There's always something new at ALLURES. Here are a just some of the latest stories.  If you are looking for a previously published article you will find it in the News Archive.

Hubert Perring qualifies for Individual Contest

Hubert Perring has qualified for the Individual Contest at the Beijing Olympics.  Riding Diabolo, Hubert achieved a creditable mark of 66.8%.  They need to be in the first 15 to be part of the Kür.

Follow the Olympic riders on our "Olympics Special" page... 

Mrs Lundbäck too has chosen ALLURES 

The Lundbäck family is a formidable riding family. Helena Lundbäck's father Hans was on the Swedish jumping team for 20 years. And Helena's mother Solveig has competed internationally in dressage. For her horse, Donovan, Solveig has an ALLURES dressage saddle, the Versailles. Donovan also has ALLURES numnahs and bridle.

In our follow-up sessions we have already seen Donovan improve markedly, and he might need a wider saddle soon. This is somewhat to Solveig's dismay - she says: "But I love my saddle! I do really appreciate, however, the fact that I can leave all the tack issues to ALLURES and be confident that they will make sure my horse is equipped according to his needs at all times".  

New ALLURES Jump Saddles 

At ALLURES we continue to develop new products, and our latest major innovations are two new jump saddles, the Beynac and the Pompadour. As always with our saddles, it starts with the saddle tree. These trees complement our range to give options that fall in between our other main jumping saddles, the Patriot and the Carcassonne. The trees are more generous in the waist than the Carcassonne, and higher in the pommel than the Patriot.

 We also wanted to place the rider further forward in the saddles. Hence, we have spent considerable time researching stirrup bars and arrived at a solution that achieves the desired result while keeping rider safety at the forefront of our minds. 

A further objective was to create the ultimate close contact feel. To this effect, we have two solutions. The Pompadour saddle is a single-flap saddle. We would never fix the girth straps on the flaps - that would remove all flexibility in the girthing with respect to where the horse has his girth groove. And we do not want any naked girth straps against the sides of the horse. Hence, we have placed the girth on top of the flap, fixed on webbing. In this way we retain a certain amount of flexibility with respect to the horse while maximising his comfort. The rider's comfort is also enhanced: the long flat leather girth strap feels nice against the leg and as the saddle is used with a short girth, the leg is not in contact with any buckles. The very forward cut flaps allow for a riding style with very short leathers, and give the ultimate balance over the highest and largest show jumping or cross-country jumps.

The Beynac saddle tackles the issue differently. On this saddle we have two flaps as on traditional saddles, but the top flap is cut away to reveal the underlying flap behind the leg. The purpose with this is to fix the blocks on the velcro on the under-flap and since the top flap is cut away, it doesn't have to mould around the block and the rider is more directly in contact with the block. The saddle comes with three sets of blocks of different sizes, to suit each rider's needs. The girthing is traditional, so the saddle is used with a long girth. The flaps are again very forward cut, to accommodate the most keen rider over the largest jumps be it in the arena or on the cross-country course. Both saddles are developed with the highest standard of rider in mind, but will delight anybody who is starting to negotiate sizeable jumps.

The price of the Beynac and the Pompadour is 3,350;- euros.