I was fortunate enough to meet Emily Bates of Bates Australia (http://www.batessaddles.com/) at the WEG this past year thanks to the super sweet introduction of Sheryl Rudolph at FITS! Thanks Sheryl!!! I REALLY enjoyed chatting with her and learning about their range. I’ve always heard great things about Bates and the Wintec but never had the opportunity to ride in a Wintec myself. I heard some fabulous stories about Isabell herself from Emily and have always been a fan. I mean really… who could NOT be a fan of Isabell who’s one of the only modern international riders who trains all her own horses up from babies!?!?
The long and the short of that great conversation at WEG with Emily is my New Isabell Wintec arrived yesterday and is pictured in this blog. I’m so terribly excited to get it on my young horse but I’m going to wait patiently for the Wintec leathers and CAIR girth to arrive so my first time in this awesome new equipment is a complete and perfect package.
I’ve been reading about the CAIR system the last few weeks and have heard some brilliant reviews so far. The idea of the air is truly forward thinking and since the beginning of the series I’ve been about high tech advancements in horse sports, treating ourselves and our horses like athletes and really doing what we can to embrace new directions for top sport it was a no-brainer my interest was peaked. For those of you that haven’t heard of the CAIR you can read all about it online at http://www.cairpanelsystem.com as the idea of air being a fluid medium that will constantly adapt to the horses muscles is amazing. Another great feature on the NEW Isabell Wintec is the EASY-CHANGE gullet system http://www.easychangegulletsystem.com/ and I’m actually hoping we can get a representative out here to talk about the saddles points, proper fitting and just the Bates innovations in general. Of course, it would be such an honor to meet up with the Bates people in Germany at Isabell’s facility and watch the first hand continued development of such a long term, brilliant and affordable range someday in the future.
It goes without saying, I’m excited to start riding in my NEW Isabell Wintec but I’m likewise as excited to begin preparing a HorseGirlTV contest to giveaway a saddle just like my very own to a great fan of the series. Please feel free to send me ideas for fun and creative ways you guys can enter this future contest and I’ll make certain we get the ball rolling!
Cheers and happy riding! I’ll definitely blog more about my experience with my NEW Isabell Wintec once I’ve had some time to work with it! Yeah!