Saddle Fitting - The Inside Journey

Let's Twist Again ...

2012-01-13T16:03:00.000-05:00

Twist width is probably one of the most frequent "rider-fit" issues I run into. As with so many facets of saddle fitting, it's a very subjective thing; Person A's perfect twist may make Person B feel as though they're sitting on the narrow side of a 2"x4", while Person B's perfect twist may make Person A feel as though his/her hips are being torqued out of joint. I fall firmly into the "narrower twist" camp. I love my Passier GG, I love the Black Country Eden, and I'll even cop to loving the ride of the old, hard German Stubben dressage saddles (the Tristan in particular). However, my mare will turn 15 this spring, and has developed a bit of middle-age (read: hoop tree) spread ... No matter how much work I put into her, she'll never be the same shape as she was when she was 7 ... And given that I'm 50 and will never again return to my pre-childbearing 26-year-old size 8 shape, I don't feel as though I ought to be pointing any fingers.

Anyway, this means Lyric will be moving into a hoop tree, which means that I will be riding a wider twist. You see, twist width is determined by tree width AND by tree type. The rails on a spring tree should be at the same angle as the tree point; that means the wider the tree, the flatter the rails and therefore the wider the twist. In the photo below, the tree on the left is an extra wide hoop tree, and the tree on the right is a medium-wide standard tree. (Ideally, for comparison's sake, the two types of trees would have been the same width, but I'm working with what's lying around my bench!)

Here's a shot comparing the rail and tree point angles (hoop tree on top, standard on bottom):

As you can see, the angle of the rails and tree points agree on each individual tree, but the angles on the hoop tree are much flatter (and this would still be true if the tree width were the same).

Here's the twist on the standard tree:

And here's the twist on the hoop tree:

It's not a huge difference - roughly an inch - and for some people it wouldn't be an issue. But for some, their personal conformation would make it very hard to accommodate that extra inch. Hopefully I'll be in the former camp, but we'll find out come spring ...

Lights ... Camera ...

2012-01-13T09:01:00.000-05:00

One of the challenges of doing a blog is coming up with new and pertinent content. Now that I'm starting on my fourth year of blogging (hard to believe it's been that long), I've been cogitating on what I could add that would make things a bit more interesting. Some of this may stem from the fact that I'm also fairly frustrated, because my camera has been in the repair shop since the beginning of December. It's finally on its way back as I write this, but I'm feeling as though things have been a bit stagnant without the visuals; hunting through my photo archives to find just the right photo requires too much time and patience when you're used to being able to "just SHOOT it". So I'm primed for shaking things up a bit.

Here's the plan: since my husband is a videographer and production facilitator at GNAT-TV, our local public access station - and since I have his hand prints all over my back from the pushing he's been doing! - I'm thinking of adding some videos. Now, the question for all of YOU is: what would you like to see? I have some ideas (still rather vague and nebulous, to the hubby's chagrin) and I know what I find interesting, but I'd really like to get input from you folks. Please let me know by posting your comments here; something you write may spark an idea for someone else.

"I'm ready for my close-up, Mr. DeMille ..."

Billets

2012-01-12T16:43:00.002-05:00

For want of a nail the shoe was lost. For want of a shoe the horse was lost. For want of a horse the rider was lost. For want of a rider the message was lost. For want of a message the battle was lost. For want of a battle the kingdom was lost. And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.

This is a great old proverb that Ma used to quote often, about the the way something seemingly small can have huge consequences in greater events. (Ma may not have known about the Butterfly Effect or chaos theory, but she by-god knew about paying attention to detail, and was probably the biggest influence behind my growing up to be such a nit-picking pedant.) In saddle fitting, you need to make sure the Holy Trine (tree width, tree shape and panel configuration) are correct ... but sometimes a tiny detail can derail an otherwise fine fit ... a tiny detail like billet placement or configuration.

To figure out just why this little piece of the saddle fitting picture is so important, let's start by taking a look at the horse's "girth spot" or "girth groove". To put it simply, it's the flat spot on the bottom of the barrel behind the forelegs. On some horses, it's fairly generous, as on this horse (the approximate girth spot is highlighted in green):

On some horses, it's a bit less generous:

But on some horses, it's far forward and quite wee:

On my mare, it's not quite as tiny as in this shot - her foreleg is hiding a good inch of it, honestly - but ...

She really is shaped like this:

If your horse has a long girth spot, you can get away with a saddle that has the "standard" billet set (though frankly, these billets are set too far back for most horses, and you'd probably have to use the two front billets rather than the first and last):

However, I see a good number of horses that have the short, forward girth spots; they tend to be broader, with very well-sprung rib cages. They often seem to have big, laid-back shoulders, too. Saddle placement on beasts with this conformation can be a challenge, since very often the billets will fall behind the natural girth spot:

This means that when the saddle is girthed up, it gets yanked forward along that big round rib cage until the billets line up with the girth spot. This means the shoulders are constricted; even if the tree points are short, having the saddle jammed right in behind the shoulders can inhibit the use of the forelegs and create sores on the elbows.

This can also throw the saddle out of balance, making it sit pommel high, which will throw the rider in the back seat and cause all sorts of problems.

So what can you do? Well, you can try a saddle with a point billet, which is attached to the point of the saddle tree. Of course, there are point billets and there are point billets. Some come out of the rear of the thigh block, which may not be quite far forward enough for some horses:

Notice the curve in the front billet? That can make the saddle scoot forward.

Having the billet come out of the bottom of the block can be a better choice if the horse has an extremely forward girth spot:

The saddle in the photo above also has a swing rear billet, which allows the rear billet to move into the correct position for pretty much any girth spot. It also offers greater stabilization, thanks to the two attachment points on the "V" of the webbing.

Some saddles offer a choice of billet positions, like this Thorowgood:

The billets loop through the rings under the flap, allowing the rider to choose either a point or regular billet position, while the swing rear billet will position itself as necessary. The Black Country Summit also offers a LOT of billet choices:

The good news about billet placement is that it can often be changed. If your saddle is a great fit except for the billet placement, a competent saddler can retrofit: remove or install a point billet, move a standard billet forward or back, or install (or remove) a swing rear billet. And if you're buying new, most good saddle companies will make your saddle with whatever billet configuration your fitter thinks will be most suitable for your horse.

Bliss of (and In) London!

2012-01-06T17:02:00.001-05:00

Just got a heads-up from Nikki Newcombe at Bliss of London. If you're interested in going to the London premier of the movie War Horse, Bliss has some free tickets available. And not just any free tickets - VIP tickets that will get you into the movie AND the pre-screening party. Here are the details:

Would you like to join us on January 13th 2012 for the opening night of the film War Horse? We are giving away 10 pairs of VIP tickets for you and a guest for this very special evening. If you would like to attend, all we askk is for you to e-mail us at contact@bliss-of-london.com with the subject title "War Horse" and include your name and address and the name of your guest. The first 10 emails received will be notified within the next 3 days and your tickets will be sent out by special delivery.

Hosted by Bliss of London at Odeon Cinema, Swiss Cottage, London, NW3 5EL.

Reception party starts at 7:30 pm. Presentation at 8:30 pm.

So if you or someone you know is lucky enough to be in or around London, contact Bliss and get tickets. I wish I could be there, but I WILL be seeing the movie here in the US that same day. I'm arming myself with a full box of tissues (I can't make it through the trailer without tearing up!) and going with a bunch of fellow horsewomen. I'm sure we'll all be bawling like babies by the end of the movie.

And if you'd like to get a preview of the truly stunning saddles that Bliss of London is creating, visit them on their FaceBook page and give them a "like".

Random End of Year Stuff

2011-12-31T13:09:00.000-05:00

Writing is a very organic and uncertain activity. You start out with a specific story in mind, but half-way through, you find that the story (or post, or article) has gone haring off on its own down a path that you never meant to walk. Sometimes those bits of writing get shelved and pulled out later (I have quite a few of those), sometimes you hit the "delete" button, and sometimes you follow the path just to see where it will lead. This blog has turned out to be one of those "follow the path" things.

When I started this blog, it was something of an experiment in using social media as "free advertising" for the tack shop. It's worked pretty well - turns out that it's consistently one of the top portals to the shop's website. It's also grown into something more, though. I truly enjoy writing it, and it's been received far better than I'd ever expected. It's given me a chance to get some education about saddle fitting to the general horse public, it's allowed me to give a leg-up to some friends and colleagues, and it's given me an outlet for the frustration and silliness I encounter on a regular basis. It's also led me to being asked to write articles and do interviews ... which I find amazing. Who'da thunk a cranky half-a-century-old saddlefitting broad living in the booniewhacks of VT would have input and info that the general horse public would find interesting?! It's all very, very cool, and I thank each and every one of you from the heart.

Given that this is the last day of 2011, I thought it might be fun to throw out some random things. Two are flat-out brags, and the rest are things that never seemed to quite fit into any specific post. First, I'm going to get the brags over with.

Here's the cover of the TrailBlazer magazine that features my "To Shim or Not To Shim" article:

All glossy and shiny and makes me go "wooooooo ...."

The frontspiece of the article:

Byline and everything!!!
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Second brag. I have been invited to the London opening of the movie War Horse:

This is thanks to Nikki Newcombe, the former Sales Manager at Black Country Saddles. She's started her own saddle company, Bliss of London (which will be featured here as soon as they're ready to launch), and very kindly invited me. Don't I wish!!!
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My work space at the shop is a bit on the cold side. We're up on top of a barn, and the walls in my office are NOT well-insulated. I do tend to like lower temps (when people remark on the chilliness, I tell them that old meat needs to be refrigerated) and dress in layers to help deal with the occasional hot flash ... so the outer layer in the winter months is almost always polar fleece. It's warm, it's lightweight, it breathes ... and it's probably not the smartest choice for someone who plays with sheep fur (or at least navy blue polar fleece when the sheep fur is white):

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Got a six year old saddle in last week for a strip flock. Not only was it incredibly dirty (I mean, you really need to work to get dirt jockeys on the panels), it had never had the flocking touched, and it had been ridden in jeans. Here's what happens to your saddle's seat when your ride in jeans:

Close-up view. The hair-side finish has been worn completely away and you can see the skin side. A year or so more of riding in jeans, and the saddle's owner will be looking at a $600 re-seat.

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When you flock a saddle, you tend to work with small pieces of wool, maybe 6" or so long, but not much bigger. Big chunks of wool don't lie in well; they wad up and leave gaps and divots. I've pulled some pretty impressive pieces out, but these are the record holders - the longest is about 31" long. I call them The Scalps of Mine Enemies.

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So what's up for 2012? Well, going to get the mare back in shape and under saddle (and it will have to be a new saddle; the middle-aged spread she's developed can't be encompassed by anything other than a hoop tree ... so I'll have to say goodbye to my Passier GG). Also going to have shiai (test) in karate to get the second stripe on my brown belt. And finally, I'm working on the syllabus for an Intro to Saddle Fitting course. I want to gear it specifically to prep students for Mike Scott's saddle fitting course, and also make it comprehensive enough to offer a good basic education for an individual's personal use. It'll be a 2-day weekend course ... more on that when I'm further along in the organizational process.

Anyway, here's wishing all of you a happy and safe New Year - and as always, thanks for reading.

Ho, Ho, Ho

2011-12-21T16:23:00.000-05:00

To all of my readers and their families - two and four legged - best wishes for a wonderful holiday season full of merry and bright days. And as always, thanks for reading!

Just to Clarify

2011-12-20T14:12:00.000-05:00

I'm afraid that my last blog post was a bit unclear regarding whose template info I was passing on, and may have given the wrong impression. The "Hey Santa - Reindeer Got Fur" part linked to the Kieffer USA site. While that site sells Kieffer saddles and bridles, it is NOT under the auspices of "the" Kieffer Saddle Company in Germany. From the Kieffer USA site:

"KiefferUSA.com is an independent company and is not in any way owned, or operated by Kieffer of Germany. KiefferUSA.com serves the riding public of the USA only. KiefferUSA.com is owned by a Master Saddle Designer who himself is an accomplished equestrian with more than 45 years of experience. He is an expert on the unique requirements of the North American rider."

Kieffer Saddlery's site is here. Different kettle of fish.

Fallacies (More Misinformation)

2011-12-19T14:12:00.000-05:00

Having been in this profession for more than a decade, you'd think I'd have heard the bulk of the available info - both good and bad - about saddles and fit. However, humans are nothing if not innovative, so there's often something new stirring out there. Sometimes it's a new fitting diagnostic or a new saddle design, sometimes it's a new fitting theory or a new dingwhacket guaranteed to cure every saddle fitting ill on the planet. But the one "new" thing I find unceasingly amazing is the amount of (what I feel is) questionable theory that I seem to trip over every time I turn around ... and the people willing to believe it.

ROCK ON

My saddle fitting training and philosophy states that the saddle should spread the rider's weight over the largest possible weight-bearing area (without extending past T18) and maintain contact with the horse's back throughout the panel when the horse is in motion. So I was quite surprised when I read this post. My first impression was that it runs very counter to what I've been taught, so I read it through a few times, trying to understand the author's point (and keeping in mind that, while he's quite fluent in English, it is not his mother tongue). I think I get it: the saddle can't press too heavily in the rear of the panels, it shouldn't put pressure on the loins and it must fit the active back ... and I couldn't agree more. However, if the Holy Three (tree width, tree shape and panel configuration) are correct, there won't be tons of pressure or "visual indents under the panel wedge" (which in my experience often come from a too-narrow tree), so the saddle doesn't need to "rock slightly at the cantle". I can understand using upswept panels to keep the weight-bearing surface on the safe side of T18, but the word "rock" is really throwing me here. This could be a misunderstanding on my part, or it could be an example of the differences between the UK school of fitting and the "Continental" school ... but if the cantle lifts when the horse is in motion, there's a fulcrum point somewhere that's causing the rocking, and that's causing a pressure point, and that's not good.

SHIMMING FOR SPACE

This reminds me of the old saw, "Fighting for peace is like f******g for virginity ..."

Recently, someone sent me photos of their horse and saddle, hoping I could shed some light on an ongoing fitting problem. Her chiropractor/saddle fitter had recommended using front shims to "create some room", since the front of the saddle seemed tight. When I saw the photos, it turned out that the tree was substantially too narrow for the horse, and the shims just made things worse. "But the fitter said there needed to be more room in the front of the saddle, and the shims would help create it."

I can follow the thinking here: if you add shims to the front of the saddle, they take up space; if the saddle's a little too wide, they can make up the width and lift the front of the saddle, making it sit level instead of nose-diving. So if you add shims to a tree that's too narrow, yes, you'll lift the front of the saddle and create more room between the horse's wither and the pommel arch ... but you're creating even more pressure under the tree points. Following that logic, if the waistband of your jeans isn't roomy enough, you should be able to add a couple pairs of granny panties and create more room. And trust me, one will be just as uncomfortable as the other. If the tree's too narrow, adding more bulk under the tree points is the last thing you should do.

FITTING THE HORSE TO THE SADDLE

Customer calls and is interested in trying a Frank Baines Capriole, says she rode in one and loved it to pieces, most comfortable saddle she's ever been in, and wants one for her horse. When I ask if she's ever tried one on her horse, she says no; when I ask what sort of horse she has, she says she has an older Thoroughbred mare with big withers and a dippy back. Problem here is that the Baines Capriole fits flat as a pancake, and putting one on a horse with the described conformation will probably make it bridge like a plank over a ditch. But I asked the customer to send tracings and photos, just in case the "big withers and dippy back" was less extreme than it had sounded.

When the info arrived, the mare indeed proved to be the opposite end of the spectrum from "flat". I contacted the owner with some recommendations, which included a Black Country Eden, a Frank Baines Reflex, an Albion high-head and an older County Competitor (the kind that looks like a leather-covered banana with billets). But the owner wouldn't let go of the idea of a Capriole. "But won't her back come up with training? When she's doing dressage, doesn't her back come up?"

I agreed that it would and it should, and asked just how old "older" was, and what level the mare was presently working.

"She's 18, and we're just starting to work at Training Level," was the reply.

Now, I have seen horse's backs change to an amazing degree with correct training, and it's not uncommon to see dramatic muscle development happen ... but in an 18 yr. old horse under an ammie owner and just getting into Training level? Not so much, honestly. I told the customer all my reservations and doubts, but she insisted on trying a Capriole. She sent photos to me, and the saddle was showing daylight under the panels - plank over a ditch, indeed. Needless to say, her fitter nixed the saddle, her trainer nixed the saddle, and her vet nixed the saddle. Finally she settled on a Frank Baines Reflex (which fit the horse like a glove and turned out to be fine for the rider, too) ... but she told me her next horse is going to be a LOT flatter in the back.

WIDTH, WIDTH, WIDTH

"My horse needs a wide tree." "My horse needs a 34 cm. tree." "My horse needs an extra-wide tree." I hear this day in and day out. And given some of the fitting information available on some saddle companies' web sites, it's understandable - width is one of the most frequently-mentioned facets (and sometimes the only facet) of saddle fitting. I've even had customers tell me that reps have told them, "As long as the tree width is correct, everything else will be, too." And while it's a vital part of the saddle fitting equation, it's not the only part.

HEY SANTA - REINDEER GOT FUR!

Take a look at this. Get past the reindeer "fur" saddle pad and click on the "How To Fit Your Horse" link on the left. Please do not send me tracings made to these specs. Please ... just don't.

SLIP SLIDING AWAY

One of the most diplomatically sensitive areas of saddle fitting is seat size. To some people, large seat size means "your arse is huge," and they can get downright cranky if you infer that a 16.5" or 17" seat might be a tad ... snug. While the size of your back yard does play a part in the seat size you'll need, remember that the length of your femur plays a part here, too. So if you're 5'9" and long-legged, please don't be offended if your saddle fitter mentions an 18" seat (or an 18.5" or 19" seat in the snug-fitting brands like Duett and Lovatt and Ricketts). That said, there are times when a larger seat size is NOT the answer; I've dealt with lots of tall, skinny riders who'd spent years trying to stabilize their leg when they couldn't reach the knee/thigh block and swimming in seats that were miles too big. Sometimes the answer for the tall skinnies is a smaller seat size and a modified (longer and/or more forward) flap, so if you're 5'9" and weigh 130 lbs., that may be the better option. (If you'd like some in-depth info on fitting the rider, check out my Saddle Fit for the Rider article on the shop's website.)

