Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

Amen Diane!  I will have to earmark that site for my 4H kids.

To keep myself in check when saddling (can't saddle now because of my
shoulder, but I am mindful to watch others saddle for me!)

I put the saddle pad on so that it is over the withers.  Then place the
saddle on top of that and grabbing both pull them back.  This positiions the
saddle and pad in a more correct place and it also helps to smooth down the
hairs on your horses back by pulling the pad back.  Also I always make sure
that I lift up in the gullet both the saddle and the pad so that the pad
isn't tight on the horses withers.

Also if we look at where our girth/cinch is that can help clue us in as to
if the saddle is too far forward or not.

Making sure that the shoulders can freely move is also of importance.  One
of my mares has a higher shoulder set than some of our other horses and the
breast collar that I use on everyone else doesn't fit her well, we had to
make two connections to either side the saddle for the breast collar.  One
at the girth/cinch and one up higher to lift the breast collar up to allow
more movement.

Other important things to remember regarding saddle fit is that sometimes
the more you pad up the worse your saddle will fit.  When I was a kid we
would really pad up our horses.   Wrong.  Basically all you get is a
tendancy for the saddle to fit worse and roll.    This holds true for both
western style and english flat saddles.  Now I use very limited padding and
find that because we have good saddle fit for the majority of our horses we
have never had any back problems.  The horses that we have that are a little
difficult for saddle fit, we use Les Browns Corrector Pad and have
experianced good results.

Carol-Mariposa, CA
----- Original Message -----
From: "Dyane Smith" <sunibey@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "Diane Trefethen" <tref@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>; <Ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, November 03, 2005 7:21 AM
Subject: Re: [RC] WIDE horse saddle trouble


> This is very, very good, Diane.  Thanks.  I have a chronic tendency to put
> the saddle too far forward.  This will help me to monitor that.
>
> Dyane
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Diane Trefethen" <tref@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> To: <Ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Wednesday, November 02, 2005 8:28 AM
> Subject: Re: [RC] WIDE horse saddle trouble
>
>
> > While it is certainly possible that you need a wider saddle, another
> possibility is
> > that over time, your daughter has been placing her saddle ever so
slightly
> more
> > forward so it is no longer sitting correctly on her horse.  We have a
> subconscious
> > inclination to place the the saddle too far forward because a) we know
> that the
> > strongest part of the horse's back is just behind the withers and that
the
> middle of
> > his back is weaker and b) because we don't want to be riding too far
back,
> over the
> > horse's loins and impeding his use of his hindquarters.  Here is a link
> that clearly
> > demonstrates the difference between a saddle too far forward and one
more
> correctly
> > placed.
> >
> > http://www.raspberryridge.com/saddle_fitting.htm
> >
> > The basic rule of thumb is that you want the middle of the saddle, where
> you sit, to
> > be the lowest point.  Another guideline that can be clearly seen from
the
> two
> > pictures in the link above is that the flaps of the saddle should not be
> resting on
> > the horse's shoulders.  They should be at least 2-3" behind the shoulder
> to allow for
> > the horse's front to move freely.
> >
> > It is also worth noting that when it comes to saddle fit, complaints
about
> the FRONT
> > of the saddle, ie width at gullet, pommel resting on withers, bridging,
> etc, far
> > outnumber complaints about what the BACK of the saddle is doing.  It is
> not
> > unreasonable to expect that some of these complaints arise from
> incorrectly
> > positioning the saddle on the horse's back rather than from the saddle
> itself fitting
> > poorly.
> >
> >
> > =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
> >
> >  Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net.
> >  Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp
> >  Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp
> >
> >  Ride Long and Ride Safe!!
> >
> > =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
>
>
> =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
>
>  Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net.
>  Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp
>  Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp
>
>  Ride Long and Ride Safe!!
>
> =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net.
Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp
Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp

Ride Long and Ride Safe!!

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=