Dennis Lane's Equine Profiling System

[Guest]

Not being a techie in any way - What is a stereolithograph and how does it work? In simple terms, please. (Very simple terms, please.) Any process that would make it easier to understand shapes is good to learn about. It is a very difficult, confusing area, but we are gaining ground. Thanks for your input.

A stereolithograph is a machine that uses a CAD (computer aided drawing) file to drive a laser. The laser is directed at a pool of liquid resin. Where ever the laser beam strikes the liquid resin, it hardens the liquid into a solid shape......as the laser follows the contours of the CAD drawing, the product, in this case, a saddle tree, would grow from the pool of liquid. Watching one of these machines work is like watching a sci-fi movie. Seeing things grow from a liquid pool is very interesting.

With one of these machine it would be possible to use a 3D scanner to get the critical points on a specific horse and then produce an exact replica of the horse's back. The same thing could be done with the rider...and produce the perfect fit for every rider's posterior.

Isn't technology grand? Now all you need is $.

[Rod and Denise Nikkel]

David,

Thanks for your answer. Sounds very hi-tech, sci-fi, expensive and fun to watch. Amazing what you learn on a forum about leather working!

[David Genadek]

Ok Techies,

Here is the deal , horses don’t have collar bones to hold their sternum in the center of their two front legs. This isn’t much of a problem in the wild, but when we introduce the human into the equation it can have a dramatic effect on the shape of the horse. Keeping a horse straight is critical in all aspects of horsemanship. If they are crooked they are unable to utilize their ring of muscles, which is a whole set of muscles that allow them to use their body the way it was designed to work. If this system of muscles is not being utilized by the animal,their back shape can be greatly effected. So from a technical stand point you may say it is no big deal to capture a bunch of shapes and group them but in reality the shapes have been so corrupted by mans influence that it makes the problem seem overwhelming at times. I posted a link under Off Topic of pictures I recently took in the Pryor Mountains of wild mustangs. Here the potential for an accurate data set exsists but this is very rare!

From the stand point of building trees it puts one in a position of needing to learn a great deal about training techniques, dentistry, shoeing and biting so you can understand what the horses shape should be. Now there is no way any one person can become proficient enough in all these areas to figure the problem out. In the end it takes a team of people just to figure out if the shape you are trying to capture should be captured and included in a data set.

The other issue is the shape is constantly changing so what you really want to capture is a composite shape of the back in motion. I began getting a handle on this by making molds of backs in different positions from their I figured I could just cinch the casting material on and move the horse and this gave me the composite shape I was looking for. That experience now allows me to adjust a 3d model of a static back into a 3d model of a dynamic back. From there we can model the bar shapes.

I was just in Seattle working with my 3d guy who now has access to a 3d printer so I am awaiting my first printed prototypes of some new parts. This rapid protoyping technology should really speed up our development process and allow for more experimentation.

David Genadek

Just an idea...could you take pics of a horse and then use a computer to mark certain reference points. It would seem to me that superimposing a template with known parameters over the horse image would allow accurate measurements and degrees of angle to be configured. This post was made by a tech, not a saddler, but from the tech point of view, a program like that would be relatively easy to construct, and would still allow for the consistency desired in the industry. Just an idea...any thoughts?

Johanna