If you run into any info you wonder about, check it out with a reputable saddler/fitter. And if you don't know one, you can always leave a comment here or send me an e-mail; I'm happy to offer whatever help I can.

TaeKwando is for Babies

2011-12-15T07:49:00.000-05:00

FYI: this is totally unrelated to saddle fitting.

If any of you have ever read my profile, you'll know that in addition to my horse-related activities, I am a karateka - a student of karate. (And if you haven't read my profile, well, now you know anyway.) I've been studying Koro Ken Karatedo for the last 6 years and have attained the rank of san-kyu (first degree brown belt); according to my Sensei (teacher - literally, "one who has gone before"), I'll soon be testing for second degree. It's a long, tough, wonderful journey ... and obviously you have to start somewhere.

In our dojo, it's considered the duty of the higher belts to help teach the beginners, and I used to help teach the kids' classes. I had to stop doing so when I started working full time, and it was probably for the best, since I'm not kid-centric and occasionally (though unintentionally) reduced a timid child to tears. So when I saw this video, I laughed so hard I nearly peed myself. It does look a bit like "Riverdance" with protective headgear, but at this age, they're doing well to be walking upright. Love those back-kicks!

Shameless Self-Promotion

2011-11-27T13:54:00.000-05:00

Just wanted to give you all a heads-up about an article on shims and correction pads that I just finished for Trail Blazer magazine. It's supposed to be in the Dec. edition - I only had a bit over 3 weeks to write it; it was a bit of a push to get it done in time, but there's nothing like a looming deadline to kick the creative process into gear. Grab a copy if you get the chance - hope you enjoy it!

Such a Deal (Listen to Bob)

2011-11-11T16:53:00.000-05:00

Value: the monetary worth of something: relative worth, utility, or importance - www.merriam-webster.com

Good saddles aren't cheap. And cheap saddles are rarely good. However, since the economy's in the crapper, many people are thinking long and hard before they plunk down a considerable chunk of change on a saddle. I empathize entirely; making ends meet is tough, and discretionary income seems to be going the way of the dinosaur. But with that in mind, I do urge my customers to invest in the best they can possibly afford without rupturing the budget, for three reasons:

#1) Better quality. As a rule of thumb, you get what you pay for. I'm not saying that you have to go out and spend $7000 - frankly, I get a good chuckle out of the people who hoist their snoots in the air because their saddle costs more than my family's monthly living expenses - but I do know that spending $2800 on a new saddle will pretty much guarantee that it will be of superior quality and workmanship than a spandy-new $400 saddle (especially if we're talking about a spandy-new $400 leather saddle).

#2) Better resale. Saddle prices don't go down, and most people are pleasantly surprised to find that the saddle they spent $2500 on a few years ago (and that they have maintained well) can be sold with only a few hundred dollars' loss.

#3) Real value. As Ma used to say, there are people out there who will "step over a dollar to pick up a dime", meaning that they'll snap up what seems to be a good deal without considering the long-term possibilities. Here's a little vignette to illustrate.

Bob is an appendix Quarter horse who harks back to the Thoroughbred in build and the Quarter horse in temperament. He's a rangy guy with a biggish wither and a dropped back:

I've known Bob for a few years; he's a genuinely good and kind horse, a former polo pony (too big and gawky) who went through a hunter barn (no style over fences) and spent a stint as a teenager's event horse (no zoom on cross-country) before landing with an adult amateur low-level dressage rider who breaks up ring work with long trail rides. This is pretty much an ideal life for Bob; he's amiable and honest enough to do a respectable Training level test, yet phlegmatic enough to be fairly bomb-proof on the trail.

Bob's not a terribly complicated fit, roughly a medium wide in the bulk of the UK-made saddles. I'll have to make sure he has a deeper panel in front to offer support and "fill in" down that substantial wither, and a full front gusset would probably be helpful to support the front of the saddle, too. He'll need a fairly scoopy tree and a thinner rear panel to deal with the upslope to his croup (which is more pronounced than this photo shows). My first choice would be either a Frank Baines Reflex or a Black Country Eden with a K panel and full front gusset. His owner doesn't have the budget for a new saddle, so we find a couple used saddles in the $1500 range, including an Albion SLK with a high head and all the necessary fitting options that fits Bob like it was made for him and makes Customer happy, too. I send Customer home with the Albion for the one-week trial.

About 5 days later, she's back in the shop with the Albion. "My trainer doesn't like this saddle," Customer tells me.

I take my glasses off and rub my eyes to keep them from rolling skyward. I know Customer's trainer - she's one of those Self-Appointed Experts who always knows best and can make a fitter's life (and the life of any other professional with whom she collides) a trial, and this isn't the first time I've run into this scenario with one of her clients.

Customer says, "She says Bob can't be a medium-wide, and needs a narrower tree because he has a big wither. She has a 30 cm. Stubben dressage saddle that she says fits him perfectly. It's in really nice shape, and she's going to sell it to me for only five hundred dollars!"

Customer is clearly excited about the price, while I'm as clearly and excitedly (though not in a good way) imagining just what a 30 cm. Stubben will look like on Bob. It's going to be so narrow and sit so pommel-high that I'll be surprised if Customer doesn't skid backwards off the cantle. "Uh, well, would you like me to take a look at it?" I offer, though that would undoubtedly mean having to deal with the Self-Appointed Expert ... which is about as appealing as stapling my lips to a wall, dousing myself in gasoline and sticking a lit match in my butt.

"Oh, no, no, that's ok," Customer tells me. "I'm sure it fits just fine. And what a great deal, too!"

Fast forward about six months. The phone rings, and it's Customer. "I think I need to make an appointment to bring Bob in again."

Yes, I bet you do, I think. "Sure. Does the Stubben need to be checked?"

"Um, no-o-o-o ..." There's a long pause. "I think I need a different saddle."

"Oh, sorry to hear that," I say - and though I'm not surprised, I really am sorry. I hate it when people fall into this sort of pit. "When would you like to come in?"

"I'm not sure. You see, I'm just getting over a broken arm."

"Oh, that's awful!" I say.

"It's almost totally healed now. I'm out of the cast and everything, but I don't feel comfortable trying to deal with the truck and trailer. My daughter will have to drive, and I'm not sure what her schedule is. Can we maybe pencil something in for next week, and I'll call to let you know for sure?"

When Customer finally arrives, I get to hear the whole story - with poor Bob's back to illustrate. The muscle atrophy behind the withers is even more marked, and he's developed a huge lump of muscle at the base of his withers - what I call a "resistance muscle", a feature that I often find on horses who've been lugging an ill-fitting saddle for some time. Fortunately, Bob's not back-sore, but his fitting issues are a lot more complicated that they had been.

Things were fine for a few weeks, although Customer was having trouble keeping her feet back under her body - no surprise, since the saddle sat so pommel-high. Then Bob started flinching when his back was being brushed acting cranky during saddling; he even developed the nasty habit of snapping at whomever was tightening the girth. He was reluctant to go forward, his gaits were choppy and his rear toes were dragging; he refused to bring his back up and consistently worked in an inverted frame. This was all very un-Bob-like, but Trainer decided Bob was just taking advantage of his ammie rider, so she rode Bob ... with the same results. Out came the draw reins and the German martingale, but even these couldn't make Bob drop his head and (at least pretend to) lift his back. At Trainer's recommendation, Customer called the vet and had them do a full work-up, including bloodwork, Lyme test (it's rampant in our area), endoscopic exam for ulcers and lameness exam with radiographs and thermal images. $800 later, the only thing they could find was a slight arthritic change in his near hock and some major back soreness. When the vet suggested that saddle fit might be the culprit (I love the fact that vets are getting hip to this issue!), Trainer pooh-poohed the theory and decided Customer needed to bring in the naturopathic vet ... which Customer did. After a $250 chiropractic and acupuncture session, the naturopathic vet told Customer and Trainer that they really should look into another saddle, since in her opinion the issues stemmed from incorrect fit. Customer was ready to call me, but Trainer wasn't convinced. A couple days later, Trainer threw the Stubben back on Bob, slapped on the draw reins, and bullied him around the indoor arena for a while; then she had Customer get on. Customer mounted, gathered up the reins, and asked Bob to move forward.

Bob went nuclear.

"I'd never felt anything like it," Customer told me, "and I hope I never do again."

Customer was launched in grand style, flying about 12 feet before landing on the top lip of the kick board and snapping both bones in her forearm.

"And you know what really bugs me?" Customer asked me. "I wound up spending over $5000 between that damn Stubben and the vet bills and doctor and hospital bills and a week lost at work. Should've bought that Albion in the first place. But you know the worst thing? It was the way he stood there shaking and sweating after he'd thrown me - he knew he'd done something awful, and I knew it was all my own stupid fault. I'd been putting my horse through hell with that saddle; I'd doubted it was working, but I didn't want to offend Trainer." She sighed. "I should have listened to Bob."

To Tree, or Not to Tree

2011-10-18T16:44:00.001-04:00

I've touched on the subject of treeless vs. treed saddles before, and stated that there are pros and cons to both - BUT that each needs to be fitted correctly or problems will result. Here's a thermograph (see here for more on thermography) that shows what can happen when an incorrectly-fitted treeless saddle creates pressure on the spinous processes:

Remember, blue is coolest and white is hottest (see the scale on the bottom). That, in the words of the horse's owner, is a serious case of "wither sadness". To the owner's immense credit, she knew something was wrong with her horse and spent a lot of time and money trying to pin-point his mystery lameness ... and finally the thermographic image found the culprit.

'Nuff said.

Bare Naked Trees

2011-09-23T15:04:00.000-04:00

The difference between hoop trees and standard trees has been discussed here quite a bit, but I finally have a bare hoop tree (pulled from a saddle that was the victim of a most bizarre accident, which I will chronicle in the future). So I thought I'd take some photos so you can really see the difference between the two. Keep in mind that the hoop tree is an XW, and the standard tree is roughly a medium, so the difference in width is quite dramatic, but I think you'll also be able to see the difference in breadth across the top of the pommel arch as well.

First, here's a standard tree:

And here's the hoop tree:

Now, here's the standard tree stacked on top of the hoop tree:

It's pretty obvious, isn't it? The standard tree is shaped more like a peak roof or a pup tent:

And would be more suitable for a back like this:

Whereas the hoop tree is more like a dome tent:

Or a quonset hut:

And does a great job of fitting a back like this:

Talent

2011-09-21T16:35:00.000-04:00

Saddle fitting is, at best, an inexact science. Sometimes the laws of geometry and physics do not apply; sometimes the logical, rational route to solving a fitting issue drags you through the labyrinth and runs you into the dead end again and again. Sometimes you have to listen to your gut, that hunch, that little voice that says, "Why don't we try this instead?" Because sometimes it's the creative, right-brain method that works best. In light of that, I think it would be fair to say that saddle fitting is probably more art than science. And in light of that, it's really no surprise to me that many saddle fitters have a very creative side and are often involved in the arts.

Stephanie Bloom is like that: saddle fitter and artist, and pretty damn good at both, in my opinion. She fits and sells Reactor Panel, Phoenix and Native Pony saddles, and she does some of the most wonderful animal portraits I've seen:

To my eye, the thing that sets her work apart isn't so much the draftsmanship - which, admittedly, is superior - but the expression she captures. When you look at her portraits, you don't just see a black Lab or a chestnut horse - you get a sense of each animal's personality and individual character, an idea of who they are rather than just what they are. Stephanie works in chalk pastels, doing her portraits from photos; she's been doing commissioned portraits since 2009.

You can find out more about Stephanie and her work at http://www.stephaniebloomportraits.co.uk/.

Psycho Fitter (Qu'est-ce Que C'est?)

2011-09-16T15:51:00.001-04:00

Weekday mornings are usually pretty busy at our house. My first precious cup of coffee is consumed while feeding humans, feeding dogs and cats, feeding the mare, packing lunch for me and snacks for our boys, making sure their back packs contain books and homework and helping my husband get them to the bus on time. I get to enjoy my second cup in a more leisurely manner, sitting in front of the computer, letting the caffeine kick in while I read my e-mail, cruise my favorite websites and - as I was doing Tuesday morning - checking my blog stats.

One of my favorite stats is the "traffic sources". For those of you who don't have blogs (or don't check your stats), it shows which web sites are helping people make their way to your blog; you can click on the link and see which post they're mentioning, what people are saying and who's saying it. That morning, the top referring site was the Horse and Hound bulletin board, so I clicked on the link. Someone named "Keeky" had asked about gel pads, and someone else had referred them to my Mud Season Grumps post, in which I detail the depth and breadth of my loathing for those miserable things. Keeky replied ... well, you can read it for yourself here. When I read, it, I nearly re-routed my coffee through my nose, then whooped and cackled so long and so hard that my husband asked me if I was laying an egg.

First, I'd like to give Keeky props for doing her best to spell "psychopath" correctly. She came damn close - all of the correct letters were there, even if they weren't quite in the proper order, and that's a lot better than many people can do. I'm also extremely gratified to find that my writing so accurately reflects my true nature. Keeky, I'd like you to know that no one has killed either of my cats, and my husband is (so far) unbitten (though I'm not quite sure how you came to the conclusion that he was the one in danger of being gnawed). My ranting sprang from the normal day-to-day frustrations that come with being a horse woman and saddle fitter - specifically one "of a certain age" who, thanks to her hormones, spends a lot of time playing on the Mood Swings; who lives in a very rural part of the world where mud does indeed determine the frequency, location, length and happiness of one's riding, and who, if she doesn't get to the dojo (or at least run kihon and kata) on a regular basis, probably should, in the interest of public safety, be kept in the basement on a very short, very sturdy chain. Now, I'm sure this probably isn't improving your opinion of me ... but aren't you glad you're not my neighbor?

That said, there really is a grain of truth in the psychopath thing. In reality, you have to be a bit of a lunatic to do this job - or to go into any equine-related field. Most jobs in the horse world involve long hours, hard and dirty work, inclement weather, and - often - dealing with other lunatics. And in a purely fiscal light ... well, just let me say that I don't know too many independently wealthy saddle fitters. There's more truth than poetry (as Ma used to say) to the old joke: "How do you make a small fortune in the horse world? Start with a large fortune."

As a fitter, I have to deal with difficult customers, difficult horses, Self-Appointed Experts, long drives to barn calls, people trucking in hours late for appointments (or not showing up at all), problem saddles, unrealistic expectations, zombie saddles, sheep manure and the odd pill bug. I work in an arcane, antiquated profession, in which a tiny number of the world's population have a good working knowledge. Most people outside the horse world (and a surprising number inside the horse world) have no flaming idea what a saddle fitter is, or what we do. On the rare occasion I attend a social gathering that is not horse related, and someone asks me what I do for work, there's usually a moment of dead silence when I say I'm a saddle fitter. It's almost as confusing as when I used to reply, "I'm a dressage trainer." Let me tell you, it's rarely a jump-starter for conversation (though given my rather reclusive, psychopathic nature, that's not necessarily a bad thing).

But the upside of this job - for me, anyway - is the challenge, and the fact that there's always something new to learn. And - though admitting it may put a little shine on my gnarly reputation - I enjoy helping horse and rider find the saddle that works for them, and seeing them ride away happy. As my co-worker Nancy says, we're not really changing the world for the better ... but I do think, in some small way, we may be making at least a small part of it better for the horses and riders we deal with.

Changeable Gullets - The Details

2011-09-02T15:17:00.000-04:00

I know, I know, we've covered this subject before. However, according to my blog stats (which I check from time to time), the posts that consistently get the most traffic are the ones about adjustable trees / changeable gullets. Given that I've just had something of a revelation regarding certain gullet plates, I'm going to share this little nugget of info, since I think it has a lot to do with some fitting issues I've run into, and shows even more clearly why these saddles aren't the perfect answer for every horse out there.

First, let me say that there are changeable gullets, and there are changeable gullets. (There are also changeable heads - note the Albion Genesis models - but that's a different kettle of fish, and not one that I know much about yet.) So ... there are quite a few saddles that offer the changeable gullet system - Anky, Pessoa, Collegiate, Wintec, Thorowgood - but the ones I'm most familiar with are the Wintecs and Thorowgoods, so I'll confine myself mostly to those two, though I will say that I think the Ankys and Pessoas have one of the easier systems to work.

First, let's take a look at the basic gullets. Here's a Wintec standard extra-wide plate:

And here's one of the Wintec Wide plates (it has three: wide, wider and widest; this is the wider):

Now, here's the Thorowgood xw:

And the Thorowgood xxw:

Thorowgood offers two different types of plates: The S bar (bottom, for square cantled saddles) and the R bar (top, for round cantled saddles). The R bar, which has longer points, is better suited for a horse with a good wither and is used in their standard and high-wither models (and the standard Showjumper saddle); the S bar, with shorter points, is better for a lower-to-no wither, broader horse.

Now, here's the Wintec medium plate sitting on top of the Thorowgood medium plate.

And here's the Wintec medium plate compared to the head of a Black Country tree:

Have you noticed anything about the Wintec plates? There's something unique about them, something not found in the head plate of fixed tree saddles or on the gullet plate of any of the changeable gullet saddles. Here are some hints, in case you haven't found it yet.

