1)
showing any objection to being saddled
2) being "cold-backed" during mounting
3) slow to warm up or relax
4) resistance to work
5) resistance to training aids
6) hock, stifle, or obscure hind limb lameness
7) front leg lameness, stumbling or tripping
8) excessive shying at all sorts of things
9) lack of concentration on rider and aids
10) rushing to/from fences; refusing jumps
11) rushing downhill or pulling uphill with front legs –
unable to use hind end
12) inability to travel straight
13) inability to round back and/or neck
14) swishing tail, pinning ears, grinding teeth, tossing head
15) hypersensitivity to being brushed or touched
16) exhibiting a “bad attitude”
Correct saddle fitting is as important to the
equine athlete as correct shoe fitting is to the human athlete.
In the last twenty years great strides have been made in the running
shoe industry, while the saddle industry has stood still or even
lost ground since saddle manufacturers are generally fairly far
removed from the horse industry. Most saddles are manufactured
in factories by people who have never been near a horse, much
less ridden on one competitively.
The present design of saddles has been primarily for the comfort
of the rider; riders want close contact with the horse. However,
in trying to achieve that effect, manufacturers have removed most
of the support the horse needs in the panels. The riders then
try various pads in an attempt to make the saddle fit better,
but in doing so the close contact is lost.
In horses, skin or muscle damage and the pain associated with
it usually shows up as performance problems, rather than overt
sores. Performance problems range from a mildly “cold back”
to severe bucking and rearing episodes. In between those two extremes
is a whole host of symptoms most of us consider training problems,
such as resisting, jumping poorly, being slow to warm up or not
paying attention to the rider. Most of the time these behavior
problems are related to pain and poorly fitting saddles.
To accurately determine the fit of a saddle with or without a
pad we can now use computer technology. The computerized saddle
pad consists of a thin cloth with pressure sensors in it. The
computer pad is put underneath the saddle with any pad combination
desired. The horse is then connected to a laptop computer with
a quick-release longe line. A color image shows up on the screen
indicating where there are places of high and low pressure. The
horse can walk, trot, canter or jump while connected, though the
majority of the information needed can be obtained at a walk and
a trot. The only way to understand the effects of different pads
is use the computer while the horse is being ridden. This technology
is not generally available and it is not necessary to use it in
order to fit a saddle well.
Saddle
Fit
When evaluating a horse for a performance problem, examine the
saddle on and off the horse. Saddle fit should be considered as
important as, and similar to, shoe fit in a person. The basic
factors to be considered when examining a saddle are:
• The structure of the saddle
• The position of the saddle on the back
• The contact of the bars or panels against the horse's
back; absence of bridging
• Must have enough rocker and twist to the bars to conform
to the horse’s back (Western)
• Whether the panels are wide enough for good support (English).
• Whether the gullet is wide enough to clear the spine completely
(2-1/2 to 3 inches) (English)
• Whether the gullet is the correct width and tall enough
to clear the withers (Western)
• The fit of the tree to the horse's back, especially across
the withers
• Whether the saddle sits squarely in the center of the
back
• The levelness of the seat
• The placement of the girth
• How the rider fits in the saddle
• Position of the stirrup bars or stirrup placement
Structure
The structure of the saddle is extremely important and the manufacture
of saddles has seldom included quality control. Therefore many
new saddles are purchased with serious defects such as panels
and flaps installed asymmetrically and/or twisted trees. The initial
cost of the saddle seems to have no bearing on the number or severity
of structural defects to be found. Examine the saddle carefully
from all angles to check for balance and symmetry. Minor differences
from one side to the other can be tolerated, but most differences
that can be seen will cause pressure points on the horse’s
back or cause the rider difficulty in finding the correct position
in the saddle.
Position
The position of the saddle on the back is the most critical aspect
of saddle fit. The most common mistake made is to place the saddle
too far forward. This position places the rigid tree over the
top of the shoulder blade, which significantly restricts the movement
of the front legs. If the saddle is moved back to the correct
position the stride will generally lengthen immediately.
When an English saddle is placed too far forward, the pommel is
too high. This causes the seat to slope down towards the cantle
and places the rider's legs too far forward in an unbalanced position.
The rider then tries to level the seat with pads under the back
of the saddle. When a properly fitting saddle is in the correct
position the seat becomes level.
Western saddles, when too far forward exert enormous pressure
on the top of the scapula. The bars are too long and too straight
for most horses’ backs so moving the saddle back to the
correct position frees the scapula but puts the rider and the
saddle too far back on the horse’s back. When the saddle
is moved off of the shoulders the rider will often be tipped forward.
Also, it is common for the fork to become too close to the withers
after moving the saddle back. Saddles with shorter bars, such
as those used in barrel racing and those designed for Arabians,
can be easier to move back into the correct position due to the
shorter bar. Many of the shorter bars are still too straight so
the bars dig into the back and do not spread the rider’s
weight out. Barrel saddles are more difficult to ride in as they
are designed for a specific type of riding.
