Sharp-eyed internet viewers of the Chronicle’s photo gallery of the costume class at the Washington International Horse Show noticed that Lillie Keenan has gone retro with her saddle choice.

They picked out that the saddle she uses on her grand prix horse Balance has completely flat flaps, much like saddles of the ‘60s and ‘70s. And they wondered about the unusual choice. So, we asked Keenan about Balance’s saddle. And lo and behold, the internet eyes are right—Keenan prefers a saddle without blocks or padding on the flaps.

“I don’t know if it’s my style or what, but I find that balancing is so much easier for me without having the blocks,” she said. “I know the idea of the blocks is to hold you in place, but I find for most of my horses, having a flatter saddle helps me hold my balance. I get to find my balance without hitting a block. Sometimes, if a horse gives a really big effort over a fence, I’d find the blocks pushing me out of my natural balance. The reason I strongly prefer those saddles is because I feel so much closer to the horse. The horse is your partner and you should know all their movements. I feel like I can communicate better with my horse if there’s less between us.”

Keenan, now 18, had her first taste of riding in a flat saddle years ago, when Erin Stewart, then an assistant trainer at Heritage Farm where Keenan trains, had been riding one of her horses in Stewart’s flat Butet saddle. “I got on right after her and I found that I strongly preferred it,” Keenan said.

“The first totally flat saddle I bought was an old Butet I got used about four years ago. It had belonged to Yann Candele,” said Keenan. “I used it for the [George H. Morris Horsemastership Clinic] and when Anne Kursinski taught, she got on my horse. She looked at my saddle and said, ‘Oh, I love this saddle! It’s like we’re going back in time.’

“A lot of people see it and comment ‘That’s so weird,’ but it used to be the norm,” she continued.

Keenan didn’t ride to her Pessoa/USEF Medal Final and ASPCA Maclay Final titles last year in a flat saddle. Her mount for those classes, Clearway, had a saddle made for him that featured blocks, so she rode in that. But she now rides all her horses in saddles with flat flaps. Balance’s saddle is a custom Hermès Cavale saddle.

“It’s a choice I’ve made because I like the balance,” Keenan said. “I think the saddles with blocks are marketed to make you think more is good, but I really think less is more. I think it’s more effective when you think about staying in contact with your horse. I just prefer it.”