Here's the Thorowgood medium gullet plate:

Here's the Black Country tree:

And here's the Wintec medium plate:

And the Wintec Wide "wider" plate:

Before I divulge the unique feature (which you've probably already recognized), let me say that the issue that I'd run into rather frequently when fitting the Wintecs was that even when the angle of the tree point (the lower part of the plate) agreed with the horse's back, the fit just wasn't right. At first, I'd put it down to the CAIR panels, which need to have the rider up to really evaluate fit ... but getting the rider up wouldn't improve the issue. Switching out the plates didn't make the fit better, nor did flocking or shimming. For the life of me, I could not figure out what the problem was ... until I received an e-mail from a fellow fitter that mentioned "that damned kink" in the Wintec plates.

I'd handled those plates for years, but never really looked at them. So I grabbed a plate, put it on my bench, and spent a few moments studying it; Yes, there was definitely an inward kink about halfway down the leg of the Wintec plate ... and the lower part of the plate flared out ... This creates two different angles in the gullet plate - one above the kink, and one below it:

And when you compare these angles, they're quite different:

Now, when the gullet is installed in the saddle, the kink corresponds roughly with the top edge of the panels, so technically the lower part - which would be the tree point on a fixed-tree saddle - is one angle, and that angle should be parallel to your horse's back. However, in my experience, this design creates the potential for a great deal of pressure right at the top of the panel. On some horses, this doesn't seem to create issues, but on some - especially those for whom the panel placement isn't quite perfect - it does create a substantial spot of pressure ... and there's nothing that can be done to correct it. And when I see the "straight leg" on other changeable gullet plates, and on the head plates of the fixed-tree saddles, I look at that inward kink and wonder "Why?"

Irene

2011-08-31T09:16:00.000-04:00

Vermont got hammered. We were lucky: the shop, the employees and families (two and four legged) are safe. The worst we experienced was a road wash-out at Edie's place; otherwise it was a little water in the barn or basement, a day or so without power, or a new route to work. I'll say it again: we were lucky - insanely, incredibly, immeasurably lucky. Many people weren't.

http://www.wcax.com/story/15362964/aerial-view-of-vt-damage

RIP

2011-08-22T17:00:00.001-04:00

There are some things in this world that I just cannot comprehend, no matter much I stretch my imagination. Abstract math. The appeal of tiny, bug-eyed, yappy dogs. Pamela Anderson. Driving a Hummer in Manhattan or L.A. Matching china. Fabio. The need to "put your face on" before you leave the house. These are all anathema to me. But the thing that unfailingly floors me, that boggles my mind and makes me do the Big Surprise Face, is when people drop a substantial chunk of change on a saddle and then fail to give it proper care.

For example: here are some photos of Nancy Okun's Black Country Equinox. This saddle is about 6 years old and retalied for about $2600 back then; Nancy figures she's put about 3000 miles into it. This saddle has literally been "rode hard and put away wet" - as is typical for a competitive trail saddle. But after every ride, Nancy wiped the dirt and sweat off it and put it on the rack in her trailer; she dried it carefully when it got soaked and conditioned it when needed - and aside from regular flocking adjustments by yours truly, that's really about all the care it's ever gotten. Nothing heroic or extreme, just good basic maintenance. Take a look.

You can see some wear on the billets and the ends of the undersides of the flaps; there's a little fading on the outsude of the flaps and the jockeys have shaped themselves to the billets and stirrup leathers, but this saddle is in wonderful shape, especially considering the life it's led.

Now, let's take it to the other extreme. This is a saddle that received flocking adjustments but little to no other care; the fitter who did the flocking repeatedly lectured the owner on the care it should receive ... but it seems those lectures fell on deaf ears. Take a look at the photos below, compare them to the shots of Nancy's saddle, and take a guess at its age. Keep in mind that this is a dressage saddle, comparable in quality and price to Nancy's Equinox. These photos were sent by the owner after my fellow fitter had dropped the panels and found a broken tree.

The seat leather's worn through on the right ...

... and badly cracked - nearly worn through - on the left.

Left front panel cracked.

Right front panel cracked through to the lining.

Head plate broken dead center, perhaps as a result of the rusted-out rivets on either side.

Any guesses as to the age of this saddle? You might think it's a venerable old unit that's been to the wars and back, and given the condition it's in, that's a justifiable guess. But I bet you'll be as floored as my fellow fitter was when you learn that this saddle is only 4 - yes, FOUR - years old.

Now, horror at the destruction of a lovely saddle aside, let's take a look at some very practical math. Nancy bought her saddle for about $2600 six years ago. The price of that saddle is now almost $3200. If Nancy sells the saddle for $2000, someone will be thrilled to save $1200 and get a saddle in such nice shape; that means that Nancy's only out about $600, which breaks down to only $100 a year for her saddle. Not a bad deal.

The other saddle, however, is a total wreck. Ironically, the tree is still under warranty, but re-treeing it wouldn't be worthwhile, since the saddle's totally trashed and the remaining leather probably wouldn't hold up to the stretching and stress a re-tree would place on it. Patching the seat or re-seating the saddle would be a questionable enterprise at best - again, given the state of the leather - and patching the panels is really a no-no, since patches on panels rarely stay and have a very real likelihood of creating pressure and/or soreness. Given that this saddle retailed for roughly $2500 four years ago, that breaks down to (let me get the calculator) ... $625 per year. Or, if you want to consider the saddle now sells for about $2900 ... well, I'll let you do the math.

Guest Blogger: "It's About Henry" by Edie Tschorn

2011-07-15T12:41:00.002-04:00

Every once in a while, you run into one of those pieces of writing that makes you stop in your tracks and think, something that speaks to you in more ways than the writer probably intended, something that's so pithy and germane that you have to share with everyone you know.

That happened to me today.

Being the TMT Grammar Nazi, it falls to me to edit most of the articles that go on our web site and into our monthly newsletter (which you can sign up for here if you're interested; the little sign-up box is toward the bottom of the page on the left). When Edie's article popped up in my "In" box, I scanned it quickly, had a great laugh, and then set to editing. It was tough to do, because I kept getting caught up in the message, thinking of ways it relates to my relationship with Lyric ... and my kids and husband ... and my dogs ... and my work ... and my martial arts .. and ...

Well, you get the idea.

When I was finally through with the technical stuff, I asked if I could reprint it here. Edie kindly gave me permission. Hope you all enjoy it.

It's About Henry

Since last summer, I have been inspired by listening to Jay and Nancy talk about their horse projects - well, to be honest, I was envious. I was having a wonderful time offering training advice from the depths of my desk chair, but I was getting the itch to have a new horse. Perhaps it was a midlife crisis of some sort that made me think that I needed a project, so I uttered that thought to my very good friend and colleague Joan Carlisle. Joan and I go back many years to the era when I would climb on anything that had a tail, so it wasn’t a week later that Joan called and offered me a horse that she had in her barn.

“Guess what?” I said to my friends. “I have a new horse!!! And he was FREE!“

“What kind of a horse is he?” they asked.

“A RED horse”, I replied. “A RED horse with the most tremendous personality and athleticism that I haven’t seen in years.”

Henry is a totally friendly and cordial horse. In the first week at the farm, he earned the nickname “The Supervisor.” He was right there when I was fixing the fence, helping carry tools. He carefully studied the farrier’s anvil and his hat. With every shoe, Henry had his head turned all the way around like he was practicing his “carrot stretches” so he could watch every nail being hammered. What a perfect personality for a trail horse! After Henry had a couple of days to settle in to his new home, I figured I’d just hop on for a short trail ride with a friend. Henry had come to Joan through a horse dealer who said that he had been owned by a minister who trail rode him on the weekends, so I figured that I’d be all set. About half a mile into the ride, I considered that perhaps the minister had some connections to the higher power that I did not have, since my ride was starting to get exciting. We had started with some horses galloping in the paddock by the road. At this point I said to my riding partner Betty, that I thought Henry might be part Saddlebred, as he flipped his tail over his back and rolled his neck into the shape of a snail and let out a snort that sounded somewhat prehistoric. At the end of first mile, I apologized to Betty for anything that I might have ever done to her, and told her if she wanted to get even with me for the time that I got her dumped in the swamp, that all she needed to do was to trot her horse past me. At this point, I decided that Henry must have some Arab in him, since he was offering me that rather stiff legged, foot flipping trot that seemed to cover ground at a rate of about 25 miles an hour. When my riding partner attempted a quiet canter up the hill, I decided that for sure, Henry was a thoroughbred and had certainly been on the racetrack and I made a mental note to check him for a lip tattoo if we both reached the barn alive. Henry felt a bit like an eel … he was able to twist his head around in circles while lurching from one side of the road to the other. Pressure from my legs did not affect any predictable result, and I realized that I was definitely not in charge of the show. After surviving passing a grey rock and a slow moving Toyota, I thought it would be a great idea to dismount and lead Henry back to the barn.

I recalled the words of a clinician who said “All horses are nice 95% of the time. These are kind and forgiving animals by nature. Emergencies happen in the other 5% of the time, and my job is to give the horse and riders tools to deal with that 5%.” I realize that Henry was not trying to be bad, he was just being a horse, and a horse who was being over-faced with too many things that we didn’t have the tools to deal with. We were both new to each other and had no foundation of trust or structure. His behavior was the result of anxiety: too much stimulus and input into his brain, and no safety valve to be able to release and direct the energy in a useful and safe direction. So on the return trip, as I walked back to the barn, I started to plan what I needed to do to give this horse some of the foundation work that he needed so our rides were a bit more appropriate for a 54 year old trainer has-been.

I spent several years as a flight instructor, and during that time I learned as much about training horses as I did about training pilots. One of the most valuable concepts that was drilled into me is that having a lesson plan is essential. It makes the teacher have a structured, well though- out strategy that identifies goals for each lesson and the tools needed to complete the task, as well as a breakdown of the steps along the way. Learning is based on building blocks of knowledge, so a good teacher has to have a very clear idea of what skills are necessary in order to move on to the next step.

My definition of a well-trained horse is one who can and will respond the same way regardless of the circumstances around him. A “nice” horse can function very well as long as the deck doesn’t get stacked against him - i.e. the horse that rides great when he has a friend to baby-sit him, or a horse that behaves beautifully at home, but comes unglued at a show. What happened to me on our first ride was that I mis-identified Henry’s charming personality for education. (And haven’t we all done that at a cocktail party sometime in our lives???) I didn’t realize the difference until I had unwittingly taken Henry into a spot where he was in over his head. One of the primary rules in teaching a student to fly is that they must feel safe. A student who is terrified will remember the fear and discomfort and will be completely unable to process the other events that took place during the flight. This same rule applies to horses. One of my rules for training is that my horse needs to finish the session quieter and more relaxed than he started. If that doesn’t happen, I need to re-look at my lesson plan and add some more building blocks. I’m quite sure that Henry didn’t feel very safe with me on that first outing.

I decided that the place to start with Henry was in kindergarten. I figured that it was important for me to figure out what skills Henry possessed, and where there were the holes. Learning is defined as “a change in behavior” and I realized that for both Henry’s and my sake, learning needed to take place on both of our parts. My job was to be much more aware of the things that created anxiety in Henry and to present these challenges to him in a non-threatening and systematic manner so they became “no big deal”. I would only gain his respect and confidence if I put him in situations where he was not ove-faced and concerned. Henry’s job was to pay attention and focus on me so he had the opportunity to absorb these new lessons.

I had the opportunity to work with a trainer who said “Nothing comes from nowhere”. How often have we heard riders say; “I never saw that coming” when a horse has spooked, bucked or reared? Well, there was one little glitch that I should have paid attention to before I mounted. Henry likes to do the leading. His nose is always in front of me, and more significantly, his head is turned to the right and he is well positioned to propel the handler along with his shoulder. If something startles him, he doesn’t have much of a qualm about spinning me like a top and crowding me, where I assume he feels more secure.

Every problem that I encountered on the road was apparent on the ground in a slightly different form, and in my enthusiasm to ride, I had failed to do a good “preflight inspection”.

The first page of my lesson plan went right back to basic ground work and leading. The goal was that Henry should be able to politely and respectfully follow me at an appropriate distance where ever I needed to go. That included an excursion into the back yard, putting his front feet into the tool shed and being able to wait for me while I removed a shovel from the wall. He needed to be able to back up quietly and straight, and also needed to be able to stand still. I am a big believer in a horse tying well. I do not like to tie horses with leather halters and baler twine with the theory that they will break if the horse pulls. I think a horse that believes that he can leave the area when something startles or displeases him can be a real train wreck. I remember helping someone extract a horse from the gooseneck of a trailer, when the horse decided that being tied in the trailer was not OK and thought she should leave through the front window. Miraculously, no one was badly hurt, but this episode would not have happened if this horse had learned to tie. I spend the time teaching a horse not to pull back on a rope and respond to pressure on his head by giving rather than pulling! I start by using a “high tie” which is a safe place to teach a horse to just hang out and practice being in one place without scary confinement. It can be a sturdy tree limb or it can be a stout rope stretched between two tall poles that are anchored deep in the ground. The objective is to have the tie spot to be over the horse’s head so he can’t get his foot over the rope and there is no rigid pulling point for the horse to sit back and fight. I have seen horses move around pretty enthusiastically for a while, but in short order they usually figure out the standing still is a lot easier as any of their antics merely bring them back to the same center point.

After we spent a bit of time practicing tying, off we went for walks down the driveway, around the barn, in and out of the arena, the trailer, and anywhere I could think of that was safe and different. First rule: Do not step on Edie … Ever … I don’t care WHAT giant bird flew into the lilac bush … do not jump on me. I spent many years showing halter horses where horses cavorted around on the end of a lead looking “showy” with their heads bent around to the side and the handler in tow, trying to keep the horse off of him by poking enthusiastically with an elbow. It took me years to realize that this sets the stage for how the entire rest of the relationship will go. My rule now is that I am the one to do the leading. I want my horse to follow me the way a dog would “heel”. If Henry is in front of me, it is pretty hard for me to communicate clearly about where I want him to go. We each have our own space and my job is to never put him in a spot that he can’t cope with, and in turn he may not share my shoes with me.

There are many systems for leading.. I was taught to use a lead with a chain end, and frankly, in spite of the cries that this is “inhumane”, I will still stick to the opinion that the severity of any training tool has to do with the hands and attitude that is attached to that device. The natural horsemanship approach using the rope halter and 12’ lead is another way and it works very well. One of the “TTEAM” or Linda-Tellington Jones methods uses two handlers, one on each side to guide the horse and keep him centered and in his own space. There are many, many other systems, and as a rider/ trainer/ horse owner, you need to figure out the system that works the best for you and then practice using it effectively.

I’ll close this article realizing that I have focused a lot more on the concept of identifying the problem rather than instructions on fixing the problem. I have come to realize that we are sometimes too quick to act, and too slow to spend a reasonable amount of time in assessing the situation and coming up with a well thought out plan. The time that I have spent with Henry on the ground has paid off tenfold, and the rides that I have been having are getting better and better. We are building a strong partnership, and our time together is starting to be like two old friends going to do a job together, rather than feeling like passenger in the back seat of a car that is being driven by a stranger. Stay tuned for our next progress report!

The Undead

2011-07-08T16:36:00.001-04:00

Anyone who's ever seen the sequel to any really popular slasher / zombie / vampire / chainsaw-wielding maniac / cave-dwelling mutant movie will recognize this scene: Our Hero(ine), who nearly died at the end of the first movie while dispaching (in some dramatic way) The Really Bad Thing, is sitting in bed, late at night, watching TV and snuggling with The Love Interest. Suddenly, there's a noise ... an eerily familiar noise ... Our Hero(ine) bolts upright, and The Really Bad Thing bursts into the room and proceeds to reduce The (Now Shrieking) Love Interest to bloody hash while Our Hero(ine) screams, "Ohmygod! Why won't you just DIE?!"

I had that happen today. Okay, so there was no Love Interest and no bloody hash and no screaming (though there was profanity), but ... Remember this saddle? "It's ba-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-ack ..."

... even more ragged and unsafe than before. Both panels are still loose, but now the left front panel has lost the screw that held the upper corner on the tree, the stitching is broken and the panel's almost completely adrift:

Nice view of the panel foam (what's left of it).

And the other side's just as torn up:

I'm being stalked by The Undead.

Has this saddle been in use since I declared it dead almost two years ago? I hope not, because this is a wreck waiting to happen. It was awful back then, and it's worse now. Perhaps I need to couch my diagnosis in stronger terms this time and hope my message gets through: I won't be party to a horse and/or rider getting injured because I did a Dr. Frankenstein on this saddle. I ought to shoot it with a silver bullet, cut off its billets, pound a stake through the seat, wrap it in a string of garlic, strew it with white roses, take it across running water and bury it at a crossroads. Begone, demon, and follow me no more.

Buyer Beware

2011-07-06T10:44:00.000-04:00

I know a lot of people in the horse world are on a budget - myself included. If I can get free shipping on my mare's supplements, save $20 by buying my salt blocks in bulk, or get a discount on my winter's hay by spending a few days slinging bales and off-loading hay wagons, I'm all over it. Saving $10 here and $20 there can be a big help. However, there are deals ... and there are deals.

A customer of mine bought a high-end used jump saddle on eBay, got it for a song, looked fantastic, only a few scuff marks, couldn't believe her luck ... but when it arrived, she noticed some suspicious-looking wrinkles across the seat. So she propped it on her thigh and flexed it - and it flexed quite a lot. Being of the opinion that it's better to err on the side of safety, she brough it to me so I could check it out. The degree of flex made me think I should drop the panels check the tree. Lots of flex isn't always indicative of a compromised tree, but I agreed that erring on the safe side would be a good idea.

Glad I decided that.

Broken spring bar. "But couldn't a good saddler just replace that?" I hear you ask. Possible in theory, but usually, if there's been enough trauma to snap a spring bar, there's other damage on top of that. Case in point: though it doesn't show in this photo (and I couldn't get a decent shot of it), the tree's cracked on both sides at the rear of the flap. And ...

... the lower head plate is broken as well.