If the saddle, no matter what type it is, does not fit, no change
in position will correct the problem.
Panels
and Bars
Moving the saddle back off the shoulder blade also increases the
contact area between the panels (underside) and the horse's back.
When saddles are too far forward a bridge is created with pressure
on the shoulders and the back of the saddle. The rider's weight
becomes distributed on four points, one on each side of the withers/shoulder
blade and one on each side of the back at the rear of the saddle,
rather than evenly along the horse's back. This bridging causes
the horse to stiffen his back. Many saddles, English and Western,
have this bridge between the front and the back due to poor construction
or poor fit even when the saddle is in the correct position. Bridging
needs to be avoided. Most of the new flexible paneled endurance
saddles are too long for the horse's back and cannot follow the
contour; this creates pressure points on the shoulder and loins.
Then the flexible center of the panels offer, no support and the
same type of bridging is created.
The English panels need to be wide enough to offer good support
without losing the contour needed to fit the horses back. The
gullet needs to be wide enough (2-1/2 to 3 inches) to allow the
spine complete freedom from pressure, and to allow the spine to
bend slightly laterally during movement. The angle of the panels
needs to follow the angle of the horse’s back under the
cantle. Many saddles have too acute an angle, putting pressure
on the outer corner of the panel and creating pain at the center
of the longissimus dorsi (back muscle). Many saddles have a wide
gullet part of the length of the saddle, then a narrow gullet
for the rest. Where the gullet becomes narrow, whether it is near
the withers or the cantle, the movement of the horse’s spine
will be compromised.
English saddles need to be reflocked (restuffed) every year or
even more frequently to maintain good contact with the horse’s
back and finding a saddler who really knows how to reflock a saddle
can be a challenge. Wool stuffing is often the best at present
as it is resilient and offers a smooth surface to horse’s
back. Foam-stuffed panels are hard to replace and most foam looses
some of its resilience in a short time. Foams can be excellent,
however, if the panel is correct for the horse’s back, since
they do not change shape and do not need restuffing. Many panels
are stuffed with hard material, whether it is wool, synthetic
material or foam; hard panels can be very painful against the
soft muscle of the back.
Western bars need to have enough rocker (curve to the bottom)
and flair (curve at the ends) so the bar shape conforms to the
shape of the horse’s back. Very few trees have enough rocker
and flair. Trees that are too straight bridge putting pressure
on the shoulders, the loins and even the gluteal muscle when the
bars are too long. The skirting needs to be short and flared so
it does not interfere with the shoulders and loins. The bars should
only put pressure on the rib cage; any part of the saddle extending
past the rib cage should not put any pressure on the loins.
The saddle must sit squarely down the middle of the back supported
by the bars or panels, as the spine is not designed to carry weight
directly on it. There is no muscle covering over the spinous processes
(bone along the top of the spine), therefore nothing to cushion
the hardness of the saddle on the hardness of the spinous processes.
Pressure can lead to bone pain and to degeneration of the ligament
that runs along the top of the spine. Some preliminary diagnostic
ultrasound data from England indicate that damage to this ligament
may be common and may be an important factor in back pain.
Trees
The tree of the saddle, as it crosses the withers, must fit the
horse without the use of pads. In fact, a bare tree with no leather
should conform to the horse's back. If the tree is too narrow
for the withers, pressure points or sores will be created and
the pommel will sit up too high, unbalancing the rider. In this
situation if a rider placed pads (keyhole and bounce pads) under
the back of the saddle to raise it, more pressure would be placed
on the withers. If the saddle is too wide across the withers the
rider will be tipped forward and the saddle will make contact
with the withers.
Many saddles are poorly designed through the withers area and
have pressure points built in. On many western saddles the bar
is grooved too deeply for the stirrup leathers, leaving a pressure
point at the base of the fork. English close-contact saddles often
have an outward flare to the tree along the withers. This causes
a very small and painful pressure point since the horse’s
withers are flat in shape at this point. Most horses do not tolerate
this pressure well, and will shorten their stride and hollow their
back. Other saddles especially some of the dressage and a few
western/endurance saddles have pressure points underneath the
stirrup bars or attachments. In the dressage saddles pressure
points sometimes occur under the stirrup bars because the manufacturers
try to design the saddle wide through the front of the tree to
clear the shoulder blades, leaving the saddle tight near the area
of the stirrup bar.
