The Nitty-Gritty: Our First Pressure Tests

WHAT IS THE VALUE OF A PRESSURE TEST?

Before we get into the detail of the images, it’s important to note that the scientific community does not yet agree on how much pressure under the saddle is too much. Perhaps there will never be an absolute standard due to the number of variables. For instance, what might be tolerable pressure on a horse with even muscling and pliant tissue might be excruciating on a horse with existing damage. I am hoping that we’ll find a scale of acceptability eventually . Using the computer’s results, I feel that we could possibly immediately group saddles into three categories: “quite good”, “quite bad”, and “need to correlate to other factors as the test alone is inconclusive”. This is my own opinion and it is one that I might revise after next week’s session in Michigan with the experts: Hilary Clayton and her laboratory technicians who have been using pressure testing in sophisticated studies for several years. So – please read on with the understanding that this is a process of building knowledge and understanding; we are not yet at the point that we’re able to share absolute conclusions.

PAUSE TO GIVE THE NORMAL AMERICAN SETS OF CAVEATS FOR EMPTORS:

To remind you, we conducted tests of several horses wearing conventional saddles, and then wearing ReactorPanel saddles. In each case the ReactorPanel saddle was fitted hastily, and in each case the performance of the ReactorPanel  saddle was superior based on the pressure test, and also on horse and/or rider improvement in performance. While these are extremely exciting results, this research is preliminary. The testing sample was too small to be statistically valid, and none of the horses tested were wearing professionally fit or custom conventional saddles. I hope that RP will perform as well in Michigan this week!

(FINALLY) THE PRESSURE TESTING DATA

Below, you’ll see images of the saddles we tested last week. These images are screen shots provided by Jennifer Stoffer, DVM (you’ll find her contact information at the bottom of this post). The interpretation of the day’s work is my own or based on notes I took at the time. One of the drawbacks of this technology is that some interpretation of the results is needed: the scans do not always speak for themselves.

Here they are:

Conventional saddle: bridging, skimpy weight distribution

ReactorPanel Encore with large weight bearing surface

Above, you’re looking at two images. Each shows the left and right sides of the saddle – hopefully with a gullet channel between them. The system averages pressures among the 256 sensors and then displays different pressures in different colors. We were not told what calculations are used to provide the pressure map, nor what the gradiations in color really mean.  If we become seriously interested in this technology, these are questions we will ask the manufacturer.

You are looking at scans on a Welsh Cob who is competitive at first and second levels. The saddle on the left is the horse’s usual saddle, an older Passier that was not fit for the horse. The scan on the right shows the ReactorPanel Encore dressage saddle. Both scans are aggregates showing the averages over a trot scan of approximately 15 seconds.

This horse’s conformational highlights are:

·         Short-coupled

·         Curved topline

·         Prominent shoulders (bulging scaplulae)

·         Prominent rib cage

·         Depressed trapezius and longimussus dorsi muscles (appear damaged or even slightly atrophied)

·         Minor reaction to palpation but no areas of extreme sensitivity

The pressure test on the left revealed:

·         Weight-bearing surface is smaller than optimal

·         The saddle bridges

·         The highest pressure is at the left rear, near the spine

·         The saddle bumps into the spine at times (not apparent in this aggregate image)

·         Rider’s weight is consistently off to the left as shown by the X which marks the rider’s center of gravity

·         Front-to-back balance is 57% in front, 43% in the back

RP Encore:

·         Much broader and more even weight bearing surface

·         Does not cross spine

·         65% of weight in front

·         Highest pressure: L rear, but outside, not inside

·         Much steadier laterally (not apparent on the aggregate image)

WHEN PRESSURE TESTING PRESENTS A CONUNDRUM

The second horse presented was a 7-year-old Hannoverian mare ridden by a professional. The horse is lovely but frustrating: she resisted left flexion and would fall out of canter without warning. In this case, the pressure tests of the horse’s conventional saddle and the RP were not significantly different but in the ReactorPanel Elegance and AvantGarde dressage saddles, the mare willingly flexed to the left and sustained the canter (the owner/rider is now in the middle of a two-week evaluation of the RP AvantGarde). This points out the need to refine the testing process; in the ideal world, the computer would clearly show that one saddle was superior to the other. Here are the scans:

Conventional Saddle: heavy on the left side

ReactorPanel Elegance: Laterally balanced

In evaluating these two scans, here are the pertinent points:

• The saddle on the left is the horse’s own Passier Grand Gilbert that was not fitted for her
• The saddle on the right is the ReactorPanel Elegance
• Neither saddle has a saddle pad (other than the sensor pad)

In the conventional Passier:

• much more weight is carried to the left than the right as shown by the larger image on the left and also the rider’s “X” (showing center of gravity) that is significantly left. This is the cause of the horse’s difficulty in flexing left.
• More of the weight is carried forward; the pressure is not even front-to-back

 In the ReactorPanel:

• Weight is distributed over a larger area
• Rider’s weight is more centered
• Although the saddle appears to cross the spine, this is an artifact of the panel movement pulling on the sensor pad. In fact, the gullet channel was wide and stable.

We tested two more horses in Oregon but time prohibits posting the results at this point. I will be sure to get those images into this blog before much more time passes, but now I must sign off and pack my suitcase for tomorrow’s trip to Michigan and Dr. Clayton’s lab. I promise to take good notes and to report –as fully as I may ethically – after these sessions. As a bonus: our dear friend and advisor Dr. Kerry Ridgway is so interested in these developments that he will be meeting us in Michigan to observe our testing day. Stay tuned!