I didn't peel the seat off to check the upper head plate - this tree is a complete write-off as it is - but that may be compromised, too. This sort of damage usually comes from the saddle somehow coming between the horse and the ground - either the horse flipping over on it, or rolling on it in the stall. There were some scuff marks on the pommel and cantle which would be pretty consistent with the latter, though if the horse landed on the saddle in deep, soft footing, that could cause similar marks.

So here's the deal on buying used saddles: caveat emptor. If you're buying it from a reliable tack shop with a knowledgeable staff, chances are it's gone through a pretty thorough safety check. However, if you're buying from an unknown source or individual, they may not be informed enough to know if the saddle's safe ... or they may be unscrupulous enough that they don't much care (though in this litigious climate, that's becoming less and less common).

If my client is willing to spend between $700 and $1200, she might be able to have this saddle re-treed - IF this model is still in production and she can find a replacement tree. If so, she'll have to purchase it (most trees run between $200 and $350), pay shipping and import fees from the UK/EU (which can easily run equal to or even exceed the price of tree) and another $400-$600 for the actual re-tree, plus shipping to and from the saddler. Tack on the initial price of the saddle - even if it was only $500 - and you're in the neighborhood of a nice quality used saddle in safe and sound condition ... without the frustration and time waste.

Don't Go There, Girlfriend (Got My Crank On)

2011-06-16T09:02:00.000-04:00

I love it when people comment on my blog. I take that as an indicator that the info I've put out has given them something to think about, or touched on an experience they've had or maybe answered a question they've always had but never asked. Comments also give me an idea of what people want to hear about, and it gives them a chance to share experiences they've had.

There are two things I will NOT tolerate, however: First, I won't allow people to talk smack about an individual fitter/trainer/rider/rep/tack shop (see this post), even if they're righteously pissed because of something rotten the fitter/trainer/rider/rep/tack shop has done. This isn't the venue for that sort of conversation.

Second, I will not tolerate comments made by individuals seeking a sleazy, back door method of promoting their web site - especially their saddle and tack retail web site. I've had a slew of those recently. I moderate all comments, and yes, I do check to see where they come from ... so no, you aren't going to get a freebie link on this blog just by saying things like, "WOW. Fantastic post. Very informative as well. Keep posting. I am waiting for your next post :)." This is sort of like pretending to give someone a pat on the back while trying to stick a "GO TO MY SITE" sign on their shirt. While it's nice to know that people find my posts helpful and informative, I'm not starved for validation.

While there have been a lot of comments in this vein (some quite literate, and some that make me want to repeatedly slam my face into my keyboard) the ultimate in icky (at least so far), has to be this one: "Jeffries manufactures its own spring trees, each to a design that is renowned for its excellent fit, produced in 6-ply laminated wood to prevent distortion whilst retaining flexibility for comfort. Jeffries also source specialist trees from Walsall based manufacturers. The finest quality leather is prepared and finished meticulously, providing ultimate durability and rider safety." I'm not sure what I find most amazing ...their sheer laziness in lifting something right from Jeffries' ad copy, the fact that they didn't think I'd recognize something lifted from Jeffries' ad copy, or just the fact that they had the balls to lift this from the Jeffries' ad copy and try to pass it off as a legit comment. Now they're not just trying to use me, they've also brought Jeffries Saddlery (an old and well-respected UK saddle maker) into the mix ... Look, Mom! Sleaze squared!

So while I'm more than happy to publish ideas, questions and commentary, don't try to use this as a portal to your web site. It won't succeed, you'll only piss me off (and that's not much of a feather in your cap - I'm usually just a short jump from that state on most days), and eventually karma will bite you. You won't rise to the top by climbing over someone else's head.

Circa 1957 - Go Into the Light

2011-06-14T14:45:00.000-04:00

I am a sentimental pack rat. This is not a fact most people know, since it's usually obscured by my ouchy-bleedy, non-warm-and-fuzzy personality ... but it's true. I save silly stuff: a matchbook from the dance club where my husband and I met, a cheap souvenir key chain from a trip to Paris, my sons' first shirts and locks of hair from their first haircuts, one of Lyric's baby teeth (and all of my kids' baby teeth) and my very first plush toy (a musical lamb that plays Brahm's "Lullaby"). Of course, this is true of my tack, as well. I have all of my mom's old western tack as well as my own; I even have my first western pony saddle and bridle (red leather with brass tacks), so I understand the attachment that can develop with a piece of tack that you've had since dirt formed. Just seeing it reminds you of the horse or pony you rode it in, and touching the well-worn leather can bring back the adventures and the mishaps and the bone-deep satisfaction you feel when you dismount after a truly good ride. It's not just a thing made of leather, wood and metal - it's an integral part of your horse life, a history book, almost another limb. So yes, I understand the attachment.

I also know understand that your tack, like your horse, will reach retirement age; a time when it's great to look at but perhaps not so wise for actual use. The saddle in the photos below is a perfect example of this. It's an old polo saddle that was originally purchased in Oxford, England in 1957, sent to me for a strip flock and new billets.

The plate says it was made by Hayes saddle makers in Cirencester. The leather is on the fragile side - it's covered with rain spots, and I'm not certain how well it would hold up if I started trying to dismantle or re-stitch anything - but the stirrup bars were tight, the billets and webbing seemed sound enough, and at first glance, it looked quite decent for 54 years old.

Then I looked at it from the front, and I noticed some serious crookedness:

As you can see, the cantle slants off to the saddle's left, and the right panel seems to be a smidge higher than the left at the pommel. When viewed from the back, the crookedness is even more obvious:

The cantle is far to the left of the pommel - looks to me as though this saddle has been mounted from the ground a LOT. Even the panels are misaligned:

Close-up of rear of the panels - the unevenness is really obvious here:

Giving an owner the news that it's time to put the old reliable trooper out to pasture is always a touchy bit of work. Some people take it well, and some look for any way to forestall the inevitable: "I'll only use it on the old horse I've used it on for 23 years" or "I'll only use it on greenies as a breaking saddle" or "I'll only ride at the walk!" Fortunately, this customer was understanding and figured that after 54 years of service, his saddle was indeed ready to "go into the light."

Saddle Fitting Central

2011-05-18T16:42:00.001-04:00

Time for a little bit more about the nuts-and-bolts aspect of saddle fitting and repair. Longkaiduan asked me about my tools and work space, so I thought I'd give you a short photographic tour of my little workshop and show you more of my tools and how they're used. (NOTE: While I'm giving a very basic overview of the tools and their uses, I do NOT recommend getting ahold of them and using them without some training and supervision unless you start on junk saddles and tack and scrap leather. You can do an amazing amount of damage with these tools, so if you ignore this caveat and start practicing on your good stuff, don't say you weren't warned.)

First, the space. There's not much of it (it used to be the "close-out sale room" back when we had walk-in business for apparel, supplements, grooming tools, etc. and measures about 6'x10'), so getting photos was a bit of a challenge, but here they are.

My desk. Mission Control for blogging, answering e-mails, photo manipulation, saddle research and keeping an eye on activity in the barn/parking area and paddocks. (Not that I spend time staring out the window or anything.)

As you can see, I use the wall as a bulletin board for to-do lists, memos, blog ideas, wool samples, correspondence, price lists ... basically as a back-up brain.

To the left: my barn call receipt and saddle work order (completed) boxes, a list of tools and supplies for barn calls, appointment book, UPS delivery zone maps, templates and customer files, a couple statements of personal philosophy and my Big Box O' Hardware.

Interior of the Big Box O' Hardware:

Dee rings, saddle nails, spare blades for groovers, awls, knives and other sharp things, screws, tacks, keepers; conway, girth, stirrup leather and halter buckles and falldown staples, oh my.

A statement of personal philosophy:

If you turn one hundred and eighty degrees, there's the bench and tools. The bench was specially made for me by Dennis St. John of Wudsmitten Cabinetry; it's gorgeous - sort of a giant butcher-block affair - and it was honestly a crime to cover the top of it with foam and leather. Tools above in racks made from wooden slats, an old rein, an old stirrup leather and some brass escutcheon pins.

Closer shot of the tools, and a couple saddle work orders. Tools, from left: tweezers, oblong punch, hole spacer, 3 screwdrivers, strap end punch, skiving knife, groover, hole spacer, edger, screwdriver, scratch awl and calipers, nail cutters, short awl, rotary hole punch, lasting pincers, slicker and edger.

On the right end of the bench, more tools. From left: pry bar, skiving knife, craft knife, sewing awl, 3 backing awls, 3 diamond point awls, staple puller, long handled needle-nose pliers, two pairs needle nose saddler's pliers, leather scissors, assorted flocking irons. Bone folder and exacto knife on rack behind tools, hammers and squares and level above.

Above the bench, storage for cement, thinner, clamps, long needles, supply catalogs, spare thread and so on. Rack below holds spools of woven poly thread for hand sewing.

Now, on to a little about some of the tools and their uses. First, the oblong punch:

This is used when you're installing a buckle; this is size 1 and makes a pretty small hole, the sort for lighter-gauge buckles (think a fairly dainty halter crown buckle or even smaller).

The oval punch, used for adding holes to stirrup leathers and billets:

The English strap-end punch. Handy for shortening billets, stirrup leathers and misc. strap ends (gee ... you think?).

All the punchs are used by positioning them (carefully!) on the leather and using a hammer on the other end.

The skiving knife, used to thin down the end of a piece of leather (usually a strap - stirrup leather, halter crown piece or billet) before sewing to reduce bulk and avoid a squared edge.

Edgers are used to bevel the square edge of a piece of leather and give is a smoother, rounder finish. This is a safety edger:

When you're removing the gullet cover to check a trees or deconstructing a saddle, one of these staple / tack pullers comes in really handy:

You stick one of the pointy parts under the crown of a staple and wiggle it loose. If you're working on an older saddle with tacks, jimmy the "V" under the head of the tack and wiggle it loose.

The next few tools are often used in concert when you're doing hand-sewing. The groover is used to mark the line you want to stitch; it also serves the purpose of "counter sinking" the stitching and giving it a bit of protection from wear:

Next you use your hole spacer to mark your stitching holes along the groove.

Spacers come in varying sizes; each will give you a different number of holes per inch. Alternatively, you can use a stitch mark iron, but the wheeled spacer is nice if you're doing curved stitch lines.

Next, you can use the diamond point awl to pierce the leather for stitching:

Or, if your stitches are going to be larger, or if you're using a thicker thread, you can make bigger holes. This is a home-made tool; I ground down the blade of a little screwdriver to make a chisel-point awl. Works really well for billets, double-thickness halters, etc.:

The backing awl is great for enlarging existing holes, as when you're stitching up a pommel or cantle:

It has a curved blade and a rounded point, so you can wiggle it into an amazing number of places without catching the point and tearing leather. It's also useful for picking up individual stitches if you need to cut thread or tighten up a line of stitching:

Finally, here's one tool I can't do without:

This is Mr. Squishy. He sits on my computer tower. He was a Holiday Fairy gift to one of my kids, but I appropriated him after I found him abandoned on the lawn. Mr. Squishy is my Stress Management Advisor.

Mr. Squishy's eyeballs used to bug out in a most satisfying way when I did this, but time, age and a lot of Stress Management Advice have compromised his rubber skin and left him rather leaky, so now it's just his brains that pop out. I'm very fond of him, in light of the help he's given me, and I feel a deep kinship with him, especially since he, like I, no longer bounces back quite the way he used to:

Malaprops, Misnomers and Misinformation

2011-05-05T07:36:00.000-04:00

I spend a lot of time in front of the computer. In addition to blogging, answering e-mails, playing with PhotoShop and monitoring our web presence, I spend a lot of time writing about and researching saddles and saddle fitting.  There's a ton of info about saddles and fitting on the Internet, and in a way, that's a great thing. All you have to do is type a query into Google and chances are you'll get thousands of results. I Googled "saddle fitting" and got 157,000 results. Then I Googled "English saddle fitting" and got 43,800 results. But here's the rub:  the Internet is quite eglitarian and, unless someone's writing something that is defamatory or downright libelous, pretty much anyone can put pretty much anything out there for public consumption ... veracity be damned.

So how is one to separate the wheat from the chaff, so to speak? It can be tough. Lies, big lies, and damned big lies can go viral as quickly as the truth does (and sometimes, if it's a particularly juicy lie, a lot more quickly), so just because everyone's seen it or is sharing it doesn't mean much when it comes to the quality and accuracy of the information.  Therefore, because I'm a nitpicking control freak (just ask any of my friends and family and they'll be happy to confirm this fact), I'm taking it upon myself to offer up a random sampling of some of the most glaring examples of butchered terminology, grammar and spelling offenses and misinformation that I've found on the Internet.

WRITE AND SPEL GOOD

First, I'll address the spelling and grammar thing. At Trumbull Mtn. Tack, I'm known (fondly, I choose to think) as the Language Nazi, and that's one fact that I will happily confirm.  A person's use of grammar, spelling and punctuation immediately colors my opinion of the information they're offering. Yes, I know lots of knowledgeable, highly intelligent people who do not write or spell well, and I do understand that an occasional malaprop or typo will get by even the most anal editor (I edit like a maniac, but as you all know, stuff gets by me - and when it does, my co-workers and family are unmerciful). But I really feel that if you're concerned with your professional image - or with your information being taken seriously - you have to exhibit at least basic literacy. I've seen sites for perfessional independant fitter's who understands the importince of a good-fitting saddle and, knows that comfort ,for both horse and rider, has got to be taken into consideraton. They've done alot of saddle fitting and make house calls to your barn and cover the area from east backache to s muckboot, vermont.

Frankly, if your site is peppered with those sorts of errors, I won't take what you're offering very seriously, nor will I read very far ... mostly because I'll have given myself a headache by grinding my teeth because I can't edit the errors.

CHECKING FOR BACK SORENESS

One site recommended that the best way to test for back soreness caused by saddle fit is to locate the "under saddle" muscles (I'm assuming this means the longissimus - the long muscle that runs on either side of the spine) and "probe these muscles firmly with the ends of three fingers or your thumb held stiff from your fist ... one must probe as firm as necessary to get a reaction to see if the horse is sore." Now, in my mind, you check carefully at first for swelling, bumps or thickening, and then probe a bit more firmly. If a reasonably firm pressure with the heel or palm of your hand doesn't elicit a response (and I just went and pushed on our shop's scale - I'm talking about roughly 15 lbs. of pressure), your horse probably doesn't have any major issues - at least not at the time you're palpating. If you gouge and rake with great enthusiasm until you get a response, you'll never know if it was because you horse was sore, of if you just gouged and raked too enthusiastically. And if you gouge and rake really enthusiastically, I don't know many horses that won't react, and if you take a hoof to the kneecap during such shenanegans, it's your own bloody fault.

MUCH ADO ABOUT WIDTH

"To judge if tree width is correct, the tree point should be parallel to the horse's shoulder." Let's take a look at that:

There's quite a marked difference between the angle of this horse's back and the angle of the shoulder in both photos. In the top photo, matching the shoulder angle would mean the tree would be too wide for the horse; in the second, the tree would be too narrow. The tree point should be parallel to the surface upon which it rests ... and that would be the back.

"If the tree width is correct, you'll have no fitting issues with the saddle." Again, let's take a look.

Although you'll have to take my word for it because I don't have a photo to prove it, the tree width for this horse is correct. So whyever is it sitting so pommel high? Basically, because the horse's back looks like this:

This shark-fin wither requires a deeper rear gusset to make the saddle sit balanced. And since adding just a rear gusset would probably have brough the gullet into contact with the wither, a K panels and wither gussets were added for support.

"If the tree feels tight, try adding another pad to cushion it." If you don't have sufficient width, adding bulk isn't going to improve the issue. If your jacket is too snug, do you wear a bulky sweater under it? If your shoes are too tight, do you add an extra pair of socks for cushion? Of course not. The same applies here. If the tree's a tad wide, a thicker/additional pad can be a helpful band-aid, but if the tree's too narrow, "there ain't no pad gonna fix that."
"If the saddle's fitting correctly, you should be able to slip your hands under the panels beneath tree points when it's girthed and the rider's in it." Uh, no. See "Scenario One" here. No further comment.

TREAT THE SYMPTOM, NOT THE CAUSE

"If your horse acts up every time he's saddled, or when he's being ridden, your saddle's not fitting properly." While saddle fit may well be the cause of your horse's misbehavior and should definitely be checked, it's not the only thing that can cause bad behavior. There are a LOT of other issues that can mimic or be mistaken for saddle fit issues. Physical problems like lameness in the hock or stifle, problems with the SI joint, arthritis, Lyme disease, neurological issues, reproductive issues in mares, ulcers, dental problems and shoeing issues can be mistaken for saddle fit problems. Your horse's training and your riding can come into play as well. If the saddle's slipping to one side, you may think it's a fitting issue when in reality it's an issue of an asymmetrical horse or a rider who sits hard to one side. If the horse objects to being saddled, it could be that the horse has been ridden in an ill-fitting saddle in the past, and expects it will hurt every time he's saddled. If the horse grinds her teeth when she's being girthed, are you doing up the girth gradually, or are you hauling away at the billets as though you're trying to raise a sail? Time for a little detective work.
"If your horse won't come through the back and work properly, try the Pessoa training system/draw reins/chambon/Vienna side reins/neck stretcher." This is taking it to the other extreme and looking at everything except saddle fit - again, time for some detective work. And gadgets are ... well, in the right hands, gadgets can be useful; in the wrong hands, not so much - the scalpel in the hands of a surgeon vs. the scalpel in the hands of a madman.

"ALWAYS" AND "NEVER"

My mom used to say, "Just when you think you have horses figured out, one will come along who'll prove you wrong." I think it's pretty safe to apply that to saddle fitting as well. While there are some basic guidelines that are pretty immutable - the pommel arch must clear the wither, for example - few things are written in stone ... contrary to some of the information out there.

