Peter Menet has created a legendary following among top riders for his application of equine biomechanics to saddle design. His design philosophy that has made Amerigo successful now comes to Vega- his new Italian-made range of saddles. Both Amerigo and Vega share the design philosophy of sitting the rider slightly more forward, over the strongest part of the horse's back. This encourages the horse to round his back, get the hind legs under, collect and half halt without interference from the saddle. Similar to Amerigo, all Vegas are designed with "Independent Swiss-style panels" which are not integrated into the sweat flap of the saddle. This, combined with the wool flocking, allows the panels to take the shape of the horse’s back, instead of a fixed angle that may not match the angle of the horse's back. What separates Vega from Amerigo is the type of tree on which the saddle is built. Vega saddles are built on an polyamid (synthetic) tree instead of a wood tree. Unlike other synthetic trees, the Vega tree is stabilized with a steel head iron. This prevents the tree from spreading, while stabilizing the tree points and offering controlled flexibility. The shape of the Vega tree came from years of saddle fitting data that averaged the organic distances of the horses back. That means the Vega will fit a wide variety of back types.