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

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!