"If the saddle is sitting in the correct balance, the pommel will be 2" lower than the cantle." While it's a pretty true rule of thumb that the cantle will be higher than the pommel, let's take a look at these photos:

These saddles are all sitting in pretty good balance (the top one may be just a smidge pommel-low), but there's quite a lot of variation in the pommel-to-cantle height.

"If the tree width is correct for you horse, you will have 3 to 4 fingers of clearance under the pommel." Again, depends on the horse and depends on the saddle. I prefer the term "adequate clearance" - which means that the saddle sits in correct balance and at no time comes in contact with the horse's wither/spine. Sometimes "adequate" is 2 or 3 fingers, and sometimes - especially with hoop trees - it's less:

You also need to make sure that the clearance extends all the way through the channel of the saddle. It's possible to have a saddle tree with too slow a rise - that is, too flat from seat to pommel - bang a horse's wither around the stirrup bars or a bit in front of them ... which you may not notice if you're just focusing on the area right under the pommel arch.

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT: DO IT WITH STYLE

If you're going to screw up, do it with as much panache as you can muster.

As I mentioned earlier, things can slip by even the most vigilant editor, especially if you choose to believe spell check. My most memorable one here on the blog was when I was talking about hunter/jumpers and referred to them as "hunter/humpers". However, since no one is immune to mistakes, I have to share what is probably my most epic fail:

I once wrote a highly indignant letter to my high school alumni association for publishing my e-mail address in their newsletter without first clearing it with me. I basically ripped them a new one for making me the recipient of a flood of communication from a bunch of people that, for the most part, I didn't much like and quite happily left behind when I graduated. " ... and furthermore, you showed a blatant disregard for my privacy ..." (I tend to get polysyllabic when I'm pissed off) "... by publishing my e-mail address in the newsletter without first obtaining my persimmon."

(Ironically, at my high school graduation, I received an award for distinction in English.)

Fitter Vs. Rep

2011-04-18T09:17:00.000-04:00

Got an e-mail from a customer last week who was worried about the tree in her husband's Frank Baines saddle. Seems the saddle had recently started slipping off to the side, and when she called a fitter to check things out, the fitter claimed that the tree was probably damaged because it was flexing in some way that, in his opinion, it shouldn't; therefore, customer needed a new saddle. The customer decided to seek a second opinion, and had another fitter take a look before she decided to box it up and send it to me for dissection.

Tiny bit of back story here: The first fitter is a rep for the XYZ saddle company. Second fitter is a western fitter with limited knowledge of English saddle fitting.

Second fitter flexes the tree, looks at the customer, and says, "Is this built on a spring tree?" Customer calls me and asks the same question. Yes, I tell her, the Baines saddles are built on spring trees. Customer puts second fitter on the phone with me, and I repeat the info. Second fitter says she suspected as much, but not being completely familiar with English saddles, wanted to be sure. I asked her if the saddle flexed symmetrically, and if there were any noises of an evil nature; she responded with "yes" and "no" respectively. Customer, who now suspects the extent of the XYZ rep's knowledge (and rightly suspects rep is aiming for a sale), decides to box the saddle up and send it to me for flocking, and also decides to send me her saddle for an adjustment as well.

Moral of this story? Well, there are several:

First: go with an independent fitter if possible - in general, they're more objective.
Second: brand-certified reps may well try to sell you a saddle - chances are, that's their biggest source of revenue, and in the crappy economic climate we're presently enjoying, it's understandable.
Third: just because someone is an XYZ certified fitter doesn't necessarily mean they have a comprehensive education (see previous post, "Brand Certified Fitters" section).
Fourth - and this is to the XYZ rep: You had a chance to make money on two flocking adjustments, and possibly add to your client list. Instead, you just lost a customer and gained a large black mark on your reputation. One unhappy customer will give you a lot more press than 5 happy customers, and you can pretty much bet this woman will be sharing her experience with all of her friends. If you're lucky, she won't be spreading it via online forums, bbs, chat rooms, etc. And remember, the western fitter knows what happened, too. If you honestly felt there was an issue with the saddle tree, please take this as an indication that you need to further your education. And if you were just pushing for a sale, remember this: flocking adjustments are an ongoing source of income. You can work on a wide range of saddles ... or you can just work on the XYZ saddles that you've sold. You do the math.

The Mud Season Grumps

2011-04-15T08:43:00.003-04:00

That was one bloody long winter.

I don't usually mind winter, even though it entails my mare looking like a yak, little riding and lots of lugging water, frozen manure, bad roads, oil bills and listening to my husband complain about it from November to May. But this winter was a winter like nothing in the past 30 years ... or it seemed that way to me. I remember winters like this when I was a kid, with 8' snowbanks and two-day blizzards dumping 36" of snow. About the only thing we missed was the week-long stretch of sub-zero weather. Anyway, all this has left me more than ready for spring, and we're only just well into mud season (which can last a couple weeks, or until the end of May). Mix into this the fact that everyone I know has gotten away for at least a long weekend and I haven't gone anywhere since last September (AND I had to miss Johnny Clegg's tour - the first since '05), toss in the usual hormonal mood swings that accompany being "of a certain age", and top it with the fact that I haven't been to the dojo in two weeks, and you have yourself a crabby, grouchy old broad who needs to lose the CrankyPants before someone gets bitten.

To that end, I've decided to vent about Stuff I Don't Like. It might not help, but it sure as hell won't hurt.

SADDLE PADS

I don't dislike saddle pads in general; even shim pads are ok - it's the "special" pads that bug me.

"This pad will make any saddle fit your horse" pads. Not. While shim pads and the like can be helpful "band aids" to temporarily correct minor fitting issues, and I'll be one of the first to advocate for their correct use, there's no saddle pad in the world that will make your saddle fit if it really and truly doesn't, and no pad in the world that will make every saddle fit your horse. Brilliant marketing ploy, but not so great in the real world.
Gel pads. They're hot, they're heavy, they don't breathe, they feel icky and they don't do diddly to alleviate pressure. Think about it: when you poke one, the gel moves away from the pressure rather than doing anything to pad it. They can also put pressure right on the spinous process (even if they have the space to accommodate the spine, they can get dragged down by their own weight and cause issues there), and I've seen them scald horses' backs when used in hot weather. Hate 'em, hate 'em, hate 'em.
Lollipop pads. They can put pressure directly on the spinous process, and when used to lift the cantle of a saddle with a too-narrow tree, make the tree points dig into the horse's back. Ouch.

SADDLE PAD SUBCHAPTER

Impression pads. They can be a useful tool in showing where the saddle's creating a lot of pressure, but they don't tell you why it's there. Additionally, the ones I've seen are pretty bulky and can create saddle fitting issues that a regular thin quilt won't and that really aren't there to begin with. Again, think: your saddle seems to fit fine, but you want to check it. You stick a 1" thick pad (keep in mind that one tree width = about 3/4") full of mushy dental cement or putty or whatever that squishy stuff is under it, and you don't think it'll show pressure somewhere? Put on some thick, fuzzy wool socks and then stuff your feet into your dress-up shoes and prance about for a bit. Then come talk to me about pressure.

EGO

Until science can come up with a way to truly quantify why a saddle fits (or doesn't) the individual horse and rider, until it can measure how each physical characteristic, preference and pecadillo comes into play and why some horses and riders seem to defy the known laws of gravity and physics, saddle fitting is always going to be more theoretical than empirical, more of an art than a science. The saddle fitter can offer educated opinions and input, but in the end, that's ALL we can offer, and sometimes we have to face the fact that not every customer (whether two or four legged) will agree with our recommendations. We aren't going to nail it every time. We will run into horses and riders that we can't fit (or at least fit to our satisfaction), for whatever reason. And if that happens, trying to cram our ideas down the customer's throat will NOT end well. Just take your ego and get the hell out of the way. Sometimes it's far better to send the customer on to another fitter with "I'm sorry I couldn't help you, and I hope you have better luck with Bunny Snugglebutt and HappyArse Saddlery." Less headache for everyone.

EGO SUBCHAPTER

Sometimes fitters make mistakes. We'll take the tracing wrong, forget to mention a fitting option to a customer, screw up on the order form and write down the wrong color or size ... and that's when we have to put on the big girl/boy pants and say, "Yeah, I screwed up." It might cost you some money to correct the mistake, but in the long run, it'll cost less than the damage it'll do to your reputation (and perhaps the horse's back) if you don't pony up.

CASTS AND IMPRESSIONS OF THE BACK

In theory, a great idea - as least to get an idea of static fit - but I've never seen this method work better than a standard template, and sometimes it doesn't work as well. The casts and impressions we've received have arrived broken, warped, pulverized, squashed and, in one memorable instance, melted into a blob. We even received one that we had to assemble - slide flange A into slot B until marks C and D are aligned.  It definitely kept us occupied for a while, but didn't look much like a horse's back when we were through.

BRAND-CERTIFIED FITTERS

Again, I'll preface this statement:  certification is all well and good IF there's a good education behind it. What irks me is when a saddle co. will "certify" you as a fitter in a couple days or - in some cases - a couple hours. I'm certified by one saddle company, and it's by virtue of spending an afternoon listening to a sales pitch, attempting to fit their saddles to a couple different horses and answering one question correctly. The fact that the saddles didn't fit (and couldn't be made to fit) the horses we were working with seemed to be of little interest to the rep; my objections were met with "Oh, just add another shim and get the rider on, and it'll be fine." To my mind, that doesn't make you a fitter - it just makes you a rep ... for whatever that's worth.

NAME QUEEN TRAINERS

"My trainer wanted me in a _______ (fill in the blank) saddle so I bought one, but it made me and my horse miserable." If I had a nickle for every time I've heard that, I might not be rich, but I'd have a lot of nickles. When I was teaching and training professionally, I never much cared what my students used as long as it fit them and their horse. But some trainers ... I don't know whether they get a kickback from each saddle sold or what the motivation is, but there seems to be a good number of trainers out there who demand that their students ride in a particular saddle, whether it's a good fit or not. Now, to me, that's sort of a contradiction in terms: if you're a trainer, you want your students (and their horses) to perform to the best of their ability, since if they look good, other people will go, "Hey, that rider and horse look great. I want to ride with their trainer." If, on the other hand, your students look as though they have a hedgehog in their breeches and their horses are going around with their heads up the rider's nose, smart people might go, "Oooh ... that rider looks like they have a hedgehog in their breeches, and their horse's head is up their nose. No, thanks."  Wouldn't you think it better to let the horse and rider be comfy rather than branded? Chacun à son goût.

NARROW TREES

If a horse has a big wither, it seems that popular wisdom demands that the horse be fit with a narrow tree, even if the horse in question isn't all that narrow. "Nothing else will clear the wither" is usually the reasoning. Well, true - a narrow tree will usually make a saddle clear most withers; it also pinches the living hell out of the wither in question, makes the saddle sit pommel-high, and throws the rider so far into the back seat that they look as though they're water skiing. So, in an effort to level things out, someone shoves a lollipop pad (see above) under the saddle, which may bring the cantle up, but ... again, see above.

In the decade plus that I've been fitting saddles, I've run into precisely two horses who needed narrow trees. They also needed panel modifications - K or trapezius panels, wither or full front gussets, and deeper rear gussets. And amazingly, after a couple months, that tree needed to be widened because for the first time, the the horse could use him/herself properly and the muscles had room to grow. Both of those horses went on to need new saddles, because the narrow tree they'd started with couldn't be widened enough to accommodate the horses they grew to be.

OVERTHINKING THE ISSUE

As Edie always says, "Saddle fitting is NOT rocket science," but some people - fitters, saddle companies and customers - want take it to the other extreme. They turn it into some sort of arcane knowledge that's a cross between alchemy and brain surgery, and to gain understanding of it, you must join the Anointed Society of Saddlefitters (ASS) by giving a pound of flesh, a quart of blood and learning the secret handshake. Only then will you get the decoder ring.

Yes, you do need a basic working knowledge to become a fitter, and the longer you do it, the better you'll likely become. Gaining an education can be a challenge (though it's more accessible here in the States than it used to be), and some people have a better eye and feel for it than others, but it's not tough to learn the basics. If the saddle is comfortable for horse and rider, it doesn't NEED the Infinitely Adjustable Tree or the Ergonomic Shoulder Relief Panels or the 15-Position Billet System or the Gender-Specific Seat or the Matching Cup Holder. Listen to the horse and rider. See entry on "Ego" above.

I guess that covers the bulk of my dislikes - in the saddle fitting realm, anyway. If we were talking more generally, I could add small trash cans, rude people, clowns (they scare me), maple nougat, Pamela Anderson (who has a sort of creepy bad-drag-queen-meets-zombie vibe - see "clowns"), wet socks, house cleaning and conventional society.

But Eddie Izzard makes me laugh - especially when he's in action transvestite mode - so it all balances out.

In Reply to Catherine Haddad

2011-03-30T14:30:00.000-04:00

There's a very thought-provoking blog post by Catherine Haddad on The Chronicle of the Horse website, titled "'Supersize It' Syndrome". It's probably one of the most interesting views on saddle fitting theory written by a non-fitter that I've read in a long time. Ms. Haddad has obviously put a lot of time and thought into this issue, and given the success she's acheived, her methods definitely work for her.  She makes some very good points, though I think some of them need to be expanded and a more balanced view given. So please, go read her blog. Print it out, or take notes. Then come on back here, and we'll go over it point-by-point.
Ok, ready? Since her blog post actually skips #1 on the list and goes right to #2, let's follow suit.

#2) The point made: the saddle should not distribute the rider's weight evenly over the horse's back; that makes a rider harder for the horse to carry.

This is about finding a happy medium: you can't impinge on the shoulders, nor can you have the saddle sticking out past T18. The rider should be over the horse's center of gravity, and in my world, the rider's weight should be spread evenly over a bearing area sufficiently large to prevent great concentration of pressure in one spot. I usually see people putting the saddle WAY too far forward - they're actually saddling the withers rather than the back, and invariably the saddle winds up inhibiting shoulder movement, either by getting the tree points in the way of the rear of the scapula or by jamming the girth in tight behind the horse's elbows. Also, keep in mind that the horse carries more weight on the forequarters than on the hindquarters, and in dressage (in particular), we're trying to get the horse to engage the hindquarters and lighten the forehand ... which is even harder to accomplish if the rider is too far forward.

#3) The point made: Longer, broader panels make your horse uncomfortable and put pressure too close to the loin.

Obviously, if the panels extend past T18, or are too broad or the wrong shape for the horse's back, you can get a lot of pressure, or pressure in the wrong place ... and there are saddles out there that do have a huge amount of panel in the rear. For a longer-backed horse (or a petite rider on a shorter-backed horse), this isn't a problem, but some saddles with "pointy" rear panels can create issues on short-backed or croup-high horses. I don't believe that longer, broader panels cause pressure at the rear if the saddle fits properly. Again, it comes back to striking a happy meduim.  Panel size does come into play, it's true, but remember that if the panel shape isn't right for the particular horse - too angled or flat, or too deep/not deep enough in the front - you'll have trouble. And if your panels are too small, the rider's weight will be concentrated over a very small area, and that's going to cause soreness, too.

#4) The point made: short girths are unstable, restrict the shoulders and forelegs, and make the saddle sit too far back.

I've never noticed a difference in stability or an effect on saddle position or the horse's performance if the short girth is sized properly.  If it's too long, it will catch in the saddle pad or flap; if it's too short, it will come in contact with the horse's elbows. I've also never noticed that short girths tend to allow the saddle to sit too far back - that's usually a function of incorrect saddle fit.
#5) The point made: Engaging your pelvis shouldn't make your "back pockets" come into contact with the cantle.

The cantle should not interfere when the pelvis is engaged - again, true. If it does, there's an issue with either saddle fit for the horse (saddle is sitting pommel-high for some reason) or fit for the rider (too small a seat, too wide a twist, or stirrup bars positioned too far forward). Contrary to what Ms. Haddad puts forth, this phenomenon is NOT limited to deep-seated saddles with big blocks and large panels.

#6 and #7) The point made: the old ear-shoulder-hip-heel alignment is wrong for dressage; it creates a "three point" seat.

While this isn't strictly a saddle fitting issue, it does make the former instructor in me prick up her ears. All I have to say is this:

#8) and #9) The point made: The rider's knee should never be behind the horse's center of gravity, and must be bent to act as a shock absorber. Being restricted and locked into the "supersize" saddle creates a stiff rider.

Again, totally agree ... and if the saddle fits the rider, the knee won't be torqued back. I'm not a fan of big blocks and deep seats by any stretch - I'll even go out on a limb and say that a rider who thinks they require those accoutrements to ride well needs to spend some serious time riding on the longe line without reins or stirrups - but again, if the saddle fits the horse and rider, this won't be an issue. Blaming big blocks and deep seats for this is a bit like blaming 4 wheel drive for auto accidents in bad weather - it's not inherently the thing that causes the issue, but rather the way the thing is used. The scalpel in the hands of the surgeon vs. the scalpel in the hands of the madman.

There's another rebuttal to Ms. Haddad's post, A Saddle Fitter's Perspective, written by Colleen Meyer of Advanced Saddle Fit. Again, I don't agree with everything she's saying, but we do share many opinions, and it's a good read. Enjoy!

And Now For Something Completely Different ...

2011-03-06T12:58:00.000-05:00

I ran across Allie Brosh's blog Hyperbole and a Half thanks to my friend Dawn Jones-Low (breeder of some awesome Arabian sport horses and owner of Faerie Court Farm). It's totally unrelated to saddle fitting or even to horses, but it's one of the funniest things I've read in a long time. Enjoy!

East Crow Saddlery - Patty's Web Site!

2011-02-17T13:47:00.000-05:00

Just wanted to let everyone know that Patty Barnett of East Crow Saddlery, my friend and mentor, has her web site up and running: East Crow Saddlery. Take a look - it's a great resource!

