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  • Saddle Fitting Guide

Saddle Fitting Guide


The importance of a correctly fitting saddle is widely recognised in creating a comfortable, freely moving horse and a secure rider, in balance with their horse. Achieving this goal is often fraught with difficulty. The great variety of types of horses today and the range of jobs they are asked to do is amazing but there are some basic rules about saddles that will always apply:

1/     The most important aspect of saddle fitting is that the front arch of the tree is the same shape and width as that part of the back upon which it should sit, i.e. approximately 3-4” behind the back top edge of the scapula or shoulder blade. 

2/     The commonly held belief that there should be a three fingers gap between the underside of the front arch of the tree and the wither is misleading since with a thoroughbred, or any other high withered type, about two fingers will be adequate.  Any more will cause the saddle to sit too low at the cantle end, whereas with a cob that has no withers, a five fingers gap could be appropriate.

3/   The deepest part of the seat should be in the centre of the seat so that the rider naturally sits in the centre of the seat of the saddle.  This will mean that the combined weight of the saddle and the rider will be evenly distributed over the whole of the area of the panel from front to back and so avoiding unequal pressure.  In this position both saddle and rider will be in balance and the rider's legs will fall in the correct position.

4/    It is imperative that no part of the panel is allowed to impinge on either shoulder blade or the vertebrae.  Therefore the gullet or channel should be sufficiently wide to prevent this happening (not less than three fingers wide).  With the saddle in balance the front of the panel will not make contact with the scapula other than possibly with some very forward cut jumping saddles, a subject beyond the scope of this guide. 

5/    Horses were not born with a girth groove! It might appear as if the horse was designed with a groove specially located to accept a girth but clearly this was not the case! The correct position for a girth is vertically beneath the saddle, i.e. where it hangs.  It should certainly be no less than 5” behind the elbow to avoid causing discomfort. To loop the girth forward to lie in the so-called “girth groove” will have the effect of pulling the saddle forward.

6/    Ideally all panels should be flocked with pure white lambswool and in such a way as to conform to the shape of the horse's back.  Some horses are “sway or dipped” in the back, particularly older ones. Others are flat backed, for example young ones. The panel should neither bridge (where it bears either end but not in the middle) nor rock (where the panel is too rounded).  In other words it should bear evenly on the back in order to avoid pressure points.  When ridden in, the panel takes up the shape of the individual horse’s back. In this respect lambswool, being much softer, will bed in much quicker and better than synthetic flock. A saddle should be kept for use on one specific horse.

 7/    Ideally the rear of the panel should not extend beyond the last rib, but you will see from the diagram that this is not always possible if the saddle is positioned behind the scapula.  We do not consider that an inch or two beyond the last rib will cause any significant problems and is certainly preferable to putting the saddle more forward so that it restricts the free movement of the scapula.

These are the basic rules of fitting a saddle correctly and IN BALANCE. Our definition of balance is to position the saddle on the back in such a way that the rider sits naturally in the centre of the seat of the saddle so that the combined weight of the saddle and rider is evenly distributed over the whole bearing surface of the saddle.  The rider’s legs will also fall in the correct position, A saddle positioned too far forward will cause the rider to sit on the back of the seat, concentrating weight on the back of the panel and placing the rider out of balance.  This is a very common problem resulting in discomfort and a sore back for the poor horse.

Hopefully the foregoing is helpful in gaining an appreciation of the basic rules of what is a complex subject. There is great art in arriving at the perfect fit of a saddle to a horse and rider. Great artists hone their skills over many years!