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An Academic Study on Dennis Lane’s Equine Back Profiling System

We have talked about the Dennis Lane system for years. Here's proof that it is accurate enough even for researchers to use.
Subscribe to RSS Feed Dennis came up with the shapes from the hundreds of back drawings he had been sent over the many years he had been a tree and saddle maker.… https://www.rodnikkel.com/content/saddle-tree-blog-from-shop-and-desk/academic-study-dennis-lanes-equine-back-profiling-system/

Wither conformation - variations on "normal"

Horses come on all sizes and shapes. Here's the range we have seen so far in the wither pocket area, plus what we think about when fitting them.
Subscribe to RSS Feed To give you an idea of the range of size/shape there is in the wither pocket, here are the extremes of the Dennis Lane cards at the A position.… https://www.rodnikkel.com/content/saddle-tree-blog-from-shop-and-desk/wither-conformation-variations-normal/

He's gotta lotta rock...

Looking at some of the reasons some horses have more rock in their back than others.
Subscribe to RSS Feed A definition to start with: Rock is the curve from front to back, both on the bottom of the bar and along the horse’s back. The same… https://www.rodnikkel.com/content/saddle-tree-blog-from-shop-and-desk/he-s-gotta-lotta-rock/

The top line doesn't match the rock line

Looking at the top line of a horse doesn't tell you how much curve he has in his back under the bars of the saddle. You have to look at where the bars go. Here's a great example of the mismatch between top line and rock line.
Subscribe to RSS Feed When I read in various places about how to take templates on a horse’s back, the instructions that include more than just a “wither tracing”… https://www.rodnikkel.com/content/saddle-tree-blog-from-shop-and-desk/the-top-line-doesn-t-match-the-rock-line/

Let's do the twist!

Twist is another of the factors that affect how the tree fits the horse. Here's more of what it is, how it changes between horses and how the definition changes between western and English saddles.
Subscribe to RSS Feed One of the Factors that Affect Fit that we haven't discussed yet on our blog is the amount of twist in the bar.  Because horse's backs are not… https://www.rodnikkel.com/content/saddle-tree-blog-from-shop-and-desk/let-s-do-the-twist/

The value of an objective standard

We decided to compare our two horses with the Dennis Lane Equine Back Profiling cards, and discovered again how valuable having an objective standard is when comparing between horses.
Subscribe to RSS Feed We've learned a lot from using the Dennis Lane Equine Back Profiling System over the last few years, but lately its usefulness was brought home to… https://www.rodnikkel.com/content/saddle-tree-blog-from-shop-and-desk/the-value-of-an-objective-standard/

How we use the Dennis Lane Equine Back Profiling System numbers

How do we decide what tree specs will fit the horse when we get sent numbers off the Dennis Lane cards that have been tried on the horse? We did our homework and know what body type the numbers represent, and what specs of ours will fit that body type.
We occasionally get people asking us how we use the Dennis Lane card system in building our trees, so I figured I would try to explain in a bit more detail than I have on our… https://www.rodnikkel.com/content/saddle-tree-blog-from-shop-and-desk/how-we-use-the-dennis-lane-equine-back-profiling-system-numbers/