Level
Seat
An important aid in determining saddle fit is that the seat must
be level when viewed from the side and the rider must be placed
in the center of the seat. If the seat is not level or the lowest
point is incorrectly placed, the rider will be out of balance
and will be unable to help the horse or ride correctly. The rider
may be totally unaware of the problem. A saddle that is too narrow
will sit up too high at the cantle since the tree is too narrow
to follow the contours of the withers. The rider’s weight
will be pitched toward the cantle and the rider’s legs placed
forward, one of the most common rider faults. If the saddle fits
well but needs significant restuffing, it will also slope down
towards the cantle. A saddle that is too wide will tip forward
or down at the pommel, pitching the rider forward and the rider’s
legs back behind the vertical.
One method that can be used to determine the levelness of the
seat is to pretend to roll a marble from either the cantle or
pommel towards the center of the saddle. The marble should stop
in the center of the saddle, not towards the front or rear. If
the marble rolls towards the front, the saddle is probably too
wide, if it rolls to the rear the saddle may be too narrow. The
marble rolling to the rear can occur if the saddle is made with
the center of the seat placed too far to the rear.
Position
and Shape of the Girth
The girth will always end up in the narrowest point of the rib
cage perpendicular to the ground. Because the girth is attached
to the saddle, it is important that the girth drop naturally down
into the narrowest part of the thorax or the saddle will move
either forward or back as the girth finds its natural spot. Some
horses girth spots are just behind the elbows, while others are
one to two hand-breaths behind the elbow. An otherwise well fitting
saddle can become a poorly fitting saddle just by having the girth
attached in the wrong place.
The short girths, (both the western girths and the short dressage
girths) can often cause discomfort just behind the shoulders and
elbows. The correct length to have the girth is so it ends just
below the saddle, just out of the rider’s way and a long
as possible for the horse.
Rider
fit
If the saddle does not fit the rider, the rider becomes the saddle
fitting problem. The most common fault is having the seat too
small for the rider, forcing them to sit at the back of the saddle.
This puts excessive pressure on the horse’s back concentrated
at the rear of the saddle, even if the saddle fits well. The correct
way to determine seat size is to measure the rider from the hip
joint to the knee. The riders knee should be at the center of
the knee roll in an English saddle. The difficulty arises when
the rider has a long thigh and a small buttock, because they will
find the large seat needed for their leg too large to sit in.
A properly designed custom saddle would add a block of foam at
the rear of the seat, and riders could try to do that in their
own saddles using a seat saver with foam sewed under the back
part.
The position of the stirrup bars or stirrup placement is critical
to the comfort and balance of the rider. Stirrup bars places too
far forward will cause the rider’s legs to drift forward,
leaving them in a chair-seat position. Many riders suffer from
instructors yelling at them to keep their legs back under them,
when the problem is that the saddle does not fit the rider.
On western saddles particularly, the ground seat is made too wide
for the rider’s legs to drop comfortably down to the side.
The wide ground seat places the legs the same way riding bareback
does. The thigh is pushed out to the side so the knees cannot
lie against the horse’s side. This rolls the pelvis back
and prevents the correct use of the lower leg, forcing riders
to brace with their legs out in front of them. It is almost impossible
to find western saddles with a correct ground seat for the rider.
Locating Pressure Points
If white hairs are appearing under the saddle there will be a
pressure point above them. On a Western saddle the sheepskin covering
of the panels will become worn down over the pressure points.
Another way to locate pressure points is to ride with a thin,
clean, white saddle pad. Where there are dark spots after 15 or
20 minutes there will generally be pressure points. Light areas
or areas with no sweat are generally from a lack of pressure,
but, be careful, these can also be caused by excess pressure which
decreases the amount of sweat produced.
Measuring
the Back
To measure the horse’s back for some assistance in fitting
saddles a flexible ruler from a stationary store is a tool that
is easy to use, and works well as a rough guide to the fit of
the tree. Such a ruler can be molded to the shape of the horse’s
withers, then a drawing made on cardboard and cut out. If this
is done at four inch intervals along the saddle area, a basic
diagram of the horses back can be constructed. By holding the
cut-out shapes of the back inside a saddle, a very general idea
of whether the saddle may fit can be obtained. Several new methods,
including computerized pressure analysis and thermography are
becoming available which will help with fitting saddles.
Confounding
variables
Saddle variables
Saddles come in all different tree sizes and widths, but there
is no standard of measurement between brands. Some brands have
a range of sizes, while others have only one size. As in shoe
fit, some saddles tend to run wide while other brands with the
same width on the label run narrow. Good knowledge of saddle fit
is uncommon in many tack shops and the truth is that a saddle
cannot be sold as being correctly fitted for a horse without trying
it on the horse, any more than a person would by a pair of shoes
without trying them on. Many saddles are sold as “one size
fits all horses of one breed”, however each breed has different
sizes of backs. Quarter horses can be narrow, though they are
normally medium-wide to wide. Thoroughbreds tend to be narrow,
but can also be as wide as a quarter horse.
