A (Very) Basic Guide to Saddle Fitting
So a few things to go over to begin with - Star is obese right now, so her saddle isn’t a perfect fit. I’ve done my best to show where it doesn’t fit, and I’ll do my best to show where it needs improvement. It’s also harder than you may think to take photos, while pointing out the things while trying to make your horse stand still haha. This walkthrough is also done with my super cheap, fairly old Wintec, so don’t mind that.
Disclaimer: There are a lot of technical aspects of saddle fitting (to do with skeletal/bone structure) that I’m not really going to go over, because this is just the basics. If you have any questions I’m glad to help, but getting a professional saddle fitter in is of course be the best option. (I am not a professional!)
/ Slide the saddle down over the withers, settling it into the space behind them. Try to ensure that it is sitting behind the shoulder. If it is sitting on the shoulder, it can interfere with the horse’s movement. You can see in the first picture that the saddle appears to overlap the shoulder, but in the second, the saddle flaps are actually sitting just behind it. Close contact and all purpose saddles are much more likely to interfere with movement, the straight cut of a dressage saddle usually keeps them out of the way. Always place the saddle on without a saddle pad. If you are trying out a new saddle and want to make sure it stays clean, you can fit the saddle over a thin cooler.
/ Check that the gullet has significant clearance. This one is slightly narrow on her fat shoulders, so sits fairly high. The arrow points at the spot that should be sitting in contact with her shoulder, but is not. Look for a smooth contact. (the saddle was also sitting slightly forward at this point, so in the next couple of photos you’ll see a better fit)
/ Try to look down through the gullet. You can do this from the front or the back. If you can’t see out both sides, you have a problem. If you can’t see because of the shape of your horse, you can also slide something like a crop through. It’s not as good because you can’t actually see, but it still helps. The flocked parts of the saddle should be sitting along the loins, not on the spine or the ribs.
/ In the first photo, you can see a good fit. The flap is sitting smoothly down the shoulder, and if you run your hand down it you should feel no point of higher pressure. In the second photo, I’ve moved the saddle so you can see an example of a bad fit. Lifting of the flap at the bottom, probably means that saddle is pinching at the top. (where the arrow is pointing)
/ At the back of the saddle, everything should be sitting in even contact with the loins. (the area of muscling above the ribs) You shouldn’t be able to slide your fingers under without lifting the saddle.
/ Try to slide your hand under the flaps, and make sure everything is sitting smoothly. Some saddles will sit “tented” in the middle - the only points of contact on the horses back are at the very back and the very front. This causes huge pressure points. Anything that isn’t sitting smoothly has the potential of causing your horse discomfort or pain.
/ As shown in the first photo, just put some pressure on the saddle. If you notice any twitching or quivering, the saddle is probably pinching the Accessory Nerve, which is located above the scapula (shoulder area), near the withers. If this is happening, try sliding the saddle back a little bit. If it continues, your gullet it most likely too narrow.
/ Your saddle should not sit behind the last rib. Use where the hair growth changes direction as a guideline for this, as I tried to point out in the last photo. This is much more of a concern for western saddles, but could also come into play if you are riding a pony or a horse with a very short back.
/ Finally, your saddle should appear to sit level. (the part where you sit should be neither high or low) If you go back to the first photo, you can see that mine seems to sit low. This is due to the fact that at the moment, my gullet is slightly narrow, causing it to sit high. The shape of the saddle isn’t totally ideal either, but as Star loses weight this will improve.
/ Narrow or wide, whats better? If you don’t have any other options, I’d 100% say wide. You can add a lot of pads to a wide saddle and it’s not the end of the world, but a narrow saddle will pretty much always pinch, and can cause long term problems.
I might do a western saddle fitting guide sometime in the future, but you can pretty much apply all of these rules.
Hopefully that helps some of you, and feel free to ask any questions! Once you kind of get the hang of it it’s really mostly common sense. No pressure points, everything sitting smoothly, nothing sitting on bone.
