Harness for working animal – Riding saddle
Reexamination Certificate
2002-09-05
2004-08-03
Jordan, Charles T. (Department: 3644)
Harness for working animal
Riding saddle
C264S222000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06769234
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of fitting a horse for a saddle pad or a riding saddle and, more particularly, to a method of fitting a horse that does not require transporting the horse to a fitting location or a trained fitting professional to travel to the horse.
2. Description of the Related Art
Bruising and making sore a horse's back has been a problem with known prior art riding saddles, because most saddles may concentrate the combined weight of saddle and rider (or pack) at a relatively few and small points of contact between the saddle and the back of the horse. Bruising may result at these points of contact when the pressure exceeds about 1½ pounds per square inch, which is the amount of pressure some considered to be the maximum before bruising occurs.
For example, a typical western-type saddle includes a tree frame with two relatively straight sidebars. The natural sway of a horse's back in the vicinity of the center of these bars often prevents supporting contact between the horse's back and the bars at this point. As a result, the combined weight of saddle and rider may be supported or concentrated at the four areas of contact in the vicinity of the forward and rearward portions of each bar. The total effective supportive contact area with this type of saddle (ill-fitting) may be typically about 36 square inches, which results in about 5½ pounds of pressure per square inch of contact for a 200 pound load well in excess of the recommended 1½ pounds per square inch. The amount of pressure exerted by the forward part of the saddle is even more concentrated because saddles are desirably designed to concentrate more of the weight at the forward end of the saddle to be more directly over the horse's front legs. The bruising problem is particularly aggravated when the horse is under saddle for long periods of time over rough terrain. These conditions commonly occur during competitive endurance riding.
Saddles and saddletrees have remained more or less fixed in size and shape based on standards established centuries ago. While some saddletrees are being made from synthetic materials such as plastic and fiberglass, many trees are still being made of wood. A wood tree is covered in rawhide as has been the practice for centuries; or, is covered in fiberglass if more modern materials are being used. As a result, a Western tree may weigh in the neighborhood of forty pounds. By the time leather covering and padding is added, the resultant saddle may weigh upwards of fifty to sixty pounds. The tree itself is typically of one-piece construction and comprises a pommel in the front (with or without a horn) and a cantle in the back connected by sidepieces. Basically; there is the Arabian tree and the Quarter horse tree. The only difference is the distance between the sidepieces and the vertical rise of the pommel (so as to fit around the withers without contacting). A saddletree is supposed to fit over the ridge of a horse's back at both the pommel and cantle and the sidepieces are supposed to fit along the back of the horse on either side of the ridge spreading the weight of the rider over a large area.
Typically, saddles are sized by measuring the distance from the pommel to the cantle with a fifteen-inch saddle considered small and an eighteen-inch saddle considered large. Thus, the size variations of standard saddles are relatively small. Unfortunately, such is not the case for the horses.
When placing a saddle on the back of a horse, it is essential that the saddle not tilt to either side or forward/backward. Furthermore, it is important that the saddle not rock longitudinally. Attempts to satisfy such requirements have used different kinds of cushion paddings, which are adapted between the horse's back and the saddle frame to places considered functional.
However, the backs of horses have individual shapes both in the transverse and longitudinal direction of the back. Moreover, as the above-mentioned cushion paddings may be factory-made and thus of standard shape and size, such cushion paddings may not satisfy the requirements listed above. Furthermore, ready-made cushion paddings may generally comply unsatisfactorily with the shape of the back of the horse, which may cause back pain and even injure the back of the horse. Such an outcome is difficult to prevent, since the poor compatibility of the cushion paddings is typically noted only after the horse's back has become sore. A further problem in the correct placement of the cushion paddings is caused by the saddle, which prevents visual and tactile inspection to determine where to add or remove padding. Also the mounting of the rider on the saddle changes its position and complicates the fitting of the paddings.
One attempt to solve the problem of improperly fitted saddles is the banana shaped pad that is curved along its longitudinal length like a banana. Several companies marker a banana shaped pad today. The banana pad may be made of two pieces that are banana shaped so that the pad is contoured to fit the contour of a horse's spine line. The banana pad can be distinguished from standard pads that are just a square felt pad. While banana pads help, they do not solve the problem of injury to horse because of ill-fitted saddles. In addition to factory-made paddings, horsehair and rags have been employed for saddle pads. However, these materials have the same basic deficiencies as factory-made cushion paddings.
Numerous prior art devices have attempted to solve the bruising and the making the backs of horses sore.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,353,622 to Boyle provides for rigid contact plates supported by ball and socket joints at the front and rear of each rail of the saddle. These contact plates do not flex and are unable to continuously conform to the changing shape of the horse's back as it moves. Additionally, the individual plates are not intended to flex in order to conform to the shape of the horse's back.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,286,440 to Walker, et el. provides a lightweight, rigid saddle. This saddle, however, does not specifically conform to the shape of a horse's back and as a result the weight of the rider and saddle may be distributed to only a few points of contact, depending upon the shape of the individual horse's back. Even though the saddle is designed to be lightweight, this does nothing to lessen the weight of the rider or distribute the weight evenly over the surface of the horse's back.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,371,467 to Salisbury provides for a custom, molded fiberglass, reinforced saddle. The saddletree is reinforced fiberglass made from upper and lower shells. The lower shell is contoured to fit the back of the horse and on each side has a convex front portion adapted to fit onto the withers and a convex rear portion adapted to fit onto the back of a horse, with a central ridge forming a tunnel extending longitudinally of the shell and being sufficiently high to clear the backbone of the horse. The saddle is intended to evenly distribute the weight of the rider and saddle over the back of the horse when the horse is at rest. However, the saddle does not flex to conform to the continuously changing configuration of the horse's back as it is moving. That is, the shoulders of the horse change shape as the horse moves and in as much as the weight of the rider and saddle tend to be concentrated at the forward end of the saddle, on the sides of the withers, the bruising and making sore problem continues.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,835,621 to Gorenschek provides for a flexible saddletree in which the entire saddle is flexible. The invention of the Gorenschek patent requires that the tree frame on the saddle itself be flexible and does not allow for a standard rigid tree frame to be adapted for flexible conforming fit with the back of a horse.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,745,734 discloses a riding saddle including a tree frame having first and second, spaced-apart, generally parallel bars;
Charles W. Hanor, P.C.
Hayes Bret
Jordan Charles T.
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