The horse industry has one of the longest histories of product development. We will never know anything about the Assyrian who, around 700 or 800 BC had that sudden “aha” moment and decided to put a surcingle with a pad to ease the impact on his seat. Further moments of anonymous genius produced the first saddle tree about 500 years later somewhere in Asia. This allowed for swells in saddles to take pressure off the horses’ spines so they’d perform longer. Another 500 years after that, another Asian somehow realized what happened when paired stirrups were added. This was actually one of the most important inventions in history, as it allowed the mounted enemies of Rome to defeat
the less effective stirrup-less Roman cavalry. It took a millennium for tack to get that far.
Today we live in a world that contains about 20% of all humans that have ever lived on our planet, and communication and development are exponentially faster. Our knowledge of tack development is based on two factors: first, a better knowledge of the functional anatomy of both horse and rider, and second, the revolution in development of synthetic materials and their tack applications. There is no industry where these concepts are closer related. Consider the fact that someone had to observe that bareback ridden horses had less sore spines, noted the shape of the human buttocks and how rider weight was distributed away from the midline, and applied this information to make the first swells.
Today our computer data analyzes thousands of points in a variety of gaits to produce almost an overload of information to go into the next product. Synthetics add improvements in impact absorption and resistance to deterioration from forces like water, dryness, UV radiation, and abrasion. All this without sacrificing what we regard as a classic appearance of our tack, whether English or Western.
Development demands focus and direction. What is important is the process. The process, if continuously devoted to quality improvement, will produce the best products. After world war 2, Japanese industry was in ruins. The Japanese looked to America to see how we won the war. They discovered an industrial engineer named Arthur Deming, who was the first person to successfully espouse the concept of Continuous Quality Improvement. Deming showed the how to apply CQI to rebuild their industry based on improving processes to improve outcomes. The result was Japanese dominance in such fields as electronics and automobile production. Today, in a xenophobic culture, the most prestigious award in Japanese business is the Deming award. The message, whether in development or production, is keep improving the process and the process will produce a better product.
Linearity is critical in development, lest a fad lead one astray. When the Hawaiian king Kamehamaha saw his big island overrun by cattle given to him by Lord Vancouver, and his subjects clueless as to how to deal with the cattle, he imported Mexican vaqueros to teach the Hawaiians how to be herders. The Mexicans left after finishing the job, leaving the Hawaiians their guitars and saddles. Because of Hawaii’s isolation, the Hawaiian saddle design remains the same as it was 150 years ago, an anachronism in a changing world. These saddles represent a historical curiosity, and teach us what happens when a concept leaves the development stream and becomes isolated.
Maintain progress.
Keep riding JSW