Saddle Fitting
Saddle Fitting – why? Making our horse comfortable is our primary aim. Horses are born with their own natural movement. Some are well conformed, and move very well, whilst others show less ability. Some are comfortable to ride, others more bouncy, and they all have individual minds. One thing is for sure and certain – horses can move more freely without a rider on their back.
To give you an idea of what it is like for a horse, imagine yourself walking or jogging, and then placing a child that bounces and wriggles on your shoulders and try walking or jogging again. The child’s movements tend to pull us off balance. Similarly, our riding position and ability plays an important part in the freedom of our horse’s movement.
There are more and more manufacturers and designers working towards products to help our equine friends, including saddlecloths, bits, girths and saddles. The more comfortable these products are the better association we will have our horse.
Research in Europe involving many horses, saddles and riders has shown us:
- When riding, we reduce the blood supply by 60 – 80%
- We ride (in motion) at between 1.5 & 3 times our own body weight
- Horses muscles start to spasm after 20 – 30 minutes of riding For horses to move in a round frame, i.e., engage their hindquarters and lower their head naturally (not jammed in) they will lift through the back, which is the correct position for proper muscle development. Horses like us to ride light and balanced. To do this we need to have a reasonable fitness level, and a saddle that fits correctly.
Gullet Width
Firstly the saddle should be the right gullet width. A measurement is taken from about 6 – 8 cm behind the scapula from the top of the spinous process (wither), to the horse’s widest point which is the outside of the ribcage. This is a skeletal measurement not muscular. If the gullet width is too narrow then the saddle tree points will dig in to the muscle directly on top of the ribs. When asking the horse for engagement of the hindquarters, his back will lift causing an opposing pressure point, and causing discomfort for the horse.
Balancing
When we have achieved the right gullet width, then we must balance the saddle so that the rider is centralised or in the deepest part of the saddle. When sitting balanced, the rider’s weight will be evenly distributed over the panel and their legs will hang straight underneath them (balanced riding). If their legs are going behind them it will cause the rider to fall forward, they will feel like they are riding downhill, and this will put more pressure behind the shoulder.
To correct this, then the saddle will need to be lifted in front. Worse still, with their legs forward this will put the rider in the armchair position placing most of their weight at the back of the saddle. The back of the saddle is positioned right between the front and rear legs, (the hardest place for the horse to carry weight).
Over time the rider may find the horse getting sore behind the saddle, do to over exertion of his back muscles. In more serious cases the horse can get what we call ‘kissing spines’ this is where he drops his back and the spinous process touch each other and can fuse together over time. To correct this and balance the rider, the back of the saddle needs to be lifted.
When balancing the saddle the cantle will be higher than the pommel and the panel should make even contact and sit flat on the horses back. A saddle should neither bridge (no contact in the centre of the panel) nor rock from front to back. A saddle that rocks will cause the rider to move more, which in turn makes the rider become heavier and unbalanced, the two things that make horses uncomfortable. Lack of blood supply to the horses back due to long periods of a rider’s weight in the saddle is a major cause of tissue damage and atrophy (loss of muscle mass and strength).
We have no doubt that horse’s backs suffer with pins and needles and numbness because of this lack of blood supply. A good analogy is that if we were strapped down onto a hard chair for three hours then released and asked to go for a jog, we would be battling to stand up and walk due to the restriction of blood to our legs. Sitting in the saddle for long periods of time does the same thing to our horse. We have to continually think about what we do to these animals, so when going for a long ride, get off every 45 minutes and walk by your own for about 10 minutes, or if you are at pony club, hop off your pony between lessons and give them a break.
Saddle fitting not only involves the correct fit for the horse but more importantly the correct shape and balance to enable us to ride at the best of our ability. A poor fitting or out of balance saddle doesn’t hurt a horse until we add our weight and ride in it. Keeping all this in mind, it is important when you employ someone to check your horse and saddle for fit is that they have a great deal of knowledge on the subject.
A lot of saddle fitting is commonsense, and a lot come from experience. This comes from years and years of working with horses, making mistakes in the process, and learning from those mistakes. Remember this profound statement; “The amount of experience you have depends on how many mistakes you have made”.
Tony Flynn of Brighton’s Saddleworld together with Gary Johnson of Saddles Plus have between them a total of 29 years experience in saddle fitting and designing. Saddles they have designed include; Icon Show Saddle, KN Melodie and Rhapsodie, Riviera Monaco, Tuscany, Nice and Cannes and are presently working on two more saddle designs, new pressure relief girths and a treeless saddle.
We are continually promoting research and development to improve products and make our equine companions more comfortable so they can become more willing partners.
Written by Gary Johnson and Tony Flynn