A saddle should also be ridden in before purchase to see how well
it suits the rider and the horse together. This will only happen
when purchasers and tack shops allow marks to be made on the saddles,
yet still have them sold as new. It is possible to wrap the stirrup
leathers in vet-wrap or a similar product to protect the leather
on the flaps.
Horse variables
A major complicating factor is that horses do change shape across
the withers, rapidly at times, and particularly as they change
their level of performance or level of nutrition as the seasons
change. Horses in hard competition change shape basically 3 times
throughout the competitive season. They start out heavy and wider
when they are unfit, lose weight and become average in mid-season,
and can get thinner and narrower late in a hard season. This is
when saddle fit becomes a very complicated issue. Eventually an
adjustable-tree saddle will be made that will solve these problems,
but those presently on the market do not fit horses very well,
and are generally not very durable.
Posture changes can affect the shape of the back. As horses progress
through training and learn to move differently, they carry their
backs in different positions and saddles will fit differently.
Shoeing changes can affect the posture and therefore the fit of
the saddle. Acupuncture and chiropractic work will generally change
the shape of the back, so if you are having acupuncture performed,
be careful about purchasing a new saddle after the first treatment;
the saddle may not fit two months later.
The horse’s conformation can create problems at times. Wasp-waisted
or slab-sided horses may have difficulty keeping a saddle forward
in the correct position without a breastplate and in many cases
breastplates do not do an effective job of keeping saddles in
place without putting undue pressure on the horses chest and shoulder.
Horses with a forward girth spot may have difficulty with keeping
the saddle from sliding forward and will need a girth placed near
the front of the saddle. Very high or long withers make it difficult
to find a saddle that fits without touching the withers, especially
those with long withers. Often the saddle looks acceptable until
you feel inside the gullet towards the back of the withers. The
saddle may contact the withers well out of sight of a normal exam.
Rider
variables
The rider, by virtue of the fact that he/she is sitting on top
of the horse, guiding it through complex movements, has enormous
influence on the horse’s back. The integral relationship
between the rider and the horse has been brought to light in
recent years mainly through the writing and teaching of Sally
Swift and her concept of Centered Riding. She has demonstrated
very clearly that if a part of the rider is stiff, such as the
back or right shoulder, that stiffness will be reflected in
the horse directly and will show up as being stiff in the back
and right shoulder. Most riders have some degree of back pain
and stiffness; this is transferred directly to the horse. Many
riders sit off to one side or the other due to skill problems
or body pain. Over time uneven pressure is created on the horse’s
back and can mimic a saddle problem.
Many times the rider's style of riding, or the saddle's design,
creates pain in the rider, especially with saddles that put
the rider in a chair-seat position. The discomfort comes from
the fact that the rider is not moving with the horse and must
brace some part of their body in order to stay in the position
the saddle has put them in.
Therapeutic Pads
Therapeutic pads are often used to try to solve saddle-fit problems.
Much of the time the pads provide only temporary relief and
may cause more problems than they solve in the long run. The
addition of the pad to a saddle is similar to a person adding
an extra sock to his shoe. If the tree of the saddle is wide
enough the pad may help. If the tree is already too narrow,
and this is the most common scenario, the addition of the pad
causes more pressure on the withers. Muscles will atrophy along
each side of the withers after long use with thick pads. Extra
pads, such as pommel pads, compress the withers even more. Since
the addition of most therapeutic pads narrows the space available
for the withers and the gullet, the pommel will sit higher in
front, as it does when the tree is too narrow. This unbalances
the rider, who then adds some more pads under the back of the
saddle, lifting the back and driving more pressure onto the
withers.
Frequently the addition of a pad will cause a dramatic improvement
in a horse's performance. This may last for only a couple of
days or for several months, but the same problems usually return,
because the pad changes the fit of the saddle and moves the
pressure points slightly. The intensity of the pressure point
is also changed by the addition of the pad but is seldom eliminated.
Over time the pressure points find their way through the pads
and cause the same problems again. This results in an unending
attempt to find another pad to help correct the problem.
Having said that, a saddle properly fitted with a pad to act
as an interface and shock absorber can be a big help to these
horses. The saddle must be fitted with a pad in mind so there
will be enough room for the withers with the pad in place. The
ideal pad is not too thick, breathes, has memory and may not
have been invented yet. Many pads on the market are useful;
the secret is to select the pad with care and fit it with the
saddle, just as you would fit a shoe with the type of sock it
will be worn with. For endurance horses it is especially important
that the pads breathe due to the long hours in the saddle.
Shims are thin pads the can be placed under a part of the saddle,
for example on either side of the front to correct a saddle
that is slightly too wide. Shims made from open-cell foam can
be added sometimes to help balance the saddle. Shims must be
used carefully so they do not interfere with saddle fit or make
the problem worse.
Correctly fitting saddles can make all the difference between
a happy, quality performance and one that is miserable. Enjoy.
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