‘My saddle saved my life’ says injured rider

A rider has credited her spring tree saddle with saving her life after her horse fell and rolled on her.

Dorset-based Ruth Revel was out hacking on the downs last month (18 February), when her horse spooked.

“Earnie jumped in the air, and as he landed his back feet hit greasy ground and his back legs slipped right underneath him,” she said. “I was sitting very securely in my Albion K2 saddle as he came down backwards on top of me and rolled off my left side.

“The back of my saddle took the full force as my horse trapped me within that triangle that allowed me to get away with just bruising.”

Ruth was airlifted to hospital, but thanks to the saddle taking the force of the fall, she was discharged just “bruised and bashed”. Earnie is tight through his back and having a short rest, but is otherwise ok.

“Were it not for the flexibility and strength of my Albion, I would have been quite squashed,” she said. “The cantle is broken at 90° but is absolutely solid.”

Although the saddle looks a complete write-off, Albion has suggested it may need only a new tree as the leather itself is not damaged, just twisted.

Albion Saddlemaker’s Annie Belton said: “We all understand a high-quality engineered saddle will positively affect horse and rider comfort and performance — but this incident highlights the other extreme, where it may just ‘save your life’.

“How many people truly consider the safety aspects when purchasing a saddle?”

Martha Terry

H&H features editor

Martha is an experienced journalist who is mad-keen on dogs of all shapes and sizes. After growing up with assorted liver and white springer spaniels, she enjoyed 14 years with two rescue dogs, one a street dog from Gambia who was abandoned at three weeks old. Now, her constant companion, whether by her feet at her desk or walking cross-country courses, is Fidget, an extremely energetic and habitually muddy black and white springer. Martha has written on topics as diverse as a top horse’s clone to the best GPS trackers for dogs, as well as equestrian and rural matters for Country Life, The Field, The Times, The Spectator and The Telegraph alongside Horse & Hound.