6 Months in an Ansur Saddle...

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In my last article “Is there something coming between you and your horse?” I demonstrated the differences (radiographically) between a saddle with and tree and an Ansur.  At the time I wrote that article, I had my Ansur saddle less than a month.  In fact I pleaded with Ansur to do a bit of a rush job because I was taking my stallion, Galveston to Breyerfest in Kentucky, and wanted him to show his best. I could not bear to take my treed saddle out there and try and get him to perform well in that.

Well, six months on, and every time I climb aboard him, he is happy to go to work.  In fact, I am able to teach him new things, and he is willing to learn.  Before, with the old saddle (and I am now more sure than ever that was the problem) he would buck, bolt, throw his head, refuse to canter, his trot was short and choppy, and he absolutely refused to acknowledge my leg as an aid.  In fact, he would sometimes try and cow-kick me when I applied my leg.  You could hear his tail swishing madly behind every time you asked him to do anything.

< Here we are at Breyerfest.  I’m asking him to move his haunches in-

Having to contend with a horse that behaved terribly made riding anything but a pleasure.  Each time I put my foot in the stirrup to get on, I wasn’t sure if I would be getting up close and personal with the ground or not. My trainer at the time pretty much refused to ride him because he was so violent.  So it was up to me to figure out what his problem was.  I decided to cancel my entire summer show season and see if we could work this out.  That was when I started to ride bareback and noticed the immediate difference in him.
Note: his tail is quiet, head down, and ears listening to me. After riding in an Ansur for six months, my horse is a totally different “person”.  He gets so excited to go to work that he refuses to stand still in the cross ties.  My husband and I call it the “ants in the pants” dance.  He lunges nicer, and when I climb on, he is right there with me, ready to listen and comply.  He gives me his all every work session, and his attention span has even gotten better.  I can now use my leg with startling results- I ask, and he moves off of it.  He is also listening to my seat better (now that he knows it’s there!) and my job on his back has become much less of a fight.  My whip spends more time doing nothing now- and I’m happy for that.  He will leg yield at the drop of a hat, his head to wall leg yields (which had been a supreme battle to accomplish) are a breeze. He will pick up the canter quite easily and hold it for as long as I want.  And, even though he is only schooling First Level, I achieved a flying change of lead- that I asked for!

Strutting his stuff.  I was told that during the closing ceremonies ofBreyerfest, Galveston passaged all the way around the massive indoor arena.  Not bad for a horse who was schooling Training Level at that time!

With my new found “cooperative” partner, I find it so much easier to work on new things.  He gives me his full attention, tries his very best and is generally a happier horse.  I can achieve a training goal in far fewer sessions than before, and this is a plus because being a full time working “Mom” my barn time is precious.  I think I can say honestly that the Ansur has been the answer to a lot of our problems.


I don’t have any recent pictures of us; the weather here in the mid-Atlantic has been wet and nasty, so Galveston is a bit of a muddy mess.  I am making plans for this next show season to hopefully show First Level.  We have been practicing test one, and to show you how smart Galveston is, he’s got it down better than me and we’ve only run through it a couple of times!  His sitting trot is not exactly a joy to ride, but we are working on that. We also have to conquer the evil canter to trot transition at X.  Last time we tried that; I got bounced so hard he sprained my neck! I can’t complain though, he was doing exactly as I asked him.  He’s just got some more balance issues to work out and then I think then sky’s the limit for him.  I bought him as a six week old colt in the UK as my hopeful Dressage star.  I had high hopes for him and still do. I know he has a lot of potential- just watching him show off for the mares in the next paddock tells you he’s got a lot of athletic ability.  I had become so discouraged over the last year and a half with his training progression (or regression) that I seriously doubted that he had what it took to get to the higher levels.  Now, after six months in his Carlton, I am once again thinking he has what it takes.  I can dream happy dreams again every night!



Being 5’4” and 130 pounds I definitely need cooperation from my
16.1hh, 1300 pound partner!



Yes, he takes his hair styling tips from Fabio.

And we would like to introduce you to the newest Ansur-toting member of the family: Quintessential, A.K.A. “Quint”, a rising 3 year old Selle Français gelding owned by my husband Scott. Below are a few pictures of them toddling around in my Carlton. It’s so nice to have a saddle that will go from a 55 gallon drum- barreled horse to a svelte youngster and fit both riders as well. Now if he would only get his own saddle we could ride together!


This was taken about a week after Scott finally was sitting on him.

Quint has only been under saddle for about 3 months. He was started in an Ansur, and hopefully that will be the only saddle he will know. My husband does want to chase cows when we get to retire to our farm in KY, but I don’t think Ansur can make a roping saddle! So, for the mean time, he borrows my saddle until he can get his own. He wants to do some H/J with Quint so he’s not sure if he wants the Konklusion or the new Elite.





Trying to turn a cowboy into an Englishman. Scott isn’t so sure of this “fru-fru”
English kind of riding. Rising trot has been his biggest challenge.

Quint has progressed so well that Scott can even ask for the canter. He’s still young and imbalanced, so he does just a bit of that. I can’t wait until he gets his own saddle, it’s been a dream of ours to go riding together. We did do that on Christmas day, he got the saddle, and I settled for a bareback pad. It was one of the simplest, nicest Christmases we have had! And it will be a special day when he goes to his first H/J show- if only they would allow jeans and cowboy boots instead of breeches and tall boots…
Thanks Ansur for making us and our horses happy.
MAILING ADDRESS: PHONE:
Ansür Saddlery LLC. 800 987 1545 (PST)
P.O. Box 170 360 835 1695 (PST)
Washougal, WA 98671 Fax: 360 835 7690
Email: info@ansursaddle.com