Fitting Horse and Rider

"I'm not concerned about how the saddle feels for me - my horse is really hard to fit, so if a saddle works for him, I'll learn to love it."

If I had a quarter for every time I've heard this, I could retire. In style.

Saddle fitting is sort of like marriage: if one partner is unhappy, it won't be long before the other partner is unhappy, too. The saddle must work for both the horse and the rider - end of story. Here's why.

If the saddle fits the rider well, but not the horse, we know what the outcome will be: miserable horse, who will eventually make riding a most unpleasant experience, which will, in turn, make the rider miserable. But what if the saddle's a great fit for the horse, but not so much for the rider?

First, if you're not comfortable in the saddle, you won't be able to ride affectively. Your balance will be off, which will effect your seat and legs, your timing, and your feel, which will make it hard to communicate well, which will make it hard for your horse to perform properly - and those are just the short term issues.

Let's say the saddle fits your horse well, but the twist is too narrow for your comfort, and you're constantly falling forward. This will concentrate all of your weight under the front of the saddle, creating a lot of pressure in a fairly small area. This will not only make it tough for your horse to get off the forehand, it will cause the flocking in the front of the panels to compress; eventually, the rear of the saddle may cease to make proper contact with your horse's back and the cantle may "pop" at the rising trot. Meanwhile, you're becoming increasingly sore and miserable from being constantly unbalanced ... and so is your horse.

Given the number of saddles out there and the number of fitting options available, there's no reason for horse OR rider to be uncomfortable. Most better-quality saddles can be ordered with fitting options for both: specific panel configuration and tree width/shape for the horse, and flap length/set, seat size and thigh/knee block for the rider. Some compaines charge for these options, and some don't, but there's no reason that both beings in the equation can't be comfortable and happy.

Going Into Detail Revisited

Once again, I'm re-posting one of the first blog entries, in an effort to make this blog more useful to the first-time horse owner. (By the way, if anyone knows how to access the archives, please let me know.)


As promised in my last entry, I'm going to go into more detail on the Heavy Seven, and the other issues that come into play.

First, tree width. Yes, the tree has to be the correct width; the points should lie parallel to the horse's back (as illustrated in the previous post). But in some cases, the tree can be the correct width and still not fit properly, because many other things come into play: tree shape, gullet shape, length of tree points and panel configuration all contribute to how well - or how poorly - a saddle fits. For example, let's say that you have a lean, high-withered Tb like this fellow here:




Here he is in a saddle with the correct tree width, but with the wrong panel configuration (too shallow):



As you can see, the saddle's sitting pommel-high; it will put the rider too far back in the seat and concentrate pressure on the rear half of the saddle rather than distributing weight evenly over the surface of the panels. And though you can't really tell it from the photo, there was also insufficient clearance over the wither, and the rider's weight would have caused the saddle to sit directly on the withers. (NOTE: This is one reason that so many horses with this conformation are labelled as "narrow", because without panel modifications, most saddles with the correct tree width will sit on the wither; hence the need to go to a narrower tree for clearance. This just causes more atrophy in the back and makes the horse even harder to fit properly.)

So what would have to be done to the saddle? The panel would obviouosly need to be thicker in the rear, but it would also need to be modified in front; in this case, a wither gusset:




and a dropped or trapezius panel:






The combination of these two panel options will "fill in the dips" below those big withers and lift the saddle up off the wither. The photo below roughly shows - in red - where the weight bearing surface will be on a "standard" panel; the green lines show the weight bearing area of a saddle with a trapezius panel and wither gusset:




UP NEXT: Channel width and panel contact. Stay tuned!

--Posted By saddlefitter to Saddle Fitting - The Inside Journey at 11/30/2008 04:16:00 PM

Saddle Recommendation for Arabee and Nicole

Next in the series of saddle recommendations are Nicole and her horse Arabee (you can follow their adventures on Nicole's blog: http://www.adventuresonarabee.blogspot.com/). Nicole is doing endurance and wants to find a saddle that will fit better than the one she has now:

As you can see, the saddle's sitting pommel-high; some of that is due to the fact that the saddle's too far forward (I'd like to see it about 3 fingers' width further back, but given Arabee's conformation, I'd bet most saddles tend to slide forward). Another reason it's pommel-high is that the tree is too narrow. In the next photo, I've outlined the angle of the tree in green, and the angle of Arabee's back in red. You can see they don't match up.

The saddle's not a bad fit otherwise, but the tree points can't be comfy for Arabee, and Nicole likely feels thrown into the back seat due to the pommel sitting so high.

