Reactor Panel Saddles

[Flame_]

So I might be bankrupting myself and getting one of these saddles.

My question is which extras are necessary for them to work well? £2K for a saddle is scary enough but when you start adding on £150 for a numnah etc, it gets blooming ridiculous.

Any other opinions and experiences you'd like to share would be very welcome, I do not want to get this wrong.

 

[flyingfeet]

Have you done the two week trial first?

To be hones this looks like a weird version of a military saddle, and I'd prefer a military saddle as at least you could do re-enactment!

 

[Sparkles]

I'd sooner watch £2000 burn than get one myself.

Hate the things.


So probably not the opinion you want.

 

[Caol Ila]

I've owned a saddle with reactor panels -- made by an American company called Orthoflex -- for about seventeen years. Bought it for my first horse after a two year stint in saddle-fitting hell, and when I got the second horse, I thought, "Yay, I get to have a normal dressage saddle." Two years later, horse changing shape, blah blah blah, I was back in saddle-fitting hell and dutifully took out the old Orthoflex. My horse has been in that saddle ever since and hasn't had a problem. The thing is a beast and I must admit, it doesn't help your position, it isn't the comfiest thing to ride in, and it looks a little bit like I'm in a medieval re-enactment society, but it does do what it says on the tin in terms of adapting to the shape of the horse. I swear by reactor panel saddles now and would get another. Maybe one that looks like a "normal" dressage saddle sitting on panels, but when I bought this thing, you couldn't find those.

Also note, in the pic below, I have a normal (well.....) saddle pad. Don't need a fancy one to go with the saddle. Orthoflex make "special" girth as well, but I lost that ages ago and the one that's on her is a standard dressage girth.

The BEAST (the saddle, not the horse!)

 

[d_morrow]

I have an RP VSD - also following on from saddle fitting hell with traditional saddles. They are beasts but at least I know they are not causing damage and my horse is happy. I know a back person who swears by them. The saddle accommodates fluctuations in weight and shape so it is likely to be the only saddle you will ever need. Note - the endurance model is lighter than other models. I have the sheepskin pads 'bootees' and I think you really need these with the standard 23" panels. In spring I put an 'ordinary' numnah underneath those to stop the normal seasonal rubbing of the coat at the rear - but you have to be careful as most standard numnahs are just not big enough to clear the panels. In my case it's seam rubbed a bald patch so I won't be doing that again! If you take the trial through Saddleexchange I think you would have to purchase proper pads and they are about £140 and non refundable. However you can pick these up second hand - try the Endurance GB website. You could get a decent set for 60 or a more worn set for 30 and they are still very serviceable. Of course you can get the saddles seconhand as well. You just have to be sure you buy one with a tree that is wide enough to be fitted to your horse using (at least) thin discs. The American RP website is good and the people are very helpful. Even though I bought my saddle second hand and not from them, i emailed a query and received a detailed reply and offer of fitting advice from the owner of the company. SBloom who posts on HHO is a saddle fitter and I believe used to fit RPs. You could try PMing her as she is very helpful.

 

[Flame_]

Thanks for all the replies!

I've not done the trial yet, I'm having the demo next week. I'm not fussed what they look like really so that point doesn't matter to me.

ChristmasSparkles, why do you hate them?

Orthoflex are harder to come by and that one looks extremely uncomfortable! Thanks though.

d_morrow, that's very helpful, thanks. I'd love to get one second hand but the sizing seems quite confusing. My horse will want small panels, I'll want a middle size seat and christ knows what width he'd take in them. I'd still be looking at spending round about £800 and I'd probably buy the wrong thing. Plus at least buying from a fitter i can do the trial and see how we get on with them before buying.

 

[paulineh]

i have three of the Endurance ones and love them.

My horses move so much better and you do not need to jeep getting them reflocked. The panels are easy to move as the horse changes shape.

 

[PucciNPoni]

Have gone from saddle fit hell to happy horse with a RP - have a dressage one. you can use an ordinary pad, but then the panels will show. So for what it's worth, if you're just hacking or doing endurance where the look isn't quite so important you don't need to spend the extra on the numnahs.

I now have a horse that can medium trot me out of the saddle where before he would simply shuffle his feet faster and hollow and then break in to canter. He used to hollow in the transitions, no longer does this. He used to buck, he does not any more. His walk which used to be his worst pace now has an over-track a good hoof and a half. They are heavy saddles, a bit like a western saddle - but well worth the money and extra weight IMO. Love mine! More importantly, horse loves it too!

 

[Caol Ila]

Yeah, you need a pad between panels and normal pad. Or I think so anyway. You can see the white pad there, just between the panels and the blue pad. It came with the saddle. I showed dressage in that thing for years, as you see it, except I had a white saddle pad underneath it instead of a snazzy blue and turquoise one. I'm sure the judges could see the panels but I didn't give a toss. If you did, you can get pads that go over the panels.

I've never had to get it reflocked or messed about with in any way, and I've been using it on that mare for over eleven years and before that, I used it on a very differently shaped quarter horse.

