Can you tell if your saddle does not fit correctly?
Imagine wearing a pair of shoes which are a size too small for you. After walking around in them for any period of time you are going to start to feel the pain. Well our horses feel the pain of a bad fitting saddle and it can result in long term spinal and tendon damage. Your horse may also begin to exhibit some a variety of bad behaviours while under saddle if the saddle is not correctly fitted.
Read on to find out if you may need a saddle fitter, what a Saddle Fitter does and the signs that indicate its time to have your saddle properly fitted.
ARE YOU UNBALANCED?
If you are having trouble with your position or your horse is not performing as well as he should, there may be an issue with the balance of your saddle.
A saddle fitter will check that the Pommel is not sitting too high thus causing you to tip backwards. From your horses perspective, the discomfort of a saddle which is too high off the withers and too low in the back will cause pressure on the loins. This pressure makes it uncomfortable for your horse to step underneath itself into a correctly collected frame.
On the other hand, if the saddle is too low in the front you will feel as though your are tipping forward and may experience a sore lower back and the effect on your horse will be a pinching at the shoulder restricting his movement.
Here is an excellent way to quickly check the balance of your saddle:
Place your unmounted saddle over the withers and slide it right back behind the shoulder blade. (note: dressage saddle cantle is slightly higher than the pommel by default as shown in diagram above)
Take a pencil and roll it on the seat of the saddle. The pencil will roll into the deepest part of the seat if it is well balanced. But if it rolls too far forward – the pommel is too low. If it rolls too far back, the cantle is too low. If you find an issue with the balance of the saddle, your local saddle fitter will have the tools needed to adjust the saddle and get it back in good balance.
A. Pommel - height of the pommel must be well clear of the top of the wither
B. Deepest part of the seat - must be perfectly centred
C. Tree Points - must be long enough to be supported on the shoulder bone
D. Gullet - the width gullet must be wide enough to sit evenly on each side of the wither
CORRECT GULLET SIZE
A bad fitting gullet can cause permanent damage to your horse’s back so it's is imperative that you have the right fitting gullet and your saddle fitter is trained to properly measure the correct gullet size for your horse, and can make the needed alterations to your saddle.
If the gullet is too wide it will have inadequate weight-bearing surface and can cause muscle atrophy. This is where the muscle is stripped away from the top of the ribs.
If the gullet is too narrow it will sit too close to the spine and/or ligaments. Your horse will hollow his back at this point and this will lead to a diminished topline. Your saddle fitter will measure the exact width of your horse's gullet size and can change or adjust the gullet accordingly.
KEEPING THE WITHER CLEAR
We've been told that a clear wither is one where a height of 2-3 fingers fit between the pommel and wither. But what you may not have been told is that clearance is just as important on the sides of the withers.
When the horse moves, his shoulder blades rotate upwards AND backwards. Therefore the saddle must offer a 2-3 finger clearance on the sides of his withers to accommodate for that rotation.
If there is little or no clearance on the side of the withers, the horse’s movement will be restricted through the shoulder and will cause him discomfort.
SADDLE LENGTH
It is very important to recognise the saddle support area on your horses back. The saddle panels must be of the right length for your horse's conformation. A saddle fitter will determine the correct length where the saddle must sit and ensure that the panels on your saddle fit within those measurements.
The saddle fitter can often adjust a saddle to ensure the panel length does not extend past the last floating rib.
BILLET ALIGNMENT
If you find that your saddle regularly slides backwards or forwards it could be an indication that the billet straps are not aligned in the correct position for your horse.
A saddle fitter will be able to determine the correct position based on your horse's conformation.
SADDLE PANEL CONTACT
The role of the panels are to evenly distribute a riders weight over the horses back. To do their job, they need to be the same shape and angle as the horses back.
The panels should be checked every few months to ensure they are maintaining good contact along the horses topline as the topline muscle can change over time.
A saddle fitter will check that the panels do not bridge or rock. They will also ensure there are no lumps and if there are any, they will adjust the flocking to sit nice and smooth over the entire saddle support area.
SADDLE STRAIGHTNESS
Did you know that horses backs are not even? Most horses are not symmetrical through their shoulders. Their left shoulder is most often larger and more developed than their right shoulder. Some horses have the opposite, and only a very small number are actually even.
This is most often the cause of a saddle moving or slipping to one side or the other. Tightening the girth is not going to solve the problem because the problem is a combination of the gullet and panels which need to be adjusted the uneven shoulders in mind.
SADDLE TREE WIDTH, LENGTH & ANGLE
Like gullets, saddle trees also come in Narrow, Medium or Wide widths. And they can have either a long tree point or a short tree point. Many horses develop atrophy in their topline due to wearing a saddle with an unsuitable tree point length. Horses with a high wither will require a saddle with a longer tree point.
The width of the tree must also be wide enough for the horse’s shoulders to freely rotate. If the tree is too narrow, the tree will dig into the shoulder causing pain and long-term damage to the cartridge. If a tree is too wide the saddle will move from side to side.
A saddle fitter will not only check the tree width but also the angle of the tree and can adjust it to align with the horse's conformation.
The benefits of having a properly fitted saddle are many. In the long run, a good fitting saddle will save you money on chiropractors and massages and it will save your horse the pain of dealing with a bad fitting saddle.
