ErgoX2 of Sweden in Australia

13/12/2024

Highly recommend Equimech for remote consultation to develop a rider stability exercise program!

12/12/2024

🎇 Canberra, I will be back for deliveries and rider assessments and test rides in January! 🎇

Dates are 11th to 13th of January.

We have a property at Bywong available for assessments, but can be flexible with location depending on bookings.

We will have availability on all three days for both full rider optimising and test rides, as well as rider optimising only.

To register your interest, please send me an inbox.

We will be limited to 2-3 full assessments per day depending on location.

I will be creating an Event over the next few days.

A full rider assessment and saddle test ride session is very detailed and takes approximately 2.5 hours.

A rider optimising assessment is conducted off horse, and we assess basic posture of the rider, noting any asymmetry, movement patterns which can impact how we function in the saddle, as well as measuring your pelvic outlet (seat bones and p***c arch) to determine what size seat would suit your pelvis for optimum support. We also assess the hip hang, which basically means how much you are able to open your hip which can impact whether you need to sit wide or narrow. The information we gather from this rider assessment allows us to very quickly determine what seat and flap combination will enable you to sit correctly in neutral pelvis and in balance over your feet.

With the rider on the saddle buck (stand), we then assess them in both their own saddle to see how it supports them (or not!), and then sit them in one of our saddles for comparison. By putting the rider in the saddle on the stand, we can quickly identify where the rider needs support, and which saddle combination is best suited to the rider, before moving to the horse, so as not to fatigue the horse with multiple changes of saddle during a test ride.

After assessing the horse, measuring and checking saddles for fit, we then observe the rider on the horse at walk, trot and canter, first in their own saddle, and then in the selected test saddle.

Cost for assessments is $220 for both rider assessment and test ride.

If a rider assessment only, cost is $120 and takes approximately an hour.

Get valuable feedback on your own body and how you interface with the saddle! Then experience the difference when your pelvis is correctly supported in neutral.

Those who wish to take a test ride will need to send photos of the horse to determine suitability for fitting.

I have a range of dressage demo saddles with different flap options for testing, and will also have a jump saddle as a demo which is arriving in our next delivery.

I am very excited to be heading up to the Canberra area again, and look forward to hearing from you!!

I am expecting to be servicing the Canberra area approximately every 3 months.

Please inbox for further details and to book in, as spaces are limited.

06/12/2024

🎇 Exciting news, I am coming to Queensland in January! 🎇

Flights have been booked and a venue has been secured at Chambers Flat. Accommodation on site for horses and riders if required.

Dates are 18th to 20th of January.

We will have availability on all three days for both full rider optimising and test rides, as well as rider optimising only.

To register your interest, please send me an inbox.

We will be limited to 3 full assessments per day.

I will be creating an Event over the next few days.

A full rider assessment and saddle test ride session is very detailed and takes approximately 2.5 hours.

A rider optimising assessment is conducted off horse, and we assess basic posture of the rider, noting any asymmetry, movement patterns which can impact how we function in the saddle, as well as measuring your pelvic outlet (seat bones and p***c arch) to determine what size seat would suit your pelvis for optimum support. We also assess the hip hang, which basically means how much you are able to open your hip which can impact whether you need to sit wide or narrow. The information we gather from this rider assessment allows us to very quickly determine what seat and flap combination will enable you to sit correctly in neutral pelvis and in balance over your feet.

With the rider on the saddle buck (stand), we then assess them in both their own saddle to see how it supports them (or not!), and then sit them in one of our saddles for comparison. By putting the rider in the saddle on the stand, we can quickly identify where the rider needs support, and which saddle combination is best suited to the rider, before moving to the horse, so as not to fatigue the horse with multiple changes of saddle during a test ride.

After assessing the horse, measuring and checking saddles for fit, we then observe the rider on the horse at walk, trot and canter, first in their own saddle, and then in the selected test saddle.

Cost for assessments is $220 for both rider assessment and test ride.

If a rider assessment only, cost is $120 and takes approximately an hour.

Get valuable feedback on your own body and how you interface with the saddle! Then experience the difference when your pelvis is correctly supported in neutral.

I am very excited to be heading up north and look forward to hearing from you!!

Samantha Watt

28/11/2024

Those of you who have had a rider optimising assessment done with me will recognize this squat 😉

Lisa of Equimech can do a virtual assessment with you to understand your rider strengths and weaknesses, and she can then put together a strengthening program for you to address those issues.