Now Orthoflex make traditional looking dressage saddles. When I bought that, they were primarily makers of endurance and western saddles, but were trying to break into the English saddle market (as I said, this was 17 years ago). That saddle, I think, is what happens if you told someone who makes western and endurance saddles to make a dressage saddle, but without them ever seeing a real life dressage saddle.

Now there are also other companies who use reactor panels. More choice.

 

[Queenbee]

I tried one for ebony... She hated it... But I have seen them in use on other horses who positively glide about under them. Some horses just don't like them though so make sure you trial one first

 

[Sparkles]

Hate the weight of them, hate the look of them, hate the feel of them to ride in...my list could go on. After seeing two horses thrown completely out of whack from ['fitted'] Reactors, I'd no sooner ride in one again than I would fly I'm afraid. A season and a half just over after one being used, and at the end of that time [with routine 'fittings'] a perfect fill of white hairs over both horses backs showing, along with back issues....No thanks!

Only my experience and opinions on it, like anyone's, I value that people will have good experiences with them, just like anything to do with horses. I'm sure no doubt my two horses above are just an 'unlucky exception'....but I disliked the saddle to start with, and then to then have that result too, I don't have a need nor wanting to have anything to do with them again I'm afraid.

Call me old fashioned, but I'll always just stick to a well made and measured traditional treed light show saddle type please, as never had any problems myself to look at any alternatives nor see the need for that much extra weight on their backs.

 

[Flame_]

Thanks, all very helpful.

ChristmasSparkles, thank you. I'm like that about air bag saddles due to a couple going wrong and causing problems (though I actually love the feel of riding in them), once you've had one or two bad experiences they put you off for life.

I'm sure my horse's movement is restricted by his current saddle. Maybe there's another traditional treed saddle out there that would suit him, but his isn't actually far wrong in principle, so I'm thinking flexible panels may be the way forward.

 

[PucciNPoni]

Thanks, all very helpful.

ChristmasSparkles, thank you. I'm like that about air bag saddles due to a couple going wrong and causing problems (though I actually love the feel of riding in them), once you've had one or two bad experiences they put you off for life.

I'm sure my horse's movement is restricted by his current saddle. Maybe there's another traditional treed saddle out there that would suit him, but his isn't actually far wrong in principle, so I'm thinking flexible panels may be the way forward.

I agree,ChristmaSparkles, that no saddle will suit every horse. I must admit that I was rather skeptical over hte RP, and wan't compltely sold when I first sat in mine either. You at first feel disconnected from the horse. As my horse is very opinionated about what he likes and dislikes (will always be polite as he can be, but when hacked off he certainly puts his feelings in BIG CAPITAL LETTERS, lol).

Anyway, Flame, my original issue with saddlrey is that I have a large shouldered, very short coupled PBA who really can't take a 17 1/2 inch seat and I need one. So it was either try something different (I did look in to treeless as well) or go on a starvation diet forever in order to get my bum small enough to go in to a 16 inch seat. As that wasn't going to happen, I tried the RP and as the panels are larger but not putting pressure in the loin as such, my boy finds this more comfortable.

He had some atrophy where the traditional panels sat and these have gone in the 10 weeks or so that I've been riding in my RP.

I am sure this saddle would not suit all horses and riders but that's what I like about having the trial period - at least you get a bit longer than a few minutes messing around in the arena while the fitter is present.

 

[d_morrow]

My horse is also a short-coupled Purebred Arab. Yep they are heavy saddles - one of the things I don't like about them I must admit BUT the weight has a greater bearing area than trad saddles. After having issues - and white hairs - from a professionally fitted trad saddle I asked my endurance riding friend what she used (as I do quite long hacks - though nothing compared to her 100 mile epics). Her answer was that she swears by RP saddles. FEI rules require 11st 8lbs minimum IIRC so weight of saddle is not an issue there! You can ride without pads but I understand that, long term, the sweat from the horse's back would degrade the memory foam in the panels - so not worth risking. The sheepskin numnahs add greatly to the weight I have to say and I found that my girl wouldn't tolerate sheepskin for long periods so I did try purpose made cotton quilt ones, but they looked and felt rubbish IMO (not worth the money) so I found the solution for her was to use very well worn 2nd hand Mattes sheepskin numnahs! At the end of the day - they are worth the money as they are super quality.

 

[sbloom]

Saddles like Orthoflex have flexi panels, ReactorPanel is a brand and a trademark - the various different types of flexi panel saddles are very different and I'm not a great fan of the others. I've had an RP for 10 years and wouldn't be without it. It's been on all sorts of horses, many of them rehabs where it's allowed them to redevelop muscles so that can go back in their own saddles after time off with injury.

They are heavy, just like any component saddles, but they are still a small % of the weight of saddle and rider, and I've never understood the obsession with light saddles. The PSI is much lower than almost any other saddle, with very even pressure IF FITTED CORRECTLY, just like any other saddle they can be fitted incorrectly.

I would not buy one now though. I use to to work for the UK company that sells them. I would learn to adjust it myself, which I do, and did, and it was what led me to becoming a saddle fitter.

 

[Flame_]

Thanks Sbloom.

Its interesting to hear from your perspective that Reactor Panels rate higher than the other flexi panels. They seem to be the most consistently well rated.