30 August 2008 and other dates...

Thoughts on Fixed vs Sliding Back Bands (SBB)

Sliding backbands are necessary for 2-wheeled carts and for 4-wheeled
vehicles with fixed rather than independent shafts. I have driven over
rough terrain and in local XC driving trials with 2 wheelers for 2
decades using SBB saddles and they emphatically have NOT caused
tipovers. (Driver idiocy and occasional horse misbehaviour did.)
Nobody is going to convince me that a fixed BB saddle would ever stop
a 2-wheeler or a fixed-shaft 4-wheeler overturning.

HOWEVER

SBB saddles are not appropriate for 4-wheeled vehicles with
independent shaft arrangements because one shaft can slide low and the
other high and cause all kinds of trouble for a horse in turns (behind
the elbow, into the neck, etc). So if you are competing single across
country in a 4-wheeler with independent shafts, as more and more Horse
Trials drivers are doing, the dislike of the SBB saddle makes sense.
It's quite easy to fix the BB so it doesn't slide though, if you
already have a SBB saddle and want to move to a 4-wheeler with
independent shafts. I had several customers who did that when I was
making harness.

Otherwise, make life easy on your horse please. For a single horse in
a 2-wheeler or a fixed-shaft 4-wheeler, SBB saddles are more horse
friendly and more driver friendly.