How does your saddle fit? A poll!!

Which 'saddle fitting' theory do you follow?

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Cliqmo

Cliqmo

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I have been looking into saddles recently and have come across at least 3 lines of thought with regard to modern saddle fitting (I am avoiding getting embroiled in wool vs air at the moment!)

1. Traditional, where a close and comfortable fit is desireable

2. Modern, where room to move under the saddle is the goal

3. New age, where conventional tree saddles are shunned

So which line of thinking do you support?
 
I voted 'something else' as I use a Free n Easy flexible panel saddle - I have competed (and won) up to 160km endurance rides in this saddle, on a pony whose back was wrecked by previous saddles.

However, I do believe different saddles can work for different horses/disciplines and the most important thing is to keep and open mind and listen to the horse.
 
Another panelled saddle vote for exactly the same reason as Arabelle. Until you've done a lot of miles on your horse you just don't see the effect the 'traditional' saddles can have. Not that they aren't probably lovely for dressage or other things.
Mine are reactor panels but I'd be back to my Ortho flex like a flash if only I could afford to get it fixed!
I've not used a treeless and know loads of endurance riders use them but I really can't believe you can have stirrups on a saddle without a tree of some sort and not put pressure on the spine - how does that work? Or are they all very light riders? Or don't put any weight in their stirrups? Any ideas?
 
I think that's the first positive response for a a RP I've seen.

Two horses I know switched from years in a traditional M2M, to each a made to measure RP and within 6-8 months of working in this saddle,they now have white hairs growing through on the saddle area where the panels lie. I'm not a fan of them anyway, I find them uncomfy and do nothing for the horse or rider...not close contact enough for me and weigh far too much for a saddle! Especially for out hunting and jumping. Our vet and chiro was actually appalled by the saddles when we showed it, as they'd never seen them before!

So yeah....fitted traditional treed all the way for me! :)


Meech - We had a RP saddler come to ones above and are in wilts...
 
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Ah and saddle response to Hairy cob would have to be 'something else'

He's too wide for a saddle yet [nearly fits our H&C! Bit more to go yet tho lol...] so his option is bareback [well, roller and numnah!]everywhere. Including our little race last week lmao. Luckily he's so wide you don't move anyway :)

Would that class as 'close contact' or 'other' lol? :p
 
well, RP is only as good a fit as the person fitting it. If you had it fitted to your horse that had gone in another saddle, then rode for 6 months, it would completely change shape. RP would probably need to be re fitted several times over that 6 months to reach a final good fit.

Just as I change mine with fitness of horse (therefore shape) over course of a season.

I know lots of endurance horses that go very well in them. The main advantages are - refitting whenever you like; gives some movement with the horse (less so that truly articulated saddles tho); very big weight bearing surface. The first and last are the most important for an endurance horse. They just *have* to have the balance absolutely right, otherwise it all goes wrong very quickly - a 'fix' like a saddle pad or whatever just doesn't cut the mustard.

But as I said, I would chose Ortho-flex over RP if money were no issue! I just love mine, but sadly, it's in need of repair :(
 
No prob. I know some people will swear by them like witheverything else and it's only my opinion....best bet is do a google search on them. On RushyJ's thread about them she put before xmas....both responses were bout how much damage had been done to her horses back and others she knew.
 
trojanpony said:
well, RP is only as good a fit as the person fitting it. If you had it fitted to your horse that had gone in another saddle, then rode for 6 months, it would completely change shape. RP would probably need to be re fitted several times over that 6 months to reach a final good fit.
Click to expand...

They were....lol :)
 
I suppose the other thing is endurance horses do tend to fit a certain 'type' - i.e. narrow, (arab) straight backed. So maybe that is something to do with it (although my pony is a new forest cross, but she is quite narrow and straight (if short) backed.

Also, I wonder do endurance horses also have stronger backs, maybe than other horses (excepting dressage which I would assume - though completely ignorantly - have the strongest) which mean they tolerate/'use' the saddle in a different way.

Perhaps it is the case that saddling an endurance horse is just a completely different kettle of fish...
 
Ask my saddler - she's out to Dizz so often I'm thinking of offering her a room in the house :). Dizz is changing size and shape far too fast for any saddle to fit her for more than about ten minutes :o

*realises that she's probabaly got the wrong end of this thread's stick and wanders off into the distance whistling and trying to think of ways of kidnapping saddler*
 
trojanpony said:
I suppose the other thing is endurance horses do tend to fit a certain 'type' - i.e. narrow, (arab) straight backed. So maybe that is something to do with it (although my pony is a new forest cross, but she is quite narrow and straight (if short) backed.

Also, I wonder do endurance horses also have stronger backs, maybe than other horses (excepting dressage which I would assume - though completely ignorantly - have the strongest) which mean they tolerate/'use' the saddle in a different way.

Perhaps it is the case that saddling an endurance horse is just a completely different kettle of fish...
Click to expand...

Maybe...endurance is alien to me, however, I'd have thought weightload would be a key part in it, so just don't see why they're made so heavy if they were geared towards endurance originally? Surely you'd want less weight in tack?
We had a jumping style RP.
I just think for the prices of custom RP's, there's better makes out there available, WOW, etc.