Rider Squat Assessment
Is the torso pulled forwards or falling forwards?
Same with the arms, are they pulled or falling?
How do I know? You test where is weak! Then write a program to release and strengthen where is needed!!
How does this correlate to riding? Tipping forwards? Collapsing on landing? Pain in mid back area?
Contact me today to learn how I can help you, your riding and your horse 🐎

26/11/2024

Our entire ErgoX2 of Sweden fitting philosophy revolves around fitting the saddle to the rider to ensure the horse can carry the load of the rider in optimum balance.

That’s not to say we can plonk just any saddle on the horse, by any means, as our saddles are also engineered to provide clearance for the horse to lift the back, where many other saddles do not.

But for optimum health for horse AND rider, the rider must be correctly supported by the saddle, and if you’d like to learn more, this webinar is a fantastic place to start!

19/11/2024

Is the pelvis pushed or pulled over to one side?
You can't tell by looking you need to test!
Then I can write an exercise programme SPECIFIC to what YOU need.
5 or 6 exercises 2 or 3 times a week that's around an hour a week of off horse training. Now who doesn't have time to do that? Especially when you feel the difference in a relatively short space of time. https://equimech.as.me

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27/10/2024

Maria Hallring is the owner, designer and founder of ErgoX2 of Sweden. What she says here is so powerful.

As part of our fitting methodology, we work with customers who are prepared to invest in improving themselves, doing whatever is needed to ensure they get the best benefit of our unique fitting system.

That is why we prequalify. We need to see photos of the horse, we want to understand your own training methodology. For example, our saddles will not work for backward riding, pulling the horse into a ‘frame’, with the rider leaning back.

The rider has to be prepared to perhaps look at their own riding and trained a little differently, and understand that poor rider biomechanics due to riding in badly designed saddles, create a false awareness of where their body is in space compared to a vertical alignment.

Sometimes that means spending time going back to basics, and working on your own posture to ensure your body learns how to absorb the movement as the horse learns to push up under the saddle once the back is potentially unloaded from T17 with the rider in forward seat. Letting go of compensatory tension in gluteal muscles, lumber area, shoulders, and thighs.

Some riders will be able to adapt beautifully to being in forward balance, some need to take more time to reprogram their body awareness to being in that forward ‘sitting standing’ seat, with weight distributed evenly across the bony triangle of the seatbones and p***s, rather than continuing to revert to their backward seat, rolling on to their glutes.

I have had to go through this very same adaptive process myself, made slightly more complicated as my horse is wide and high sprung through the ribs, and having a very narrow angle to the head of my femur. I have been uncompromising in chasing that feel, until it is now automatic.

It’s a process, and we are so excited when someone approaches us who is willing to do the work on themselves, once we can provide the suitable saddle interface, to make everything better for the horse.

We don’t just sell you a saddle. We take on the journey with you.

26/10/2024

Position is Everything! Yes, it REALLY is!

Let me ask you some questions ☺️

Does your saddle put you in a chair seat?

Do you experience chaffing in sensitive areas from the pommel of your saddle?

Do you experience pain in your seat bones while riding?

Do you experience pain in your hips, lower back, knees, ankles, or mid back?

Do you get ‘left behind’ when the horse accelerates end up leaning back?

If your horse spooks or shies, are you able to stay with him/her and continue as though nothing happened, or is it a major disruption causing you to lose balance?

Do you dislike the current trend for deep seated dressage saddles with huge knee blocks?

Is your horse able to move freely through the shoulders, and lift the back easily, pushing up under the saddle?

Do you struggle with saddle fit on a ‘tricky’ horse? Maybe a short backed, wide type, or your horse has wide withers?

Does your saddle slip sideways, or run forward no matter what you do?

Has your horse deteriorated in its training, or is it struggling to find balance in transitions, and maybe getting stuck in lateral work?

If any of these questions resonate with your experience, our saddles may be able to help you find solutions.

We offer something that no other saddle company offers. We take a deep dive into the rider, and work to understand how the rider’s posture and compensatory movement patterns may be impacting their riding. Using an in-person rider assessment, we look at your posture off the horse, and some basic movement assessments to find where your areas of weakness could be causing asymmetry in the saddle.

We then do quite a detailed rider assessment on our physio-grade saddle stands, to find the rider’s point of stability where the contact points of the pelvis should interact with the saddle, and also explore how wide the rider is able to sit with their thigh by evaluating movement that indicates hip hang and ideal width under the thigh to allow the rider to drop the leg comfortably.

We then take an imprint of the bony parts of the pelvis, the seat bones and p***c symphysis. The vital ‘3 points of contact’. If the rider isn’t able to sit comfortably in the triangle made by these points, they will have dysfunction in the saddle, and cannot ride as effectively as they could. Then we discover what seat size you need, and how much support you need!

