` 2-13-04
My boyfriend started taking a look at the Boz saddle long before he ever purchased one but he never had enough money or a great enough need for one until his horse flipped over and broke the tree in his saddle. My boyfriend talked with Boz on the phone several times and he was sold on the saddle. He told me he was going to buy one and he was getting me one too whether I wanted one or not because he knew as soon as he got his I would want one too. My first impression of the saddle was that it did not have a deep enough seat, that the cantle wasn’t high enough and what do you mean he can’t make it in a size 14?
We received the riding by reasoning tapes and book and suddenly everything made sense – I never even had to speak with Boz personally. When I got my saddle the most obvious difference in it compared to EVERY OTHER SADDLE EVER MADE is that when you stand up in the stirrups, your legs do not swing back and this is the number one difference I show people when I compare my saddle to theirs. If you think the stirrups on your saddle do not swing back either when you stand up then you are in denial. Another thing to try is loping you horse around and don’t use your stirrups. Then when you are done, see where your feet and legs are and usually they are in front of and higher than where your stirrups are hung in your saddle. This just means you need to raise your stirrups but you will never get your stirrups to hang forward like they do in the Boz saddle because in the Boz saddle the stirrups are hung from the pommel. I have the sports agility saddle with the performance seat on mine which means it is built up in back so it pushes me forward – where I should be on my horse. The stirrup leathers allow for maximum leg contact without all that bulk under my leg too. At first I thought I would need a longer cinch than the 24’’ however what I have found is the shorter the cinch, the less bulk under you leg. I own quite easily one of the biggest horses ever put in the Boz saddle next to the draft horses (who all use a 24’’ cinch) and it fits my 16.2 hh horse great. The cinch also fits my 13.2 hh pony and my 14.3 hh Arabian.
I have always ridden in a wooden tree saddle. I would lose my stirrups, it would hurt my horse’s backs, and it did not fit everything. Then I bought the Bob Marshal treeless saddle. Well I did not have to go for the horn any more in turns because it held me so tightly in place but it never stayed in the middle of my horses backs. It slipped all over the place and I tried every pad out there to prevent it from slipping no matter how tight I tightened it. Not only that but it made my big horse’s back sore. My boyfriend usually rides this horse and he weighs about 220. I rode the horse for one day in my treeless saddle and the horse’s back was sore and I weigh about 120 so you would think I should not have caused a problem but my saddle did. Not only that, but I still had to use rubber bands on my stirrups, the huge cantle got in my way when I leaned over in speed ball (an event in CGA), and I could not move my legs forward to get a good enough grip around my horse for security.
Among the many things I love about my saddle is that it is pretty and it is different. Hardly anybody else has one so it always strikes up a conversation and I meet a lot of knew people that way. You can tell that it is quality craftsmanship and Boz stands behind everything he makes. I have taken it back to him just to have him punch holes in the stirrup leathers and the breast collar for me. The saddle fits every horse that I put it on because of the flexible tree without any back pain. In the money I have saved alone in chiropractor bills I could have bought another saddle. I do not need a saddle pad with my saddle because of the sponge bars. What I probably love most is that the saddle is that it so light. I ride a lot of horses everyday and I get tired of throwing a great big boat anchor over a horses back all day long. If anybody says the weight of your saddle really does not matter they really do not know what the heck they are talking about because then race horse jockeys wouldn’t ride in the saddles they do and you would see all of them racing in big roping saddles.
Becky Amio 2/13/04