So let's take a look at Arabee "nekkid":

She's a nicely compact little mare with a moderate wither and some curve to her back. She's a tad rump-high and has a well-sprung rib cage - both will contribute to a saddle wanting to move forward. She also has a broad back:
Ideally, I'd like to see Arabee in a saddle with an shallow gusseted, upswept - the upsweep will keep the panels from extending past T18, and the gusset will give a broader bearing surface to the bottom of the panel, and a shallow gusset will keep it from sitting too high in back. A full front gusset might help keep the saddle back, as well.

I would definitely not recommend an extended panel, such as you find on the Wintec endurance saddle - unless Nicole rides in a really tiny seat (like 15"), I'd be afraid an extended panel would A) extend past T18, and B) I'd be afraid it would poke and / or rub, since Arabee's a bit butt-high.

I'd like to see a hoop tree on this mare, too. In the photo below, both "gullets" are the correct width, but notice how differently they compare to her back. The standard tree gullet is in turquoise, and the hoop tree gullet in pink.

Here's the catch: Nicole (like mostly everyone else out there today) is on a budget and needs to keep the price as far under $1000.00 as possible, and most saddles in this price range don't offer a ton of fitting options. So we're going to do the best we can to maximize comfort for everyone and still stay within budget. Nicole could try to find a used leather saddle - I'd recommend looking into a Duett Fidelio or perhaps a Duett Companion Trial, though I'd worry that the tree on the Companion Trail might be too flat for Arabee's back. A used Frank Baines Enduro or Enduro LDR would be worth considering as well. or perhaps an older County Competitor (I'm mentioning dressage saddles here because many of my endurance and competitive trail customers ride in dressage saddles - they either order them with dee rings, or have me retrofit them). Arabian Saddle Company also makes a trail saddle, and that would be another avenue to try.

However, given Nicole's budget, her chosen discipline, and Arabee's conformation, I'd recommend trying a Thorowgood Cob or Broadback, either the a/p or dressage models. Even brand new, they're in her price range, they offer a changeable gullet, and in my experience, they're a good, reliable saddle. They also have a more hoop-shaped gullet plate, which will work better for Arabee. (The reason I'm not recommending a Wintec Wide is because their gullet plates are just flattened-out versions of their standard gullet plates - the turquoise-colored gullet in the photo above is a PhotoShopped version of a plate from the Wintec Wide). And being synthetic, Nicole can kiss leather maintenance goodbye - the Thorowgoods I mentioned are synthetic, and wash up with soap and water. No more worries about being caught in the rain!

Next up: Finding a saddle for the first-time horse owner.

New Feature - Thanks to CotH BBers!

I picked up a wonderful idea from the BBers at the Chronicle of the Horse forums, and - with your help, dear readers - will feature it regularly. If you'd like to e-mail me some photos of your horse, I'll make recommendations on which saddles and / or fitting options I'd chose as being the best candidates for your horse. And if you'd care to send a tracing (you'll have to snail-mail that, since any other method distorts the tracing and renders it useless), I'll even make recommendations on tree width.

Anyway, here are the photos I need:

First, a good conformation shot:

Next, these views of your horse's back:

I think this will be a fun, informative feature - I'm looking forward to it.

Fitting Options

I had a request a couple of entries ago for photos of some of the fitting options I'd mentioned. Here you go, with examples of how each is meant to work.

First is a trapezius or dropped panel:

This panel is useful for horses with a good wither and dips below it, like so:


The dropped part of the panel will snug into that dip and keep the saddle from nose-diving into the withers.
Next option is the K panel (named for Kay Hastilow, Master Saddler, QSF, who originated this design):
This configuration is good for a roof-backed horse with "shark" withers:

The extra panel depth works the same as a dropped panel, but is better for a more extreme conformation.
This is a wither gusset:
It's often used in conjunction with a dropped or K panel - again, to help keep the front of the saddle off the withers.

Here's a photo of an upswept panel:

The rear edge of the panel is curved upward rather than being squared off. This is a great help in fitting short backed horses (particularly if the rider requires a large seat size) and horses who are built rump-high.

Another helpful fitting option is an extra-deep rear gusset (don't have a photo of that - sorry; just imagine adding extra depth to the gusset). Works well for a horse with a big back-to-wither difference, and is sometimes used with the K or dropped panel.

While these fitting options (and others) are available from most of the better UK-made saddle makers, these photos are all of Black Country saddles. I'm going to make a shameless plug for Black Country Saddlery here and say that I absolutely love dealing with them. They deliver saddles to us in 4 weeks or less, and they FIT. If there's ever a problem, they make it right immediately (or as immediately as the Atlantic Ocean and 4 time zones allow - I've had Nikki Newcombe, their sales manager, reply to my e-mails on weekends and at odd times of the day and night). Can't say enough about the quality of their saddles or their customer service!