The majority of riders in deep seated saddles end up either tipping rearward off their seatbones onto their gluteal muscles, or drop anterior into the p***c bone, creating a sway back posture. Both of these situations create lower back pain, and tension throughout the body.

We specialize in saddles that support the rider correctly, and coupled with our unique tree design, with the rider in balance over their feet and placed at the horse’s COG at the base of the withers, this can be transformational for the horse and also for the rider!

It is common for horses to change posture in our saddles, as they are able to push up from behind, lifting the back and engaging the thoracic sling.

Our saddles reduce pain for the rider, and also for the horse. A balanced well supported rider is a much easier load for the horse to carry.

If you’d like to find out more, please do get in touch.

We are based in central Victoria, and currently travel to South Gippsland on a regular basis, and will also be traveling to Canberra regularly starting early next year.

We are able to offer full fitting and ongoing saddle checks. We also are able to help you find resources to improve yours balance and strength, as well as teach you how to use exercises to improve your horse’s postural stability.

Currently we have four dressage saddles available as demos, and currently have a jumping saddle arriving soon, along with another dressage saddle that will be of particular interest for those competing in Pony Dressage!

25/10/2024

Excited to soon be having a jumping demo landed!

This model is our Confidence B1 jump saddle. Features soft calfskin seat, skirt and knee pad, and has velcro blocks. The flap is grained oiled leather for excellent grip. This is the starter jump saddle in our range.

And I have also got another dressage demo coming, this particular flap configuration on the Ergoflap monoflap has been quite popular recently, with some riders needing a more forward cut regular length flap, with a short knee block, that allows the thigh to drop unrestricted from the hip. This saddle will be brilliant for those wanting to fit broad, short dressage ponies without compromising on fit, and need a saddle that will support the rider correctly over the centre of gravity and balance correctly over the foot.

It is equally at home on a 16+h warmblood or a 13h pony, due to our unique tree and panel design.

From the website:
“A dressage saddle with tree no 1 that fits short, wide horses with big shoulders and horses that are changing. The saddle has a narrow waist. Ergo Flap singleflap is a saddle for riders that needs to sit very narrow.
Our unique Ergo Flap has soft calfskin leather without extra padding which makes it extra close contact under your thighs.”

22/10/2024

This is something that is intrinsic in my work with horses, has been for over a decade now, but is especially appropriate when it comes to assessing saddles and fit, rider and horse interaction both on the ground and under saddle, and observing every single sign the horse is giving us, right down to a widening of the nostril.

No matter how ‘obedient’ and obliging the horse is, there are always signs, even in a shut down horse.

20 Ways Horses Talk Without Saying a Word

1. They talk through their behaviour when asked to do something, e.g. how they perform a canter transition.

2. They talk through their reactions to situations, e.g. when you go out to try and catch them.

3. They talk through their gestures, e.g. when they tighten their mouths and swish their tails.

4. They talk through their posture, e.g. when they hollow their backs and how they stand.

5. They talk through their movement, e.g. when their movement is rushed, tense, or discombobulated.

6. They talk through how they brace to protect themselves, e.g. how they react when you pick up the rein.

7. They talk through how their muscles have developed or become wasted away, e.g. stand your horse square and examine the symmetry of their muscling from one side to the other.

8. They talk through their conformation, e.g. what does their conformation tell you they will excel at or struggle with?

9. They talk through inspecting their mouths and teeth, e.g. bits can cause damage, and once you know how to see it, you can never un-see it.

10. They talk through their hooves, e.g. from stress rings to hoof wear, flaring, and balance.

11. They talk through the health and quality of their coat, e.g. is their coat shiny or dull?

12. They talk through their weight, e.g. are they underweight or overweight?

13. They talk through the way they are bloated, distended, or have no core.

14. They talk through their breath, its smell, rhythm, and depth.

15. They talk to you in their heart beat and other vital signs.

16. They talk through their footfalls, the timing and heaviness as they hit the ground.

17. They talk through the contraptions people attach to them or use to control them, e.g. nosebands, bits, chains, whips, spurs, or food, etc.—all tell a story.

18. They talk through their curiosity, preferences and what they wish to avoid.

19. They talk through their owner’s frustrations and the names they are called.

20. They even talk to you in their manure and how often they pooh!

Horses will always tell you what they know, how they feel, and provide an in-depth history of their lives. Important things. In fact, horses have a lot to say if you watch and observe.

I welcome you to add to this list ❤