Back to Basics - Saddle Types

2011-02-07T14:09:00.003-05:00

I was ambling through the blog the other day, making a list of what I've covered and what still needs doing, and I realized that I haven't touched on any real basics (for my more beginner readers) in a long time. Apologies for that; I sometimes get so entrenched in geeking about the minutiae of saddle fit and construction that I forget that not everyone is as experienced (or as into this!) as I. So I'm going to give myself a firm shake and address one of the most basic issues with saddles: what are the basic types of English saddles, and what are their form and function?

In the English saddle world, there are basically four types of saddles: dressage, close contact (aka forward seat or jumping saddles), all-purpose and trail saddles. Which saddle you choose will depend on the discipline you'll be riding.

Since some people want a "do it all" saddle, and some aren't sure what discipline they want to pursue, all-purpose saddles are fairly popular, especially with beginners. Most a/p saddles should be ridden with a moderately bent leg (think of the front of your thigh lying parallel to the front of the flap), which will allow you to do a little jumping (small fences), a little dressage (lower level) and flat work; they're comfortable and secure enough for a trail ride. They often feature a deepish seat, a moderately forward flap, and a round cantle. Some, like this Black Country Summit, have a straighter (or VSD/dressage focus) flap:

And some, like this Black Country Wexford, offer a more forward (VSS/jump focus) flap:

In spite of being what some wits refer to as a "no purpose" saddle, a/p saddles are popular with folks doing hunter paces, low-level eventing and foxhunting (in the field or hilltopping rather than first or second flight or staff) who want the security of a deeper seat while still being able to negotiate lower fences.

Some people look at trail or endurance saddles as an offshoot of all-purpose saddles, though by rights they're something of their own category. They usually have a fairly straight flap and a moderate to deep seat and lots of dee rings for carrying your equipment. The focus on these saddles is good balance and weight distribution, and superior comfort for long rides. This is a Black Country Equiniox, which has a very dressage-y flap (but which, interestingly, doesn't show the dee rings!):

And this is a Frank Baines Enduro LDR, which has a slightly more forward flap and deeper seat (and does show the dees):

These saddles also often have a crupper bar attachment in case a crupper is needed to help stabilize the saddle.

Some trail saddles have extended panels, which means that the panels extend (obviously) quite far to the rear. This does maximize the weight bearing area, but can be problematic on shorter-backed horses like Arabs (which, ironically, are the most popular breed for endurance and competitive trail).

Next, let's look at the close contact/jump/"hunt seat" saddle. It has a flatter seat, a square cantle and usually a more forward flap; you will ride in it with quite a lot of bend in your leg (again, imagine the parallel between the flap and your thigh), since the focus of these saddles is jumping and riding in your two-point rather than sitting.

Now, to confuse things further, there are "sub-categories" with jumping saddles. Let me start explaining this by explaining some basic differences in the jumping disciplines.

#1) Jumpers. Think of going as fast as you can in an arena over a course of big fences without knocking rails down. Jumper riders ride with a very bent, "short" leg (the rule of thumb being "the higher the fence the shorter the stirrup"). There are few rules regarding attire and turn-out in the jumper ring - you can ride in a polo shirt, your saddle can be a monoflap with external blocks, your horse doesn't need to be braided and can wear ear nets and protective/supportive boots. What counts is how quickly you can navigate the course of jumps without "faults" (knocking down rails). Jumps are often big, colorful and fall down pretty easily.

#2) Hunters/equitation. This discipline is modeled on the ideal for the hunt field, and is very formal and traditional. Riders must be in proper attire (jackets and stock ties or rat catchers), the saddle must be a traditional square cantled two flap saddle (no monoflaps or external blocks in the hunt ring), horses must have the manes and tails braided and cannot wear boots or leg wraps. You're judged on your equitation and your horse's form and ability over fences (which rarely exceed 3'6" and are supposed to look "natural" - like what you'd encounter in the hunt field).

#3) Eventers. These people do jumpers - explained above - AND cross country ("x-c"); they also share the jumpers' acceptance of non-traditional looks in tack and apparel. X-C involves galloping (cross-country, obviously) at a set pace of so many meters per minute (which usually translates to pretty damn fast) and jumping large, immovable fences made from fallen trees, telephone poles, picnic tables, parked cars, giant wooden ducks ... think of anything you'd find out in the woods or fields, or along a country road; if you dose it with steroids and set it in cement, you'll have a good x-c fence. Ditches and banks and scary drop fences into ditches and water will be included as well.

Now that I've covered that, here are examples of saddles for each. This Black Country Quantum is a jump focus saddle:

The flap is set quite forward and the seat, while a bit deeper than you'll find on some jump saddles, is open enough so that it won't hinder the rider when they have to get out of it to clear a jump.

An equitation or hunter focus saddle has a straighter flap, since people who ride this focus are negotiating smaller fences at lower speeds and don't need to ride with as short a leg. They want a saddle that will allow them to maintain proper form over fences and fit into the parameters of correct traditional-looking equipment. This County Stabilizer is a great example of this type of saddle:

A cross-country saddle has an extremely forward flap to allow a short "galloping length" leg, a shallow seat and a swept-back cantle so the rider can get back when coming down off a drop fence. This Black Country Tex Eventer has all those features:

The final type of English saddle is the dressage saddle. These have a long, very straight flap and can range from a pretty flat seat, such as this Black Country Eden has:

Another open seat on this Passier GG (my saddle):

To a deeper seat on this County Fusion:

To a very deep seat, as on this Frank Baines Omni high-head:

Since a dressage rider gives the bulk of the aids via the seat and legs, the dressage saddle is designed to bring the rider as close as possible to the horse, help them maintain balance and position, and not "get in the way".

Saddle design has changed considerably for both horse and rider. Just for fun, here are a couple older saddles. You'll note that they're much more basic and "plain Jane"; the seats are shallower and there's a lot less padding all around! (I had to find these on the 'Net, since we don't have any of these venerable types here in the shop). First is an old Pariani close contact:

And this is an older Stubben Tristan, probably German-made:

These old saddles didn't offer much in the way of luxury and cushiness; the leather was usually quite slick and the knee rolls/thigh blocks were usually tiny or totally non-existent. You weren't helped to stay aboard with big blocks or deep seats or soft, grippy leather ...

(As we fade to black, the old dinosaur saddle fitter is waxing nostalgic, remembering with fondness and a tear in her eye the longe-line lessons with which she tortured her students, and their feeble cries of protest when she made them drop their irons ...)

Bad Intel, Part II

2011-02-03T14:16:00.001-05:00

Last summer, I did a post on "bad intel", explaining the importance of the customer's information and input when it comes to saddle fitting - especially when we're doing it long-distance through photos and tracings. Recently, I've been receiving a rash of photos that don't offer a whole bunch of information, so I thought I'd do an entry on why the conformation photo is so important, and what qualifies as a conformation shot.

The conformation shot sort of fills in the blanks in the saddle fitting equation. The tracings give us a lot of necessary info, but they can be open to a bit of interpretation. The topline tracing, for example - we often can't tell how we should position it to show "level". If we receive a tracing like this, we can assume that the topline tracing is level (and hope that we're assuming correctly):

This shows me a horse with a bit of a dip in the back, a good wither, and probably an uphill build. But sometimes, due to space constraints, you have to put the topline tracing on diagonally ... let's say we get a tracing like this:

Obviously, the topline tracing isn't level in this shot (unless maybe it's a tracing of a giraffe). Since there's nothing showing what's level, it might be this:

Again, a good wither with a bit of a dip. But again, "level" could be this:

This is a horse with a dippy back that looks croup-high ... but without the conformation shot, we can't really tell.

Conformation shots also tell us about the horse's overall build and balance, which plays a considerable part in saddle fitting. In addition to giving us real info on the topline, it will tell us if the saddle may tend to walk forward due to a short back and a big engine behind, or if it may want to slip back because of a big wither and an uphill build. It will also give us an idea of the horse's overall condition, and whether we may be facing a lot of back changes due to weight loss or muscle gain or just plain growing up.

Here are some good conformation shots. Each horse is very different, with unique fitting challenges, but these sorts of photos are the perfect complement to the templates. They show overall build and balance, and give us clues about how the horse might move and what fitting issues we might run into that the template either doesn't address or only hints at.

Now, here are some photos that do NOT qualify.

In this first shot, I can't tell anything about the fitting needs of either horse ... and I can't tell which horse I'm supposed to be evaluating (the notation with the photo was, "The light chestnut with the blaze next to the fence."

The following two photos show the back pretty clearly, but leave me guessing about the overall balance and build. Since I can't evaluate the whole horse, I can't assess how the conformation might effect saddle fit.

The next two photos are pleasant, but when the head's down that far, the topline is distorted; the back will often appear flatter and more developed than it really is. All I can really tell from these photos is that, according to the barrel, the horse seems to be spending a LOT of time in this position ...

A striking and dramatic photo, but again, the unnatural head position distorts the back. While the belly gives me the idea that this horse is either overweight and unfit or possibly a broodmare/in foal, and probably does have some dip to the back due weak/stretched abdominals, the back may come up quite a bit when the head's in a normal, relaxed position.

As you can see from the examples of "good" conformation shots, you don't have to be a professional photographer to take a clear, informative photo. I don't even mind if the horse is unclipped or hasn't been groomed; I don't mind if your lawn's not mowed or the barn aisle hasn't been swept or if the cat (or dog, or child) is loitering in the background. Just make sure that your horse is on level ground against a fairly plain (or at least contrasting) background, with all four feet bearing weight and head in a relaxed position. That will give me the info that the template doesn't provide, and give me a clearer idea of the saddles that would be worth sending, so you don't blow a good portion of your saddle shopping budget on shipping.

Saddle Making Process by Nikki Newcombe of Black Country Saddles

2011-01-14T15:11:00.001-05:00

Another in the "Guest Blogger" series - this time from Nikki Newcombe, Sales Manager (and SMS QSF), Black Country Saddles. This piece was done for a UK magazine, and Nikki kindly agreed to let me reproduce it here. Here are the steps (and all the work!) that go into making a Black Country saddle. Nikki, again, thank you SO much for sharing this. And readers, enjoy!

Saddle Making Process

Please bear in mind that some of these steps are run simultaneously.

Step 1 – Preparing straps

- straps are individually cut out

- edge stain is applied

- edge finish is then applied

- beeswax coating is then rubbed across

- machine sewn to the nylon webbing

Step 2 – Preparing/webbing the tree

- webbing is strained across the tree in both directions

- straps are attached across the tree

- bellies are cut out, shaved down, machined and fix to the tree

- first layer of seat latex is glued and rasped

- second layer of seat foam is glued and rasped

- flexible points are cut out, machined and attached to points of the tree

Step 3 – Preparing the panels

- panels are cut out using patterns from sides of hide

- hesian lining is ironed on as backing

- tree pocket positions are marked and pierced with awl

- pocket areas are reinforced and machined

- leather facing and gussets are machined to the panel

Step 4 – Preparing the block

- each block is hand cut from large sheets of foam

- then rasped to form the correct shape

- then glued and leather covered

- machined onto the panel

- bottom of the panel is lined

- cord piping is hand stitched into the panel as “casing”

- panel is turned, inside out and edges level out

Step 5 – Sweat flap

- sweat flap is cut from patterns

- edges go through finishing process, stained, edged and waxed

- tacked into position on the panel

- machined onto panel

Step 6 – Blocking

- seat is cut allowing sufficient wrap over from selected hides

- seat is temporarily tacked over the tree

- skirts are cut using patterns from sides of premium leather

- skirt edges go through finishing process, stained, edged and waxed

- skirts are temporarily tacked and positioned on the tree, chalk marks are made to indicate machining

- skirts are then skived and holes made using curved awl in preparation for “blind” stitching/backing

- cantle shape is marked out and then cut from the hide

- cantle is then hesian lined and machined to the seat with welting between

- seat and skirts are then “seemed” with the welting

Step 7 – Seeming/Drawing on the seat

- skirt backs are hand stitched on through the blind holes

- seeming is then pulled over the prepared tree

- seeming is then stretched over the tree with tension from the straining pliers and held in place

Step 8 – Preparing the flaps

- flaps are handcut out from premium leather

- edges go through finishing process, stained, edged and waxed

- knee pads are handcut from selected hides

- foam knee pad are handcut using patterns

- knee pads are machined and then “turned”

- stirrup loop is cut, stained, edged and waxed

- stirrup loop is hand stitched to flap

- knee pad is machined to the flap

- piping cord is covered in leather to create “facing”

- front “facing” is machined to the flap

Step 9 – Fitting the flaps

- flap is positioned on the tree

- flaps are checked for levelness

- headnails, flap saddle nails, nameplates and fall downs are placed and nailed in position

Step 10 – Stuffing Flocking

- front of the panel is stuffed

- panel is “run up” overstitched

- panel is then “flocked” with 100% pure Jacobs wool

Step 11 –Lacing in

- metal D’s are machined into leather

- D’s are attached to the underside of the tree

- gullet foam and then leather is fastened to underside of tree

- bar hole covers are attached to the tree

- panel is fitted to saddle by inserting the points of the tree into the pockets

- “lacing in” holes are made with an awl then the panel is hand stitched to the tree from head to cantle

- Flocked panel is checked for any uneveness, by regulating or mashing.

- Whole saddle is then checked again for levelness throughout

Step 12 – Quality control

- saddle is stamped with model, serial number and of course Made in England

- Cantle badge is added

- Buckle guards are cut out, stamped and then put on

- Overall saddle is run through quality control where it is checked again for symetry, cleaned and finally has its saddle cover.

'Tis the Season

2010-12-23T15:37:00.000-05:00

Wow - hard to believe another year has come and gone, and harder to believe I've been doing this blog for two years. It's been a long and wonderful journey, and reading back, I can see that - bit by bit - my knowledge base has grown and I've added tools to my bag. There's still a long road and a lot of blogging ahead; one of the great things about this job is that there's always a horse who'll defy all the rules or a saddle that will bring an innovative answer to a real head-scratcher of a problem ... always something new to learn.

So here's wishing you all the happiest of holidays, whatever you may celebrate (and if it was Hanukka, belated wishes). Here's hoping the new year brings a greater dose of wisdom, tolerance and kindness to those who need it most, and will give us all the eyes to see the joy and beauty in our everyday lives, and remind us how very lucky we are to spend some time together on this plane.

Peace, all.

Saddle Fitting for the Endurance Horse by Nancy Okun

2010-12-22T08:47:00.001-05:00

Here's another "Guest Blogger" entry - this time, from my co-worker, Nancy Okun. In addition to her saddle fitting work here at the shop, she's also an endurance and competitive trail rider. If she's not actually competing at a ride, you can bet she'll be volunteering or crewing for a friend who is competing ... so she has plenty of personal experience in the realm of saddles that works for a horse and rider over the long haul. She's helped literally hundreds of our customers find the right trail saddle, and shares some interesting insights into the saddle needs of the competitive trail / endurance horse and rider.

In my 30's (I'm shocked to say this but that was decades ago) I ran marathons. I was a serious runner and competitor and actually attended Running Camp. Yes, there is such a thing where lanky runners talk about (what else) running, race results, diet, fartleks, hill work, weekly mileage, shoes … you get the picture. It's no wonder I wound up an endurance rider. It was at one of those running camps that I heard a world class runner say that he could easily run a mile or so in his loafers because he was conditioned, but would never think about running distance in anything but a quality pair of good fitting running shoes. I took that to heart and bought new shoes, as suggested, every 500 miles or so even if they looked fine to the eye. It was the unseen interior support system that broke down with miles of pounding. I must say that I never encountered a serious running injury in the 12 years I ran distance. That philosophy stayed with me and it can certainly be applied to saddle fit for the endurance horse.

I am in no way saying that horses in other disciplines are not athletes and that good fitting saddles are not essential for great performance. What I am saying is that a saddle that is not 100% perfect may do no harm for an easy lesson in the ring, or a short trail ride. Use that same saddle for 50 miles and you'll have a horse with a very sore back, galls and very possibly a lameness issue.

A well-fitting saddle makes the difference between finishing with a happy healthy horse or possibly having to pull due to back issues. Trust me, if your horse is not comfortable … you won't be either. If you talk to endurance riders about saddles you'll get dozens of opinions about what type of saddle to use. The bottom line is any saddle that fits your horse and allows you to be in balance is the right saddle to buy.

Weight distribution is the key. The rider's weight should be spread over the largest possible area of the horse's back. Feather weight riders have less of a problem with this, but heavy weight riders may need a saddle with more surface area, both in the seat and the panels. There are many saddles on the market today with endurance riders in mind. Some have Western designs, others English and some on the McClellan type tree. It's great if you have an opportunity to try all three on your horse to find what matches best with their body type and yours. Many riders opt for a treeless saddle with great success, but again it will depend on the rider's weight, balance and horse's body type.

One important issue is the length of the horse's back. Many - make that most - endurance riders have Arabians or Arab Crosses. Arabs have one less vertebrae than other breeds so finding that 18th thoracic vertebrae is very important. Larger riders need to take this into consideration if they are most comfortable in an 18" or larger seat. A saddle that long just may not work for a short-backed Arabian.

If you are a novice at saddle fitting it would benefit you in the long run to enlist the help of a knowledgeable saddle fitter or at least an experienced distance rider with a good eye for saddle fit. Make sure your saddle fitter understands the kind of riding you do. A saddle must not only fit the static horse but the horse in full motion over uneven terrain. You must be able to test ride the saddle for at least a week of training rides. You should know after one long ride if you can be comfortable in the seat for hour after hour. You know your horse well. Is his stride shortened? Is he reluctant to pick up a trot or canter? Is he unhappy going downhill? Has he turned to you and given you a dirty look or possibly bitten your foot? Are you feeling pitched forward or backward? Are there changes in his heart rate and recoveries? Or … are you smiling and tinking, "Wow, he's never moved better and I've never felt more balanced"?

Endurance riders send me the greatest photos of sweat patterns! They ride enough miles to make the sweat patterns mean something! If your horse is really wet from a long ride and there is a glaring dry spot or ruffled hairs…those are red flags for sure.

