that it stops the horse from moving and changing shape in the area under the saddle. Then the saddle will rest on the entire surface and the rider’s weight will be well distributed. However it will cause new problems for the horse. When the movement is restricted in one area of the back, the rest of the back will try to compensate by moving more. That is why so many horses have underdeveloped muscles in the saddle area and overdeveloped muscles in the area behind the saddle. Interference with the range of movement of the back is also the cause of many injuries in the lower limbs such as strained tendons, ligaments and joints.
Contact® saddles are not only used on healthy well functional horses, many horses with behavior problems, changes to be more calm and willing to work, under the Contact® saddles. The Contact® saddles are used with great success on horses with back problems such as kissing spines. And horses with serious saddle injuries find the Contact® saddles very comfortable, and can be saddled much sooner than with a traditional saddle. Young horses react less violently to the saddle, when the flexible Contact® saddle is used on the young horse, the first time under saddle.
How the treeless Contact® saddles was made
I was only thinking about finding a solution to these problems for years. But it was not until I got my now 19 years old dressage horse, that I took the first step to create a saddle that was more comfortable for the horse. He was so uncomfortable with any saddle I tried on him, that he would try to escape the minute I brought out the saddle, and he would buck violently when I placed the saddle on his back. He moved with small steps and a stiff back, once the girth was tied.
Since I could not find any saddle, he was comfortable with, I started to design one myself. I contacted a saddler and asked her to make a prototype, from my own design. The saddle maker was quit skeptical of my design, but she agreed to give it a try. While she was working on the leather parts, I searched and found the highly chock absorbing material we are now using under the Contact® saddles. Very soon we had a saddle that worked well. My own horse was the first to test it, and now he reacted completely different to the saddle. And many other horses tried it with great success. But the saddle was not yet perfect. It needed to provide the rider with better support, and we had not yet found the right way to build the seat and get a nice finish. After quit a few prototypes, 3 different saddle makers, a lot of changes, and many hours of testing on different horses, with different riders, we had reached our goal, and we were ready to start production of the first Contact® saddles.
The first Contact® saddles were ready in 2005 and many horses and riders has experinced the advantages and comfort of the Contact® saddles since then. The latest model Contact® Supreme has been a big succes. It has a deep seat and the knee support helps placing the rider in a perfect position for dressage.
The Contact® girth
For some horses the girth can cause great discomfort, because it restricts the movement of the elbows, slides forward while riding or simply aplies big pressure on a small area. To solve this problems the Contact® dressage girth has been developed to ensure a comfortable fit, distribution of the pressure on the chest and freedom to move the elbows. Even horses with no obious problem with the girth seems to find this girth more comfortable, and moves more freely. As well as horses with round bellies and narrow elbows.
FAQ If you do not find the answer to your question below, please e-mail your question to us mail@contact-saddle.com or call +45 40 96 47 07
Can I mount my horse by the stirrup in a Contact Primary? Yes. But like with any other saddle the girth must be tightened, and the saddlecloth, must be of a good quality. However we do recommend mounting your horse from a mounting block, to spare the horse as well as the saddle from the one sided pull it is to mount from the ground.
Can I use the Contact saddles in competitions? Yes you can.
Do I need a special girth for the Contact Saddles? No – A regular dressage girth works just fine.
There are no panels to create space for the spine in the Contact saddles, do I risk pressure points to the spine? No - When the saddle rests on the entire surface, there is no risk of pressure points, because the saddles are so flexible. Space between the panels is only necessary when the saddle contains inflexible elements like a saddle tree. The flexibility of the Contact saddles eliminates the risk of pressure points. And the saddles have a patented, highly shock absorbing material under the entire saddle, to ensure the comfort of the horse. If a horses back is not well muscled, the All in one correction pad is nessesary, to ensure that the saddle rests on the entire surface. With the “All in one correction pad” you can easily make all adjustments necessary with only one pad.
I use my Contact Primary on both my horses. On one horse the left stirrup feels longer than the right stirrup. Do I shorten the left stirrup so they feel even - or what shall I do? First you should check if the stirrups, also feels uneven, when your horse stands equally on all 4 legs. Make sure the front legs are exactly on the same line and the hind legs too. And make sure that it carries the weight evenly on all 4 legs. - If the left stirrup still feels too long, it can be a sign that the horse needs help from a good chiropractor. - If the stirrups feels straight, when the horse stands equally on all 4 legs, Your problem is caused by an asymmetrical movement. Try asking the horse to move its left hind leg forward, by activating your left leg, every time the left stirrup feels longer. And in the same time make sure that the shoulders are in place. It is also a good idea to make sure that the rider is not placing weight too much to one side. To get your horse in perfect balance, it is necessary to be able to feel when the horse is straight or not straight. With the Contact Saddles you get the advantage of close contact to the horse. And you know exactly which leg is carrying the weight and when. If a horse moves asymmetrically, it increases the risk of straining muscles and tendons. By correcting an asymmetrical pattern of movement, you increase the chances of avoiding strains and keeping your horse healthy. We do not recommend to correct the problem by shortening one stirrup, but to correct it by training the horse to move symmetrical.
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