Coedeneirin Solo is a 12.3 hh Welsh Section C pony owned by Lindsay Caldwell. He is based at the late John Dufosee’s stables at Nyland in Dorset, and has recently been awarded the Pitchford Trophy by Endurance GB at their annual Awards Dinner in Daventry, for the registered native pony gaining the most points in all types of EGB rides for the 2010 season.

He has built up over the years and now regularly completes rides up to 80 km in a day and has represented Wales at the Home International Competitions for the last four years, most recently placed 5th in the 82 km endurance ride at Burgie, Scotland in August 2010.

His rider Lisa says: “In order to do this type of mileage, his tack has to fit well and also be adjustable for both horse and rider as he is constantly changing shape. This is where his Solution saddle really comes into its own.”

In 2007 Solo surpassed what his team had hoped for him, not only did he complete one 80 km ride to go advanced, but he completed the 80 km ER (race) at the Inter-Regional Championships, helping their team to second place overall. They then went on to be given an award at the Red Dragon as the top scoring Native Pony and best pony under 14hh.

Lisa was thrilled to bits with Solo in 2008 as he was progressing well. As they looked forward to competing for the Welsh Team in the Home International in Northern Ireland, Lisa reported “After Solo successfully completed the FEI CEI 2* 80 km endurance ride at Euston Park, at a speed he has never done before in his life (13.99 kph!), the vets were quite interested when we said we used a Solution saddle - there is not a mark on his back” At the end of the season, after successfully completing 10 rides, Solo was going beautifully and was full of life when he went ‘out on holiday’.

In 2009 Solo continued his success and was awarded the trophy for the best pony under 14.2hh ridden by an adult, sadly picked up an injury that cut his season short.

Lisa and Solo have had a good start to 2011 having already completed over 300km competitively. So far they have achieved a top ten placing in an FEI 1* 80 km ride and a bronze award in the Exmoor 80 class at the Golden Horseshoe. They are starting out with their new SMART Native saddle and looking forward to another successful season.

Buffy, an Appaloosa / Irish draught cross… and her adventures in her Solution saddle. 

I purchased my Solution 4 years ago through Solution Saddles Technical Advisor, Alex Jacob-Whitworth.  I originally bought it for Buffy's mother but after I had finished backing Buffy I decided to give the Solution a go on her. I compete at endurance riding so a comfy saddle is very important for both horse and rider and we both like the Solution as it is both lightweight and flexible.  I also like the way I can put different pads under the saddle to accommodate different horses and any horse as it changes shape throughout its life and the season.  Buffy was so round when we started that she needed no padding at all, now with help from Alex we have a front riser pad which seems to suit us both.

This year, at the age of 8, Buffy has upgraded to Advanced level at Endurance, completing an 80km (50 mile) ride in August at The Cumbria Challenge Ride near Shap in Cumbria.  We did it in an average speed of 12.15 kph -a total of 6 hours 40 min in the saddle for me!  In the end we got a Grade 4 which is respectable for our first go at the distance.  I was very pleased!

As well as competing in Endurance riding I also do it for fun!  This year myself and 3 friends rode all over the lake district including a route that took us over High Street (I think this is one of the highest bridleways in the UK) on the old Roman road.  I rode over 100 miles in 5 days, all in my Solution. 
Two of my accompanying friends were also in Solution saddles of differing models- 3 out of the 4 of us all in your saddles! 

Next year I want to have a go at a race endurance ride so watch this space!”

Sally Flatman
October ‘09

Scrumpy is a15.1hh, grey Arab, 18 years.
I have had him since he was 2years old, started him myself and he went straight into endurance at 5 years old. Then started the nightmare of saddles...

I started using a saddle that I had used on my previous two horses but it soon became obvious that it did not fit properly so I ordered a “made to measure” Arabian saddle for him.  It was a nice saddle, comfy for me, but, despite being professionally fitted he did not like it and let me know with a great deal of tail swishing and trying to bite my ankles!

The saddle fitter was called out several times, did some adjustments on the flocking and reassured me that it fitted perfectly. Scrumpy seemed to settle down into it eventually, but it was always a problem when his weight fluctuated.
We did a couple of seasons very successfully, working our way up through the grading system. We came 2nd in the Bronze Buckle Cup, and won the Silver Stirrup Championship and Final. I believe that this was in spite of the saddle and that damage had been done.

After doing a fair amount of research I decided that the best option would be to try a treeless saddle. Torsion were very trendy in the endurance world at the time, but after only going one mile decided I did not feel safe and that I would like something that looked and felt more like a traditional saddle.
I then tried the Ansur treeless saddle – the gulletless model. It was very comfortable and it fitted Scrumpy with appropriate padding to make up for his muscle atrophy.  I had a couple of very successful seasons with it, but we were now qualified to “race ride” involving several vet gates where tack has to be taken off and put back on quite rapidly. With all the padding that I had to have under the saddle and the fact that it was difficult to get on without it shifting round I decided to go for a conventional saddle again.
I decided to try a Reactorpanel saddle which was quite successful and we won a 100mile FEI ride.  Afterwards his back was a complete mess and only his determination to get me round had led us to success - but at what cost?
I then tried a WOW saddle – I found it very uncomfortable and Scrumpy had endless back and hind leg lameness issues. I decided to retire him and took on a youngster, Mawi.

Scrumpy had some operations on his hocks, time healed his back and he made it obvious that he was not ready to retire.  I had bought a Free ‘n’Easy saddle for Mawi as it is popular in endurance riding, so I could not afford another expensive saddle for Scrumpy – he would have to make do with a WINTEC and lots of padding.

Scrumpy went back to novice level while I was bringing on Mawi. At this level, the Wintec did not appear to be causing him too many problems, except that after any hilly rides, he would finish sore behind the saddle.  As we progressed it was obvious that this was not going to work.

In the meantime we had our saddles stolen so I decided to research different options again, came back to the treeless concept and found Solution Saddles. I decided to trial the new gulleted Freestyle model and found it was perfect for both of us.

We did a 40k ride and were both in perfect condition at the end.

Unfortunately the insurance company would not pay the full amount for the saddles stolen so I could not afford to buy it after our trial period.  Scrumpy was going well in the Wintec except for downhill rides but the crunch came with a particularly difficult, steep ride in Derbyshire where towards the end he was almost refusing to come down!

I went back to Solution Saddles, who had by now introduced their new SMART™ saddle, and off we went to start our new season.