I think making RP's in that style for BSJA jumping and hunting, just really isn't well thought out for the horse or riders comfort, as it really impinges the shoulder and makes lateral work nie on impossible [going from comparing to how the horse worked prior to RP and post RP] :/
I hate feeling that far off the horse as I do when riding in the RP, there's just no feeling there...which is a horrible feeling out hunting and jumped and just general schooling.


I'll stop my midnight mumbling now anyway lol and go to bed I think XD
 
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Thank you for your posts everyone! :D

What I was trying to determine is which saddle fitting theory you / your chosen fitter uses :p :D

Ie I wanted to know whether your saddle fit is...

Quite snug to the horse (probably only needing a thin numnah when at optimum fit) NB I don't necessarily mean it is a 'close contact' saddle, just that you adhere to traditional fitting technique

Wider than the horses frame / with 'dynamic' pads or shims to get a very adjustable fit
(I personally think RP, WOW, Sue Carson, Balance International etc are in this category) as they have all moved away from traditional tree and flock options to offer the horse 'room to move'.

Entirely treeless

Something else

I think everyone agrees that 'whatever fits you and your horse' is the best option- I want to know which method you use to get that fit :D
 
trojanpony said:
Perhaps it is the case that saddling an endurance horse is just a completely different kettle of fish...
Click to expand...

I agree with this, which is why I said in my first post that the best saddle depends on the horse/discipline. My FnE was the only saddle that would work for my (ridiculously narrow) endurance pony - and I had tried every other saddle going (including RP, interestingly).

Yes, it seems very heavy for her tiny frame - but bear in mind if we are competing internationally (under FEI rules) I need to carry additional weight to make up the minimum weight requirement, so the weight really isn't an issue for me - an advantage if anything as it is evenly balanced.

Horses competing in other disciplines will have very different saddle needs. The most important thing is to listen to your horse - not your saddler;)
 
MuckyMeech said:
Ie I wanted to know whether your saddle fit is...

Quite snug to the horse (probably only needing a thin numnah when at optimum fit) NB I don't necessarily mean it is a 'close contact' saddle, just that you adhere to traditional fitting technique

Wider than the horses frame / with 'dynamic' pads or shims to get a very adjustable fit
(I personally think RP, WOW, Sue Carson, Balance International etc are in this category) as they have all moved away from traditional tree and flock options to offer the horse 'room to move'.

Entirely treeless

Something else
Click to expand...

Well in that case, both my saddles are of the traditional, close to horse, fit.:) I would love to try a WOW on her though, but too £££ for me at the mo.
 
I have tried treeless, treed, free n easy about 12 different saddles in 15 years on the same pony! I had the fne when doing long distance it was fab, went into showing so got a working hunter, as pony back changed and he filled out I tried treeless saddles.

He really really doesnt get on with treeless, he hates being tightly girthed which I found was needed to stop the saddle moving, he hates ones with front hoops and he lost muscle under where my bum went and got pressure sores from the girth, front of the saddle and was sore under where I sat.

This happended with barefoot, trekker and with a heather moffat on trial for 2 weeks he didnt get the sores but went very hollow. I think people forget that with treeless you can feel the horses muscles move more than with a treed but then they can feel your bum more too and might not appreaciate it. I hastened to add I know many people with the treeless brands I have mentioned that love them as do their horses, I just think its wrong that some are sold as suting every horse which isnt the case.

The best saddles so far for mine have been an albion selecta and a farrington WH, both of which he outgrew as he went from medium narrow in his long distance days to wide now as a veteran doing dressage!

He now has a Silouhette working hunter. I have it checked and the flocking adjusted every six months by a master saffle fitter who evaluates its fit ect and then reflocks and reevalutates whilst she is at the yard. This has proven far cheaper than constantly changing saddles!
 
And to answer the actual question possed, I use my wiorking hunter saddle with a thin hiwither nummed numnah. I would be concerned that too wide a saddle would bruise as it might rock.
 
Both dressage and event saddles fit well, but due to shark fin withers, both are bespoke and made to fit both of us, down to inside leg measurements - mine not his :)

Paddy
 
My horse had narrow prominent withers when I got him....and he had a saddle to fit this. However, as he developed his shoulder muscles, his withers were still very narrow and undermuscled. So he had a slightly wider fit.....and he worked better, and muscles developed. This has continued- and he has gone from a narrow to a wide fit in the last few years. When he changed saddle widths he had shims/thick padded numnahs and his saddle was stable and didn't rock or move. I gave up on leather saddles because they never fit for any decent legnth of time before I could feel he wasnt happy....I have gone back to a Wintec adjustable ( not my personal fave but it fits him very well - he's the typical shape that Wintecs only appear to fit :rolleyes:).He is going and looking the best ever, bless him:)

If I had stuck with a close fitting saddle I have no doubt he would still be the same shape as a couple of years ago as he just didn't have the space to develop

Disclaimer.....just my experience, with my oddly shaped awkward horse:D
 
The most traditional then... I'd be intrigued to try treeless as well as some of the newer styles of saddles, but just don't have that sort of money to keep testing, trialling and getting saddle fitters out so often!
That, and I don't know enough about saddles anyway to know where to start in all honesty! :o
 
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