The help of a good saddle fitter is essential. Endurance riders need their saddles flocked more than most riders due to compression mile after mile. A good saddle pad with shimming capabilities is essential if you compete your horse hard all season. A fit horse can lose a considerable percentage of water weight during a single day 50 or 100 mile ride. I've seen many riders assess fit at holds and insert a shim where needed to keep the saddle balanced. And, what looks like a perfect fit at the first ride of the spring will look very different on that fire-eating, super-fit Arabian in the late fall!

Endurance riders are great at listening to their horses so I trust them implicitly when I send them a saddle and they report back to me. Almost always what I see in their saddle assessment photos concur with what they told me on the phone about their ride experience.

Lastly … the money issue. Money is always tight especially for riders with a full season of events planned. My strong advice is to spend the very most you can on a good quality saddle. I'm not saying it has to be a $3000 saddle ... but a saddle, and shoeing, are not the places to skimp in this sport. It's the difference between running a marathon in a pair of Wal-Mart Keds vs. a pair of expensive Nike running shoes!

Pros and Cons of the Template (and The Ultimate Kicker)

2010-12-17T15:37:00.000-05:00

We have a customer who's been sending us videos of various saddle fitters in action. I always enjoy seeing other fitters work, because I usually pick up some useful information or find a new way of addressing a fitting issue ... so I've been watching them whenever I have a spare moment. One of these fitters takes very detailed templates - in addition to the measurements we ask for (3 fingers' width behind the rear edge of the scapula, lowest point of the back and topline), she does a tracing every few inches along the back, as well as taking longitudinal tracings on each side, midpoint of the longissimus muscle. When she has her full set of tracings, she cuts them out, flips the saddle upside down, and "fits" the tracings into the panels. Based on this method, she will assess the fit of an individual saddle, note where it needs to be flocked, and judge its suitability for the horse. She then puts the saddle on the horse, ungirthed, and finishes the assessment. I'd imagine that, at some point, she has the rider try the saddle, but I've yet to see video of that.

There are plenty of good things to be said about this method. It's a painstaking, old-school way of doing things that's not seen much these days; it's something of a lost art and requires a lot of attention to detail, and it gives you a pretty detailed map of the horse's back. (Frank Baines Saddlery is about the only place I know of that still asks for templates like this, and only when they're making a bench-made saddle.) You can use this method to assess saddle fit, or to make flocking adjustments if the horse isn't available. It's also handy for the customer to have such a comprehensive template when they're saddle shopping. But there is one real drawback: the template is taken when the horse is standing still ... and what we need is something that fits your horse in motion. Yes, you can get an idea if the saddle is likely to fit the horse using the templates - we do just that all the time with our long-distance customers, using our 3-measurement template. However, using the template is only step one of the whole process.

The next step is to put the saddle on the horse and girth it up. Remember, flocking is soft (or ought to be, anyway) and will shift and compress under pressure. What looks like it might cause a fitting issue when comparing the saddle to the template can become a total non-issue when the saddle's actually on the horse and girthed to riding tightness.

The next step is to get the rider up and the horse in motion. Some horse's backs change quite radically when they start moving (this will be the subject of one of my future blog posts, so stay tuned!), and the saddle that looked pretty darn good compared to the template or while the horse is standing in the crossties can get ruled out pretty quickly when the cantle starts popping or it scoots up on the shoulder when the horse is being ridden. I've seen it happen time and again: I SO wish I had a dollar for every time I've assessed the horse's fitting needs based on the "still" back and template and lugged likely saddles down from the shop to the indoor ... and then lugged them back up the stairs when the active fit proved them unsuitable. Don't get me wrong - it doesn't always play out that way. Sometimes the first saddle I choose is the right one (and the more I do this, the more often that happens) ... but in all honesty, it's just as likely to be the second saddle ... or the third ... or ... And on the other hand, a saddle that looks pretty "meh" when compared to the template or when sitting on the horse in the ties can be transformed into utter perfection when the rider's up and the horse is moving. I've spent plenty of time haring back up the stairs to grab that saddle I'd given the thumbs-down in the initial go-round, too.

The final step is to have the rider really ride the saddle four or five or six times. The saddle that seems great on the first or second ride may take care of an existing fitting problem ... but by the third or fourth ride, it may be creating new issues of its own. Until the saddle's really been ridden, you just can't tell.

And here, gentle readers, is the Ultimate Kicker: it all comes down to what the horse and rider think. I can spout saddle fitting theory and physics and geometry, I can trot out evidence both scientific and empirical, I can make diagrams and write blogs and juggle saddles and tap dance ... and I've seen saddles that have defied ALL these things and been the one that made the horse and rider blissfully happy. When you get down to where the cheese binds, my opinion matters not one whit. Horse and rider have the last say.

Quelle Belle Surprise!

2010-11-04T14:01:00.001-04:00

A few days ago, I received an e-mail from a young French blogger/dressage rider named Eugénie, asking if she could translate one of my blog posts into French. According to her, saddle fitting is something that's "almost unknown in France", and she was hoping to raise awareness, at least among her readership. I was very flattered - I mean, to me, having people actually want to read my blog is very, very gratifying; so to find that someone wants to go to the effort of translating it into another language is high praise indeed. I've been visiting Eugénie's blog and having a great time reading through it with the aid of my rudimentary French and a lot of help from Google Translations. So for those of you who speak the language (or who'd like to get a taste of Eugénie's very personable writing), stop by and take a look: http://fifikschroniques.canalblog.com/. Amusez-vous!

The Finite Life of a Saddle

2010-11-02T15:05:00.001-04:00

Some saddles seem to last forever. I've seen some venerable relics some across my bench - Passiers and Frank Baineses and Stubbens of 1970s vintage, some on their last legs, and some still in serviceably sound (though cosmetically challenged) condition. Eventually, though, they all get to the point of being too old to continue. Some fall victim to an accident, some are retired when the horse they were used on is sold or passes on, and some just flat wear out.

A saddle's useful life is determined in a large part by three things: first, its initial quality. Superior materials and workmanship will create a product that has a far greater chance of standing up to the test of time than inferior material and mediocre workmanship. The second factor is the use it receives. As we saw with Jenny Kimberly's saddle (mentioned here), "extreme riding" is hard on a saddle and will effect its lifespan, or at least the lifespan of its components. The third factor is the care it receives - if it's cleaned and conditioned regularly, has the flocking maintained regularly and is stored in a reasonably protected environment, its useful life will (or should) span many, many years.
But I'll repeat: even for the most pampered saddle, there will come a time when it's no longer "serviceably sound for its intended use". Sometimes it's hard to determine when the time has come to retire it ... even for a professional.

This saddle was in the shop on consignment. It's a Michael Stokes Centaur, made in the UK, a good example of a high-quality saddle that has seen good care, a long life and a lot of use (we're guessing it's at least 10 or 12 years old, if not more).

The saddle passed our usual safety check and had gone out on trial about 8 times before the right person and horse found it. But before the sale was finalized, however, the customer wanted me to check the tree. It seems there was a rather unsettling creaking noise ...

Flexing the tree did make it creak, and creak considerably. I dropped the panels and peeled back the gullet cover but didn't find any obvious cracks or loose rivets, and the lower head plate was sound. However, I did find just the slightest give somewhere when I flexed the head plate ... it creaked, but I couldn't pinpoint the cause. Any sort of give in that area indicates a major safety issue, so I was really determined to find out what was going on. I also noticed that there were two rather significant chips taken out of the tree in the cantle area (though those seemed unrelated to the problem, and I honestly don't know how they'd have gotten there):

Further staple pulling and leather peeling resulted in some pretty substantial wood chips coming out of the tree:

This sort of chipping is not normal when you're just pulling staples. It really made me wonder about the integrity of the tree (dry rot, perhaps?); you'll often get ugly holes if you're pulling escutcheon pins, but staples usually come out pretty cleanly, leaving only little holes behind. I was starting to worry about the advisibility of reconstructing the saddle even if I found no major damage ... but I still hadn't found what was causing the creaking noise, so I kept at it.

I pulled the seat foam off the pommel area and started to pry loose the webbing. The chipping increased quite dramatically in the "high staple" area (you can see a sizeable piece of wood between the legs of the staple near my thumb):

The upper head plate was intact, but when I pulled more staples and peeled back the leather from the rail just above the left stirrup bar, I found the problem:

The damage could have come from the stirrup catching on something and the horse pulling backwards / sideways, or it could have just been fatigue from constant use (remember, this is the left stirrup bar). The right rail was starting to bulge in the same area, though it hadn't actually cracked. I'm really glad the customer decided to have the noise checked. Sometimes a creak is nothing more than a loose rivet or the webbing rubbing on something ... and sometimes it's not. But without dropping the panels and exposing the tree (and sometimes, some determined digging), you can't tell for sure. Better safe than sorry.

Serge and Durability

2010-10-29T15:43:00.000-04:00

Good saddles aren't cheap. All of the new saddles we sell cost more than my first horse - and to be perfectly honest, they all cost more than my first car (which was a used 1973 Chevy Vega of dubious mechanical health). So when you're buying something that's going to cost you a few weeks' (or more) worth of paychecks, you want it to last. So what's the expected life span of a $3500 saddle with cloth panels?!

That's often the concern voiced by our customers when they see a saddle with serge panels. Back in the day, English saddles had serge panels; at some point (and I'm still researching to find out why), leather became the material of choice. And while leather panels are still the norm, serge is gaining in popularity, and with good reason. Serge has a lot of benefits: it breaks in more quickly, it helps wick sweat and dissipate heat, it's lighter weight, it helps keep the pad from slipping, it dries quickly, it can be a big help with a sensitive or "cold-backed" horse ... and it wears very, very well.

How well? Ok - remember the "Black Country Rocks Customer Service" post I did a couple months ago? (Click here if you need a refresher.) Remember Jenny Kimberly's Black Country Equinox - the 4 and a half year old saddle that's been ridden (by a conservative estimate) more than 6800 miles? Take a look at these photos, and you can see for yourself how well serge panels hold up, even under some pretty extreme conditions.

Six thousand, eight hundred miles down, and a LOT more miles left in it. That's a pretty convincing case for the durability of a serge panel!

EPILOGUE

For those of you who were wondering, Jenny did get her saddle back in plenty of time to use it in the VT 100 Mile Competitive Trail Ride. A job well done by Nikki Newcombe, Rob Cullen, John Hartley, the staff at Black Country Saddlery, and Patty Barnett of East Crow Saddlery, who did the actual re-treeing work!

Back Up and Running

2010-10-18T13:37:00.001-04:00

Just wanted to let you all know that I'm back at it after getting notices that my blog had been flagged for distrubuting malware. If any of you had issues because of this, I'm really, really, REALLY sorry. I have to admit to being pretty technologically challenged, and I had no idea this was going on until one of my readers contacted me on the Ultimate Dressage bb to let me know. I was mortified. After almost two weeks of stumbling through tutorials and chat rooms and on-line help, I was finally able to find and remove the bad code (it was ridiculously easy once I found the right help site); I blew out all the gadgets or widgets or whatever they're called and decided to use a fresh new template (which I'm still not sure I really like). I'm still not 100% certain how it happened, but I'm learning how to protect my blog from this sort of infection in the future. I have a couple ideas rolling around in my head, so as soon as I get a lull in repairs, reflocks and helping customers find saddles, I'll be posting again.

Adjustable Trees / Changeable Gullets Revisited - When They Work ... Or Don't.

2010-08-30T14:52:00.000-04:00

Last November, I did an entry about adjustable tree / changeable gullet saddles and what they do and don't do. Jennifer commented on the post, asking if I'd show some of the saddles and the horses they don't fit. I decided to take it a little further and show both success and failure in fitting them.

First horse we're looking at is Caroline, a Morgan mare who's used as a trail and pleasure horse. She's fairly short-backed, which can be a challenge if you're dealing with a larger or taller rider; she has a fairly impressive engine in her hind end and can send the saddle walking toward her ears if the panels are too long.

She's a little asymmetrical as well, but nothing too dramatic. She needs a tree with a bit of scoop and a fairly thin rear gusset; too flat a tree will bridge, and too thick a gusset will cause the saddle to sit cantle-high and slide forward.

Our second horse is Sammy, a 34 year old Morgan gelding who's used for lightweight riders in a therapeutic riding program:

Sammy has almost no longissimus muscle and is very broad (that cup is really sitting there - no PhotoShop involved). He's a very funky shape.

We chose three different adjustable tree / changeable gullet saddles: a Laser and two Wintecs (the newest design of the Wintec Pro Dressage for Caroline, and a Wintec Wide ap for Sammy). Now let's see how they fit.

Here's Carloline in an adjustable-tree Laser:

First, no matter how we adjust the tree on this saddle, it's always going to be overwhelmingly large for a small horse like Caroline (as my mom would have said, "Where's that saddle going with that horse?"). Second, the billets fall well behind Caroline's girth spot, and that, in conjunction with a too-deep rear gusset, will send the saddle sliding forward. No matter how we adjust the front of this saddle, these issues will not change and the saddle will not fit.

Here's the Wintec Pro Dressage on Caroline. The balance is pretty decent (the front will drop a bit when it's girthed up, which - of course - Edie and I forgot to do because we were chatting, as you might guess, about saddles ...). The panels are pretty long, though (even though the saddle's sitting further forward than is ideal), and while the billets lie a bit more forward than the Laser's did, they're still too far back.

The tree width looks ok in this next photo, but I'm not crazy about the way the panel is making contact with her wither - it's almost pinching at the top:

And here's the final blow: it bridges:

To be fair, you can't do a comprehensive fitting assessment on a saddle with CAIR panels without a rider up, but this saddle has too many strikes against it to make it worth the effort. And no matter what gullet plate we put in the saddle, none of these problems are going to change. So for Caroline, both of these saddles are no-hopers.

Now, for Sammy. Here he is in the Lazer:

The saddle's perching (and yes, we forgot to girth this one up, too ... so much for practicing what I'm always preaching!); the billets are better on Sammy than on Caroline, but they're still not ideal.

In the next photo, we can see that the saddle needs to be widened quite substantially:

So we did, which improved things in the front to within the "acceptable but not optimal" range:

However, no matter how we adjusted the front, it bridged (so badly that I didn't feel it necessary to put the arrow in this photo):

So we tried a Wintec Wide on Sammy:

A little pommel-high, but let's remember the CAIR panels (and the two goofballs who forgot the girth) and take another look:

That looks pretty decent. And good rear panel contact, and no bridging (you'll have to take my word somewhat for that, since every time I lifted the flap to take a photo the whole saddle popped up):

And it even sat nicely on his funky flat spots:

In fact, this is about the only saddle that fits Sammy decently - a case where the changeable gullet saddle is the best choice.

What's In a Name?

2010-08-26T16:37:00.002-04:00

Quite a lot, at least in my experience ...

One questions I'm asked quite frequently is, "What's the best saddle?" And my answer always is, "The one that suits you and your horse the best." This answer often elicits a blank stare from the questioner, since most people expect me to offer up a particular make of saddle ... and seem to want me to offer up one that will set them back about 4 or 5 mortgage payments.

Sorry, folks, but I'm not a Name Queen.

I run into tons of people who practically pee their pants when they hear "Devoucoux", "Hennig", "Hermes", "Schleese" or "Antares", and I have to confess: I just don't get it. It reminds me of the early 1980s, when everyone (male and female) was squealing over Jordache or Gloria Vanderbuilt or Calvin Klein jeans, and I was noodling along quite happily in my Levis and Wranglers. They fit me better than anything with a designer label, wore like iron, and were less than half the price of the designer jeans. "But they don't have a name," my friends would moan in despair. My broke friends. My broke friends who were always complaining about their uncomfortable designer jeans ...

Saddles are much the same. Sure, you can pay $6000+ for a custom Hennig, or $4500+ for a custom Schleese (or Stackhouse, or County ...), BUT that doesn't guarantee that the saddle will suit you (or your horse) any better than an off-the-rack or bench-made saddle might. You and your horse might be perfectly fitted with a Black Country, and Albion, a Frank Baines, or (gods forbid) a Duett or (I'm uttering blasphemy here) a Thorowgood or Wintec ...

Why? Because most horse and rider combinations do. not. need. a. custom. saddle. Many can be fit beautifully by an off-the-rack model and a little help from a fitter, and the rest are just dandy in a bench-made saddle. Given the gazillion different saddle companies out there with a bazillion different models and a googolplex of fitting options, you can find a stock or bench-made model that will fit - there's no real need to go custom.

But some folks are just incurable Name Queens, and in that sense, they need to be riding in the trendiest, most expensive, sought-after saddle out there.

One of my customers recently spent $3800 on a wide tree used Devoucoux dressage saddle to use for trail riding on her very round little Morab. When I gave her the bad news (as gently as I could) that the saddle didn't come close to fitting and there was no way it could be made to fit, her response was, "I got a good deal on it though, right?"

The saddle was in lovely shape, and since they sell for well over $4000 new, at least I didn't have to tell her I hoped she'd gotten a kiss and dinner in the bargain. "Well, yes, but since it doesn't fit ..."

"But it's a Devoucoux," she said. "And I got a good deal on it."

For her, that was all that mattered.

I see this far more often than my saddle fitting soul would like. People buy the name, and whether it fits the horse - or them - isn't really considered in the equation. They have the cachet of saying they ride in a Devoucoux / Hennig / Schleese / Antares / CWD / Tad Coffin, and that's all that matters. It may be wearing holes in their horse's back and they may have their underware fused to their naughty bits at the end of a ride, but by gods, they're riding in a ____________ (fill in the blank). The world envies them, so having to wait 20 minutes after a ride before they can walk without screaming is of no consequence. And if the horse is going belly-down in the dirt when he sees the saddle, well ... just put another pad under it. Yes, they already use 4 pads with this saddle, but once Das Pferd gets to second level and develops a real topline, the saddle will fit beautifully.

