Saddle Fitting

Fitting a saddle perfectly to a horse is almost impossible. Changes in muscle, weight, disciplines performed, days off, lameness, stiffness and sometimes even the weather might make your saddle unsuitable for your horse. It can be very frustrating to go through heaps of saddles in the span of just a couple of months and still not find one that fits your horse. Expensive chiropractors and saddle fitters might find the near perfect fit for your horse, but as soon as they have driven out the gate, your horse will decide to do something different and the saddle will turn out to be useless.

Remember it is mostly the size of your bum and thighs that determine the saddle size but very rarely ever the horse. Of course you wouldn't use a 18 inch saddle on a 11hh Welsh Mountain Pony, but who of that size would ride a Welsh Mountain Pony?!  The length of the saddle is important, as you do not want it to be too long. Most of the larger saddles are now manufactured to have a sloping up cantle that keeps the back of the saddle away from the horses sensitive loin region. The other region that needs to be avoided is the shoulder, if the saddle is putting weight on the horses shoulder, it will restrict movement. I've seen many times how the saddle was placed on the horse's shoulder and the rider complained about not enough forward and suppleness. When the saddle was moved back and lifted in the front, the horse started striding out and walking forward.

Here a few signs that require having your saddle fit checked:

-          Biting, nipping, and/or ears back when the saddle is placed on the back

-          Stiff, slow gaits lacking expression or frequent, unexplained lameness

-          Sensitive back region

-          Bucking in canter or after jumps

-          Reluctant to do tight circles

-          Uneven sweat marks after ridden work

-          White hairs developing

-          Poor or uneven muscle development

-          Doesn't relax or go on the bit

-          "Hard" mouthed

-          Generally grumpy and ill-tempered

All the above signs can be shown excessively or minimally depending on the horse. Horses can't express pain like humans or some other animals and will either become very introverted and "switch off" or be aggressive. Some horses have been wrongly considered as lazy and mean but they're actually just suffering from a badly fitted saddle.

Before you buy a new saddle, check the width of your gullet, channel, length of saddle and if the flock is even. A too big or small gullet will cause pressure on the wither region, a small channel will press on the vertebrae and an uneven flock will cause uneven pressure. If you find your horse has uneven back muscles, don't try to get your saddler to change the flock to his shape, but rather use a lifting pad and re-build your horse's weak side. If the flock is uneven, the horse won't be able to develop his back evenly. Also check whether your saddle has the first girth strap attached to the gullet as common with dressage saddles. If so, put the saddle on your horse and lay your hands underneath the gullet. Get someone else to tighten the girth and see how much pressure is on your hands. If it hurts you, it'll hurt the horse. Now imagine an extra 50 to a 100kgs on that. So if that is the case, use the last to girth straps to tighten the girth and see how your horse goes. Remember that this soreness was established when you first used that girthing system so it'll take a while to subside, but you should feel an instant difference. Also have a look whether your saddle looks like it sits evenly or whether its back end looks like its slightly lifted up. This doesn't mean you need a back lift pad, it means that you have to lift up the front with a front riser pad. Mount your horse and try to push your hand between your horses shoulder and the knee blocks. If your hand gets squished, then the saddle will be too far forward on the horses shoulder.

Remember that different breeds have been bred over hundreds of years for a certain type of work and the breeders have always used "special gear". It wasn't necessary for draft horses to have a medium high wither and a good shaped ribcage as they only needed to be strong to pull carts and ploughs. The western saddle was developed for the Quarter Horse breed, and I am honestly impressed every time I see that someone has successfully fitted a close contact jumping saddle to a QH! Arabs have been ridden with something like cushions tied to their back and therefore developed the first form of the modern treeless saddle. Modern warmblood's tend to have massive shoulders that make it almost impossible to fit them with anything but a dressage saddle. Adding to the mess will be crossbreds like Quarabs or TB-Clydie X's, that either inherited the best or the worst of both. Depending on your horse, it would be wise to choose a saddle closest to his origins. I owned a Warmblood thoroughbred cross at one point and although I had big plans for him to be my next Grand Prix horse when he was only a year old, he turned out to only suit bareback or a x-full-quarter bars short round skirt western saddle. That was frustrating.

Wither and back soreness does not always have to be the saddles fault though. Don't be fooled on how much weight you will actually put on your horse's spine when getting on from the ground. No matter how light weight and nimble you are, you will still put double your weight on one side of the horses spine. Say you weigh 60kgs, by getting on from one side onto a 15hh horse, you'll put doube the pressure on his back. Meaning 120kg pulling on one side! Always look for a mounting block, fence, tree trunk or even a chair. Your horse will thank you!

What you can try, if you can't afford a new saddle, is to buy a pad that will even out the saddle. Here a few companies that manufacture lovely useful and well thought through pads.

-          Prolite http://www.prolitepads.com/

-          CSI Saddlepads http://www.csipads.com/

-          Suber Pad http://www.davidahnequine.co.uk

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