Design Details

Dressage perfection demands the closest of partnerships...

With a background in international competition and saddle design, Vanessa Fairfax understands the needs of the professional rider. Her aim was to create a dressage saddle of exceptional quality that not only met but surpassed expectations, enabling horse and rider to communicate without hindrance. "The rider's ability to feel every movement is essential," explains Vanessa. "In turn, the gentlest of aids from the rider must be heard and understood if the horse is to convert power into such lightness and elevation."

Vanessa teamed up with Daniel Timson, an international dressage rider whose sensitive and intelligent riding style has encouraged winning performances from the most complex of horses. He shares Vanessa's belief that that the saddle should enhance rather than inhibit the communication process. "Too often the saddle distances the rider from the action, numbing the horse's movement rather than allowing the rider to feel at one with it," he says.

 

Beautiful in its simplicity

Using the talented young dressage stallion Donner Romeo as their equine model, Vanessa and Daniel worked closely throughout the project from initial concepts to test riding, revising and refining. The result is the Fairfax monoflap dressage – beautiful in its simplicity and created to work in perfect harmony with the horse's natural design.

"The saddle sits with such stability, supporting the rider but leaving the horse absolutely free to move in a natural manner," says Daniel. "I felt an immediate improvement in Donner Romeo's paces, which are noticeably more open and fluent." Registered saddle fitter Helen Dart, who owns Donner Romeo, agrees. "Typically of a modern sports horse, Donner Romeo is quite wide through the spinal processes," she explains. "His powerful hindquarter action tends to push saddles forwards and up his neck, yet this model stays in place without lifting or moving. Previously, something was compromising his movement. We've seen an amazing difference in his way of going."

Proven fit and performance

Tests with Pliance, the industry-standard saddle pressure mapping system, confirm superior fit and comfort at all paces – even during advanced dressage work.

"Generally, the more advanced the horse and the bigger his paces, the higher the under-saddle pressure," explains Pliance operator Mark Fisher. "When increased elevation is called for, in piaffe and passage, for example, the rider is thrown up and away from the horse. The resulting pressure as the rider lands, colliding with this upwards force, can create as much under-saddle pressure as that generated when a jumping horse lands over a fence."

Mark reports excellent results from the Fairfax monoflap dressage saddle. "We recorded much lower peak pressures and overall averages than those of comparable models, with a large bearing surface," he says. "Both horse and rider were very comfortable in the saddle."