BethanT
Well-Known Member
So I have been using the same saddle fitter for about 2 years now, after a disaster with the one before it took me a while to find someone I liked the sound of and was recommended by people I trust and do similar things with their horses.
I thoroughly agree with their methods, more remedial fitting, and so the idea is that you fit wider and use shims to make up the difference - allowing the horses back muscles to expand and develop with work rather than be inhibited. I understand that this isn't the conventional way to saddle fit and I know a lot of people don't and won't agree with it. But it has worked for me and my horses over the past two years, and the shape of my horses' back has changed so much for the better. Before he had a lot of muscle atrophy from the previous fitter fitting the saddle as he was without assessing what he was like after work. I agree that a saddle should be fitted based on what the horses profile looks like after work as well as before.
I went up to see the fitter in February as my saddle was starting to move back - a sign that the saddle was too wide. They adjusted the flocking and we played around with the different pads I have, and I went away happy with what we had. But a few weeks later the saddle was still slipping and my horse was getting grumpy to saddle up. At the time I put this down to more hind gut/ulcer symptoms as he was in no way reactive over his back on massage or with the physio. I messaged fitter to arrange for them to come out to me ASAP or me to them, but proved difficult to find a slot that suited both of us. I have just started a new job so limited with the time off I can take, leaving weekends really, but as you can imagine these are high in demand.
In the meantime, I had played around with the pads myself, as I thought I had a decent enough understanding to be able to make a good judgement call. Played around and saddle stopped moving, felt much more level in general, horse is going better than ever. Jumping well, performing well on the flat, good overall condition, no reactivity over his back etc etc.
Finally got round to seeing the fitter yesterday at their place, so travelled over an hour to get there in the box, and the first thing they noticed was how his back profile had changed (negatively) and how over developed the muscle on the underside of his neck was. Felt along over his back and he nearly dropped to the floor. I was in shock, and verging on in tears. Comforted me in saying that if it was a case of him being ridden s**t then he wouldn't have had a healthy back profile before. I wouldn't have suddenly started to ride badly. I hope that is the case anyway! So begs the question, why has he changed?! Well turns out the saddle was FARRRR tooo wide for him, and no amount of flocking and padding was going to make up for the difference. To the point where he needs to drop a whole saddle size. Which is alarming given he has always been that size since we started. They had no saddles on them there and then that would have been suitable apart from brand new, but obviously the concern is the cause of him dropping off so much. His work load has changed from a year ago, I am competing much more with him, but if anything he should have muscled up more and leaned up, so I don't think that warrants that much of a drop down in size.
So now I am in a mess with what to do. Physio is coming out on Tuesday to have a look at him, but in the meantime I have no saddle to ride in, and so potentially loosing more muscle until I can ride. Have decided that I will just have to lunge him this week and long reign to keep up the muscle so he doesn't drop off too much.
OH is saying that maybe that saddle fitting method isn't working, and there is a reason it isn't the conventional way. I can see his point, and the other problem is that the make of saddle is so hard to come by second hand that often there isn't much choice that to buy new, at well over £1,000!
I know I need to wait and see what physio says, and perhaps call the vet for a work up, but where the hell do I go from there. Do I stick with the current fitter or TRY and find someone else who can fit a much wider range of saddles, and potentially find something much better suited to us both? I don't want to try someone else, not agree and end up upsetting the other fitter. My brain is going stupid miles an hour thinking he has KS, or his old SI injury has flared up again. Which would just be bloody typical as we were just getting underway with the event season, registered BE and qualified for the BD area festival with a shot of doing well.
I thoroughly agree with their methods, more remedial fitting, and so the idea is that you fit wider and use shims to make up the difference - allowing the horses back muscles to expand and develop with work rather than be inhibited. I understand that this isn't the conventional way to saddle fit and I know a lot of people don't and won't agree with it. But it has worked for me and my horses over the past two years, and the shape of my horses' back has changed so much for the better. Before he had a lot of muscle atrophy from the previous fitter fitting the saddle as he was without assessing what he was like after work. I agree that a saddle should be fitted based on what the horses profile looks like after work as well as before.
I went up to see the fitter in February as my saddle was starting to move back - a sign that the saddle was too wide. They adjusted the flocking and we played around with the different pads I have, and I went away happy with what we had. But a few weeks later the saddle was still slipping and my horse was getting grumpy to saddle up. At the time I put this down to more hind gut/ulcer symptoms as he was in no way reactive over his back on massage or with the physio. I messaged fitter to arrange for them to come out to me ASAP or me to them, but proved difficult to find a slot that suited both of us. I have just started a new job so limited with the time off I can take, leaving weekends really, but as you can imagine these are high in demand.
In the meantime, I had played around with the pads myself, as I thought I had a decent enough understanding to be able to make a good judgement call. Played around and saddle stopped moving, felt much more level in general, horse is going better than ever. Jumping well, performing well on the flat, good overall condition, no reactivity over his back etc etc.
Finally got round to seeing the fitter yesterday at their place, so travelled over an hour to get there in the box, and the first thing they noticed was how his back profile had changed (negatively) and how over developed the muscle on the underside of his neck was. Felt along over his back and he nearly dropped to the floor. I was in shock, and verging on in tears. Comforted me in saying that if it was a case of him being ridden s**t then he wouldn't have had a healthy back profile before. I wouldn't have suddenly started to ride badly. I hope that is the case anyway! So begs the question, why has he changed?! Well turns out the saddle was FARRRR tooo wide for him, and no amount of flocking and padding was going to make up for the difference. To the point where he needs to drop a whole saddle size. Which is alarming given he has always been that size since we started. They had no saddles on them there and then that would have been suitable apart from brand new, but obviously the concern is the cause of him dropping off so much. His work load has changed from a year ago, I am competing much more with him, but if anything he should have muscled up more and leaned up, so I don't think that warrants that much of a drop down in size.
So now I am in a mess with what to do. Physio is coming out on Tuesday to have a look at him, but in the meantime I have no saddle to ride in, and so potentially loosing more muscle until I can ride. Have decided that I will just have to lunge him this week and long reign to keep up the muscle so he doesn't drop off too much.
OH is saying that maybe that saddle fitting method isn't working, and there is a reason it isn't the conventional way. I can see his point, and the other problem is that the make of saddle is so hard to come by second hand that often there isn't much choice that to buy new, at well over £1,000!
I know I need to wait and see what physio says, and perhaps call the vet for a work up, but where the hell do I go from there. Do I stick with the current fitter or TRY and find someone else who can fit a much wider range of saddles, and potentially find something much better suited to us both? I don't want to try someone else, not agree and end up upsetting the other fitter. My brain is going stupid miles an hour thinking he has KS, or his old SI injury has flared up again. Which would just be bloody typical as we were just getting underway with the event season, registered BE and qualified for the BD area festival with a shot of doing well.