In the late 90's Dean Woodard was trading in second hand saddles purchased at auctions when he bought a funny looking saddle which turned out to be a Roe Richardson Reactorpanel. Intrigued by this he worked out how to fit it to one of his own horses and was amazed at how well it worked for the horse and how close he felt when riding in it. In the aftermath of the loss of Roe Richardson the custome
rs who owned these saddles had no one to maintain and fit them, Dean now filled this position, driving all over the country fitting the saddles and dealing in any second hand ones he could obtain. Innovation continued in 2002 with the introduction of the FEI weight system for Endurance riders, giving them the ability to add weight into the saddle in a completely balanced way. Designed by Dean for for Christine Hyde who then went on to win The100 mile fei ride at Alfreds Tower on her first outing with the system in place.The system is now widely used by most of our FEI customer. Dean also re-designed the numnahs to make them easier to remove swiftly at the vet gates. As time went on Reactorpanel has gone from strength to strength, a number of new style of saddle being introduced based on custom saddles made for individual riders, for example the Lucinda McAlpine dressage saddle, designed specifically for Lucinda and The Christine Yeoman Endurance Saddle designed specifically for Chris by Dean with the help of the saddle makers.. All this culminated in 2008 when his customer Maria Alvarez Mercades Ponton who became the FEI World Endurance Champion in Malaysia 2008 using her ReactorPanel Endurance Saddle he had sold her in September 2006. Maria then went on to win the European Championship 2009 and then in December 2010 she won the World Championship again 7 weeks after having a baby. This year we are proud to announce we have unveiled not only another addition to the Endurance Range but also an Iberian saddle. ReactorPanel Endurance is now complimented by The Comfort Endurance Range of Synthetic tack being used by the British Endurance Team for The Europeans in Florac 2011.