Now, keep in mind that all of the saddles I've listed are absolutely perfect for some horses and riders - they fit well, and the pair performs beautifully in them. But if they're not, they're worth no more to the individual horse and rider than the most humble old synthetic beater ... except in the mind of the Name Queen.

Black Country Rocks Customer Service

2010-08-20T13:57:00.003-04:00

Customer service is lying in the gutter with multiple stab wounds. It's going the way of the dodo, the bustle and the rotary-dial phone; finding a company that stands behind its products and goes above and beyond to keep the customer happy is more unusual than finding an ethical politician. So when you run into it, you have to tell everyone. So here's a little story about one of those rare gems: Black Country Saddlery.

Endurance and competitive trail saddles lead tough lives. They're consistently drenched with rain, ridden in scorching heat, mounted from the ground, bespattered with trail muck and festooned with sponges, protective hoof boots, heart rate monitors, water bottles and all the other accessories that endurance/CTR riders carry. They also consistantly play second banana to the horse: if you're at a hold and it's hot and you need to get your horse's pulse and respiration down, the saddle WILL get soaked when your horse is sponged down. And if it's a long hold and the vet asks you to take the saddle off, it may wind up sitting unprotected on the ground, maybe propped against something ... or not. These saddles see more use than probably any other "recreational" saddle - literally thousands of miles and hundreds of hours. And sometimes they're literally "rode hard and put away wet".

That sort of use is hard on a saddle. Even if the rider is conscientious about the care their saddle receives, the use will take its toll. I've done strip flocks on trail saddles and found mold and mildew, wet wool in the panels and rust on the spring bars and rivets of the tree ... and given the conditions these saddles are ridden in, there's really no way to avoid that. Additionally, although the wood of the tree is a varnished laminate, water will penetrate, and wet wood is softer and more flexible than dry ...

This past Wed., 8/11, one of my most active endurance / CT customers, Jenny Kimberly, brought me her almost 5 yr. old Black Country Equinox. She and her mare Lyric been doing a 50 mile ride when she noticed that her saddle was squeaking at the pommel when she rose to the trot, so she brought it to me to check. Jenny is one of those riders who may not clean her saddle as often as would be ideal, but I know she's very conscientious about making sure it's taken care of, dried properly and stored properly - and it's a saddle that I've maintained regularly, including one strip flock and a billet replacement. So I knew it was highly unlikely that the saddle had been mishandled. During the initial flex test, I could make the saddle squeak, but there was no detectable movement in the head plate. I dropped the panels, peeled back the gullet cover, and a rusted rivet head dropped onto my bench. When I tucked my fingers between the head plate and gullet cover to fold it back, two more rivet heads slid off. The bottom headplate had two hairline cracks:

There was a crack in the edge of the upper head plate, too (I didn't pull the seat off the saddle, so honestly can't say whether this was real damage or just a nick in the metal). You can also see all three headless rivets, and a loose rivet head peeking out from the front of the head plate:

And here's the rust on the metal reinforcements and spring bars - amazing:

Obviously, this saddle has seen more (and harder) use in under 5 years than many saddles see in a lifetime. When I asked Jenny to give me a rough estimate of how many miles she's put in that saddle, she thought for a moment, and said, "Well, I know it's been at least three thousand competitive miles. And then there's conditioning ... I ride about three or four times a week; I do a lesson or two in the ring each week - those are about an hour, hour and a quarter. I also do a couple conditioning rides - the shorter ones are in the 6 mile range, and the longer ones are 10-15 miles."

Let's do the math. If Jenny rides an average of 20 miles a week for conditioning (and I'm including ring work in that number), that comes to 1040 miles a year. We'll take a few miles off to compensate for recovery from competition, Jenny going on vacation, etc., and call it 850 miles a year. That would mean that in 4 1/2 years, she's ridden 3,825 conditioning miles. Tack the 3000 competition miles onto that, and you're looking 6,825 miles - that's two and a half trips across the continental US - almost a quarter of the way around the world.

Tell me the mere thought of that doesn't make your butt sore. Many riders don't put that many miles and hours in the saddle in 20 years, let alone four and a half, and usually not in the rotten weather that so often seems to accompany competitions (and conditioning rides) in the endurance / CTR world.

Of course, Jenny is entered in the VT 100 Mile Competitive Trail Ride, which takes place Labor Day weekend. She does have another saddle she can use, but she'd really prefer to have her old faithful Equinox (and in all honesty, it's great press for us and for Black Country to have high-level competitors like Jenny riding in our saddles) ... So I e-mailed Nikki Newcombe, Black Country's Sales Manager, and explained the situation. Now, many sales managers would have asked me a bunch of questions: "Has the saddle been in an accident?" "Did the owner drop it, or was she careless with it?" "Did the horse roll on it?" and the like. But not Nikki. She took my word on it, and told me that she would send a replacement as soon as possible ... but since the saddle had been built to template rather than on a stock tree, she'd have to find the template and have the tree sized. And on Monday 8/16 - only three business days later - we had the specially sized tree in hand from the amazing Nikki at Black Country in Walsall, England. We boxed it up, along with the old saddle, and sent it to Patty Barnett, who will have it reassembled and back to us by late next week. (Amazingly, Patty says it takes about 6 hours to re-tree a saddle. This seems like magic to me; I MUST get down to see her and add to my skill set asap.) So, with luck, Jenny will have Old Faithful back in plenty of time to use it in the VT 100.

So many, many thanks to Nikki Newcombe, Rob Cullen, John Hartley and all the folks at Black Country Saddlery. This is the sort of customer service that raises a company above the run-of-the-mill, cements customer (and retailer) loyalty, and becomes the benchmark for which other companies should strive.

Bad Intel

2010-07-29T15:47:00.001-04:00

When I'm doing a saddle fitting, I depend pretty heavily on the rider to give me input and feedback. I need to know how the saddle feels for them, how they feel about their position, and how they feel their horse is going. This is especially true if we're working with someone long-distance: templates, photos and rider input is all we have to go on. However, some info is better than other info ... I'll give you a few scenarios to illustrate my point.

SCENARIO 1

I recently had a fitting appointment with a woman who was looking for a dressage saddle. I asked her what saddle fitting issues she'd been having in the past, and she replied that every saddle she tried on her horse was "too tight behind the shoulders". She'd tried 5 or 6 different saddles in varying widths, but all had the same problem. Since everything in saddle fitting can be open to interpretation, I took her word for it, though the horse didn't appear to have any major fitting issues. I found a few saddles that looked like good candidates (and that she'd liked sitting in on the buck), so she tacked her horse up in the first one and started riding around the arena. I watched as she walked and trotted, and the saddle looked like a pretty darn good fit - there was no popping in the cantle at the rising trot, the saddle wasn't slipping forward or backward (or rolling side-to-side), and the horse was moving out well. The rider looked comfortable and balanced, too. She cantered in both directions, and things were looking about perfect. She brought her horse to the walk, let the reins out to the buckle, and got a free walk that should have scored a "10" in a dressage test. I was about to tell her how good everything looked when I noticed that she was glaring down at the pommel of the saddle.

"This saddle is doing the same thing all the others did!" she exclaimed.

I was totally flummoxed. Everything looked perfect to my eye, and the horse sure seemed happy, so what in the world was she seeing? "Could you show me what you mean?" I asked.

She tucked her whip under her thigh, leaned forward, and proceeded to stuff her fingers under the panels of the saddle, right under the tree points, behind the horse's shoulders. "I can't get my hands in there!"

"Well," I relpied, "you're not really supposed to be able to."

"Why not?" she countered.

Fortunately, I'm usually pretty good at thinking on my feet. Since it would have been impolitic to say, "Well, you have your whole body weight in the saddle, which is weighing it down pretty effectively, so why would you think you should be able to fit your hands in there?!", I had to find another explanation. Then, I noticed that she was wearing tall boots. "Can you stick your hands down the top of your boot?"

"Of course not!"

"Do they fit well?"

"Of course!" she answered.

"Same sort of thing here," I told her. "You want the saddle to fit like your boots: not too tight, not too loose, no big gaps and no pinching." I also explained about wanting even pressure under the entire length of the tree points, and how lack of pressure - or too much pressure - can cause problems.

I just have to wonder how many of the saddles she tried really did fit well ...

MORAL: Your hands do not belong under your saddle - at least not when you're IN it. Don't try to put them there.

SCENARIO 2

I was chatting on the phone with a customer who'd sent photos and a template, discussing tree width. She said she knew her horse wasn't happy in a medium-tree County, and when I saw the tracings, I could see why: the tracings showed the horse to be a hoop tree candidate ... and at least an extra-wide hoop tree, at that. When I relayed that information, there was a moment of silence on her end of the phone, then, "Oh."

I blathered on quite happily, telling her which saddles offer the hoop tree, when she interrupted.

"There's no way my horse is that broad."

I said, "If your tracings are correct, we're looking at an extra-wide hoop ..."

"There is NO WAY my horse is that wide."

"Well, I'm afraid the tracings I'm seeing are definitely matching the extra-wide ..."

"My. horse. is. not. that. fat," She said, a little shakily.

"Oh, width doesn't equate to fat," I explained. "Lots of breeds are very well-sprung in the ribs and broad. I see your mare is a Morgan - Arab cross, and both of those breeds tend to be ..."

"MY. HORSE. IS. NOT! THAT! FAT!!"

I sighed mentally. "Of course not - I wasn't inferring that at all, honestly. Extra-wide trees don't ..."

"I just can't get my head around that," she said. "My horse is only 14.3."

I plowed on. "Height isn't much of an indicator of tree width, really. Lots of the smaller breeds - smaller in height, I mean - are wider than the bigger breeds. According to the tracings you sent ..."

"She's really NOT fat!" she wailed. "If you're saying she's an extra-wide, it means you think she's FAT!"

"No, no, not at all," I assured her. "You can see in the photos that she's really very fit. It's just that she has the broad back that's pretty typical of her ..."

"I'll ... I'll need to call you back." She sounded very close to tears. "I just can't get my head around that. Extra-wide?!?!" And she hung up the phone.

MORAL: Wide does not equal fat.

SCENARIO 3

I was doing a fitting on a Morgan gelding who was ... well, let's say "conformationally challenged." He was 15 h. at the withers and 15.2 h. at the croup (which was flat as a table); he had upright pasterns, an upright shoulder, a 6" long neck, long cannon bones, forelegs that appeared to come out of the same hole in an incredibly narrow chest, and almost no detectable hock. "He's built like a saw horse," his owner explained, and I thought that was a pretty accurate description. The owner said he needed a narrow tree, but when I looked at his back, I'd have said at least a medium-wide, if not wider. I plunked the owner's existing saddle, an old medium-wide Albion Comfort, on his back and did a quick assessment. It met all the criteria of the Heavy Seven, though a strip-flock was definitely in order.

"Have you been having any problems with this saddle?" I asked.

"No, not at all," she replied. "But after realizing how narrow he is, I thought there was no way a medium-wide saddle should be fitting correctly."

"The Albions tend to run on the generous side when it comes to tree width," I said. "He'd likely need a wide tree in some saddles."

"But look at how narrow he is!" she insisted.

I looked at the horse. That back was pretty broad, and when I turned to the owner to say as much, I realized that she was NOT looking at his back. She was staring directly at his chest, and said, "I'm surprised to hear you say the saddle fits well, considering ..."

"Well, when I say he's wide, I'm looking at his back ... not his chest."

The owner stepped up beside her horse's shoulder and gazed at his back. "OH! NOW I see what you mean ..."

MORAL: In saddle fitting, it's the width of the BACK we consider.

SCENARIO 4

As I said earlier, we do a lot of work with the help of photos. When assessing fit, we ask for photos like these:

Sometimes, if rear panel contact is in question, we'll ask for photos like this:

But what we DON'T need are photos like these:

That's a cute face, but it tells me zip about saddle fitting needs or issues.

Again, a nice-looking horse, but I can tell nothing about what he might need for a saddle.

Ok, we have definite clearance over the withers, but that's about all I can tell ...

I can't even see the saddle, let alone the back ... impossible to tell anything about fit. Nice tail, though ...

The saddle's not girthed up, and it's way too far forward. I'm also hoping that the horse didn't take two big steps to his right and drop the saddle in that mud puddle ...

The red saddle nail tells me this is a Duett ... or an Albion ... or perhaps a Keiffer ... but that's all.

I'm not even totally sure what this one is ... I think it's a horse's back ...

Anyway, bottom line: I need good info to do my job. This doesn't mean professional photos or reams of poetry about how the saddle feels for you or a dissertation on how your horse is going ... but clear, concise input from you makes my job a ton easier, and increases the likelihood that your saddle search will be as short and painless as possible!

Symmetrical ... Or Not.

2010-07-16T13:05:00.002-04:00

Most horses are sided, the same as most people. Often, I find it's the left side that's dominant and bigger (and I have the templates to bear that out); but whether it's left or right side, their larger/dominant side is usually the side to which they bend and track well, while going in the opposite direction - and having to stretch that contracted, muscle-y side - is harder. And whatever discipline we ride, one of our goals should be to make our horses as evenly developed as possible. (If this sounds familiar, I did touch on some of this in my "Ground Work and In-Hand Exercises" post from April of '09). And to that end, dear readers, we do NOT want our saddles to be adjusted asymmetrically ... at least, unless we have a saddle fitter on retainer, and a huge disposable income and nothing better to spend it on than eternal saddle fit adjustments!

There are plenty of fitters out there who'll adjust your flocking - and in some cases, even your tree - to match your horse's asymmetries. (NOTE: Anyone who tries to adjust a spring tree asymmetrically will in all likelihood make the tree so it can't sucessfully be straightened, and it will probably never sit correctly again. Most spring trees should only be adjusted once - symmetrically - no more than one tree size.) And while there may be a short-term benefit to that, doing so - in my opinion - can cause more harm than it alleviates. Why? Consider this:

You have a nice mare who had some soundness issues that took about 6 months to correct. As a result, her right side is considerably larger and more muscled than her left; she goes along quite happily to the right, but going left is a nightmare. So you get a saddle that fits her right side well, but the left ... well, there's a 3/4" gap. So the fitter says, "I can make that gap go away!" and proceeds to either flock that side heavily to compensate, or tweaks the tree so the left side suits the lack of muscle. The saddle fits perfectly, the fitter goes away, and you start working your mare five days a week.

For the first few weeks, things are going pretty well. The mare's getting better about tracking left, her muscles are growing and she's getting much more balanced. Then, you notice she's getting fussy about bending left, and she no longer picks up the left lead canter as easily as she did, and you're starting to feel as though you're sitting a bit crooked. You run your hands down your mare's back under the front of the saddle, and notice that the left side feels awfully tight. You remember that the saddle was fitted asymetrically, so you call your fitter to come address the issue. Fitter comes out, adjusts the flock / tree, charges you between $100 and $400, and everything's fine. A few more weeks down the road, the mare's starting to have issues going to the left again, and the left side of the saddle feels tight again. You call your fitter, fitter comes, charges you another $100 - $400, and all's well. A few more weeks pass, and the issues are starting again ... You call your fitter, but this time, your fitter can't get to you for a month. So you soldier on, with your mare getting more and more sour about bending left ... and then bending right ... and then being saddled at all. By the time your appointment rolls around, your mare's so sore and cranky that you have to cancel because your vet / chiro told you (after a $250 visit) that she at least two weeks off to heal - or worse, that she's seriously aggrivated whatever it was that caused the 6-month lay-up. Or perhaps your mare was in so much pain that she started bucking, launched you into the arena fence, and now you're laid up with a concussion / broken collar bone / broken ribs / separated shoulder (which isn't nearly as painful as the cost of a visit to the ER was). You (and/or your mare) are out of commission, you've lost training time, and the asymmetry is still there.

Here's a second scenario:

Same mare, same issues, same asymmetry. Again, you get a saddle that fits her right side well, but the left ... well, there's a 3/4" gap. So your fitter says, "Why don't we address this issue with a shim pad?" You buy a correction pad for $130, put 3 shims in to fill the gap, and off you go. A couple weeks later, you notice the left side of the saddle's getting a little tight, so you remove one of the shims. A few weeks later, the muscle's grown enough to remove another shim; finally, 10 or 12 or 14 weeks after the initial fitting, you can remove the last shim pad. Your fitter comes out, tweaks the flock, charges you between $100 and $200, and you're good to go for about 6 or 8 months - longer, in some cases.

You do the math.

Supporting Evidence

I've posed the "to adjust asymmetrically or not" question to several other fitters, and I received this from my mentor Patty Barnett, who owns and operates East Crow Saddlery. It's pretty much the same answer I've gotten from everyone else, but I feel it really makes a nice sum-up:

"But never ever is it acceptable (imho) to adjust a tree asymmetrically to fit a horse. This is basically the same thing as twisting a tree on purpose. Say "twisted tree" to someone and watch their eyeball's pop out of their head. Now tell them to pay someone to twist their tree on purpose ...

"I don't often flock a saddle asymmetrically to fit a horse, but certainly have done it. On a young horse, I would much prefer they use a corrective pad to stabilize and hold the saddle centered and straight. And then work on training to get the musculature more even. But there are people who don't want to spend additional money on a corrective pad, or they feel the saddle should fit without a corrective pad. After all, what are they paying the saddle fitter for? It's like blasphemy for a saddle fitter to utter the words "corrective pad" ~ we've confessed our sins of associating with the devil.

"I have a handful of clients though that their horses are in their 20's or have permanent asymmetries ~ so yes we've very precisely flocked the saddle very unevenly to fit their horse. But they also know they can never ride another horse in that saddle unless it's reflocked again.

"I could go on for another hour down a few interesting side roads of uneven feet or bad farriers causing uneven shoulders & muscling. One of my favorite types of clinics to attend are farrier/foot clinics. "No foot, No horse" is still as true as ever. Whole horse soundness and the importance of the fitter working with the farrier, dentist, vet, muscle worker, chiro ..."

'Nuff said.