Saddle Fitting: What You Need to Know, Part 2
By Dave Di Pietra
In part 1 we discussed the basic concepts of saddle fitting, how to determine if your saddle fits properly, what to think about when purchasing a saddle and how to visually inspect a saddle for fit. In this article we will discuss cues from your horse that will help to determine saddle fit.
If visually your saddle looks good, the next best indicator of proper fit is your horse. How is his attitude? If your horse is in pain, nine times out of ten, he’ll let you know. Is he tender to touch? Is there any swelling? Is hair being rubbed off? Is there any discoloration? The signs are often there, if you’re looking!
So your saddle doesn’t fit quite right, is there anything you can do? Maybe, maybe not. You might be able to do some creative padding but if the tree is so far off because of a combination of problems, (too wide in the gullet or not wide enough, too much rock or too little, not enough twist or too much), it might be time to consider a different saddle. Simpler problems can sometimes be addressed with padding. The rule of thumb is to pad away from the pressure. I’ll illustrate this concept with a few examples.
If you had a saddle that was too tight in the gullet area right behind the shoulder blades, you wouldn’t want to add an additional or a thicker pad the entire length of the saddle. If you had a pair of shoes that were too tight, putting on another pair of socks would make it worse not better. The fix would be to add additional padding starting right behind the area that was too tight, effectively lifting the saddle up off the tight area (08)’. The opposite scenario would be a gullet that was too wide. In this situation using a shim type pad only in the front gullet area would be the fix (09).
Another common problem is a saddle that bridges. The saddle that bridges has contact in the front and the back with little or no contact in the middle. In this situation adding additional padding in the middle only would be the fix (10). You would have to experiment with different thicknesses and different length padding depending on the severity of the situation. Keep in mind that the ideal situation is a saddle built on a tree that fits the horse. But if getting a different saddle is not an option, this is something you can experiment with.
A couple of thoughts on the way saddles are rigged. If you took half the distance from the cantle to the pommel or swell, and the rigging was hung from that point, it would be called ‘center-fire rigging’ or half rigging. Three quarter rigging would be three quarters of the distance from the cantle to the pommel. Seven eighths rigging would be seven eighths of the distance and full rigging would be with the rigging hung straight down from the pommel (11). The majority of saddles are built with three quarter or seven eighths rigging. On saddles that are rigged seven eighths or full, I recommend snugging up the flank cinch so you don’t have to tighten the front cinch so much.
I have seen saddles that fit the horse perfectly but the horse was getting the tell tale white spots behind the shoulder just because full and sometimes seven eighths rigging pulls down so hard in the front of the saddle that it lifts the back up off the horse and then when the rider sits in the saddle, his weight pushes the saddle back down in back. At this point, the saddle becomes a crowbar and puts even more pressure in the front.
The last thing I would like to address is the rider’s responsibility to the horse. A saddle can also fit a horse perfectly and still sore a horse just because the rider is so out of balance. There are two parts to the riders balance, longitudinal (front to back) and lateral (side to side). For a saddle to do its job correctly the rider needs to be as close to the center of the saddle front to back as well as side to side. We’ll cover longitudinal balance first.
One of the worse offenses I see is a rider who sticks his feet out in front of himself and pushes his weight to the back of the seat. It’s as if he were sitting in a recliner. Instead of the saddle dispersing the rider’s weight half to the front and half to the rear; it loads more weight in back with little in front. (12) Some people are so out of balance this way that they can put twice as much weight in back as they do in front. No matter how good a saddle fits, the horse is going to get sore right under the rear ends of the bars on each side.
Many Endurance and Competitive Trail riders, who are doing long distance events, will ‘two point’ (stand in their stirrups) or post to relieve fatigue. If their stirrups are forward hung instead of in a centered, or balanced, or Dressage position or whatever you want to call it, they put too much pressure in the front of the saddle which results in a sore horse right behind the shoulder blades. You want to be balanced over your stirrups with your legs underneath you, not out in front of you. Ideally your ankle, hip, shoulder and ear should be in vertical alignment. You should be able to stand up without having to throw yourself forwards to get over the stirrups.
The only reason to shift your weight forward is because of speed. As you increase speed, your weight should move forward accordingly. Without getting into a physics lesson here the best illustration is to picture balancing a broomstick on your finger. If you want to walk forwards, the broomstick has to lean out ahead of you or it will fall backwards. The faster you go, the more the broomstick needs to lean forwards. This is described as moving with the action of the horse. If you don’t adjust your weight forwards as the horse picks up speed, you end up behind the action which makes it harder for your horse to work underneath you.
When you are out of balance laterally, you end up with more weight on one side of the horse’s back than the other. (13) When we see a horse with a problem on one side of the back and not the other, the first thing we check is to see that the length of the stirrups is the same. Just because you have each of the leathers in the same hole on each side doesn’t mean that they are level. Leather stretches. Synthetic materials stretch. They have to be even or the shorter one will pull the saddle to that side putting pressure on the opposite side of the back as the stirrups seek to be level.
Another problem is that because we are ‘right handed’ or we kick a ball with our left leg or we pitch hay this way or that way our bodies become out of balance. We end up with stronger muscles on one side than the other. Many people who are severely out of balance will collapse one side of their body which tilts the pelvic girdle the opposite way resulting in more weight on one side of the horse’s back than the other. Just because we put a saddle on our horse, it doesn’t relieve us of the responsibility of staying in the center of the saddle with good posture.
Before buying a saddle from a tack shop or a custom saddler there are a few questions I would like to have answered first. How are they going to fit your horse? If all they need to know is what breed horse you have, that would be the end of the conversation for me. The minimum would be a wither tracing. Next, can any adjustments be made if something is a little off? If you’ve already had problems with other generic fit saddles, this could be an issue. What is the fit guarantee and return policy? Make sure within the trial period that you can go on two or three rides where you are in the saddle for at least a couple of hours. If you don’t have the time, then wait until you do. The worse possible scenario would be finding out a few weeks after the trial period is over that you have a sore horse and you’re stuck with a saddle that doesn’t fit.
Although I have only scratched the surface of the topic I hope that I have given you enough information so that you can assess your current fit or be able to confidently talk to a tack shop sales person or custom saddler to get a saddle that will keep your horse comfortable.
About the Author: David Di Pietra is President and CEO of Synergist Saddles. The Synergist Saddle Company has been building premier custom saddles for over 12 years, and enjoys a world-wide reputation in all disciplines for high quality and excellent service. David is a 2nd generation saddle maker, having learned the craft from his father. His family’s endurance racing background has provided the perfect proving ground for saddle innovations. For more information visit www.synergistsaddles.com or call 307.433.1008
