How much movement should a saddle have?

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EquestrianFairy

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I had a saddle fitted yesterday and I noticed today when my horse was trotting and cantering around the school without me that it moves around A LOT at the back? It jumps up and down even with a thick half pad under it. (Was fitted with the half pad).

Is this supposed to happen? I have a video but it's not the best.

Here is a photo of the saddle with him stood still.

E97EBEE5-066F-47F7-BDE5-E754A4476B9B_zpsg7afvxav.jpg

B0BDC899-EA23-4082-A452-394D90BE9EDC_zpstmrc3fuq.jpg
 
It should not bounce at the back, this will cause him to brace against it and become sore in his back, how is it without the rather large half pad?
 
Agree with others no its shouldn't!
I used to fit saddles with a master saddler and we often had people who had saddles elsewhere and had problems with same thing and it had made the back bruised and sore.

It's hard to tell but on bottom photo it looks like the saddle may be too fat forward. It needs to be behind the
Shoulder blades :). That will help the back too
 
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The saddle was fitted with the half pad. Without the half pad it moves even more.
I can see it looks too far forward, would that cause it to move?
Annoyed with myself a little now.
 
Bless you. Yes it may well do. Also if fitted with a pad you need to use it otherwise it's too wide at the withers, so it will lift at the back.
 
I'm not certain that it's much too far forward. Maybe a little. The nummah is a more forward cut than the saddle, making it look as if it's too far forward. It does look sort of big overall on the pony.
 
If you intend to use a half pad it should be fitted with it, otherwise it would be a narrower fit with the pad
I'm only viewing on my phone so just try it again making sure its behind shoulder blades and sits level when you view it fro
all sides :)
 
Yes it was fitted with the half pad.
I can't use the saddle without it because it was fitted with it.
The size of the saddle etc isn't the problem, the saddler measured and put a 17" on him which as far as I was aware was fine.
I'm concerned about the movement of the back of it and whether it should be moving about at all.
 
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EquestrianFairy said:
The size of the saddle etc isn't the problem- I'm concerned about the movement of the back of it and whether it should be moving about at all.
Click to expand...

But if too big it may move, no? It might not be too big, it's hard to tell with everything under it. Just an overall impression.

As others have said, no it shouldn't move like that.
 
Abacus said:
But if too big it may move, no? It might not be too big, it's hard to tell with everything under it. Just an overall impression.

As others have said, no it shouldn't move like that.
Click to expand...

Big length wise? The saddler measured it for a 17". Would that make it move then?

Saddler number 2 for a second opinion I think. Agh!!

I'll upload the video now.
 
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I'm not sure really - as I said, it was an overall impression and may well be wrong. It's not really the length that made me say it, as it doesn't look obviously too long. (How big is the horse, by the way?). If anything it looks rather deep but that's not necessarily an actual problem. I just wondered what was causing the movement.
 
Abacus said:
I'm not sure really - as I said, it was an overall impression and may well be wrong. It's not really the length that made me say it, as it doesn't look obviously too long. (How big is the horse, by the way?). If anything it looks rather deep but that's not necessarily an actual problem. I just wondered what was causing the movement.
Click to expand...

He's probably around 14.2hh. He's 4.5 years old.
Phptobucket won't upload the video.. FGS!!!
 
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Arrrggghhhh, the more I look at the pictures, the more I am confused about whether it is or isn't large! Maybe I am used to seeing a similar sized saddle on a big 17hh monster!

I guess only a saddler will know.

Love the picture of him looking in the mirror btw...
 
EquestrianFairy said:
I had a saddle fitted yesterday and I noticed today when my horse was trotting and cantering around the school without me that it moves around A LOT at the back? It jumps up and down even with a thick half pad under it. (Was fitted with the half pad).

Is this supposed to happen? I have a video but it's not the best.

Here is a photo of the saddle with him stood still.

E97EBEE5-066F-47F7-BDE5-E754A4476B9B_zpsg7afvxav.jpg

B0BDC899-EA23-4082-A452-394D90BE9EDC_zpstmrc3fuq.jpg
Click to expand...

It doesn't fit! Get the saddle fitter back!

Why did you have it fitted with a half pad in the first place? A saddle that fits correctly shouldn't need anything under it apart from a thin saddle cloth - I have never used anything under my saddles in over 40 years and have rarely had problems with saddles fitting.

That up and down movement means that almost all the pressure is on the horses back under the stirrup bars. He will end up with a sore back, go crooked and often all the hair will go under the back of the saddle as the friction removes it.
 
Tnavas said:
It doesn't fit! Get the saddle fitter back!

Why did you have it fitted with a half pad in the first place? A saddle that fits correctly shouldn't need anything under it apart from a thin saddle cloth - I have never used anything under my saddles in over 40 years and have rarely had problems with saddles fitting.

That up and down movement means that almost all the pressure is on the horses back under the stirrup bars. He will end up with a sore back, go crooked and often all the hair will go under the back of the saddle as the friction removes it.
Click to expand...

http://youtu.be/-ntJWLIJxmM

There's the video.

It was fitted with half pad because he has no muscle at all and I was told it would help replace what muscle he's missing while it builds (for saddle to fit better)
I also prefer half pads underneath so it was a mixture of both the above.

I noticed when I took it off that his hair underneath had moved about- like the friction you just described.
I'm glad I got off now :(
 
I had a similar problem with my old saddle which was also fitted with a half pad under advice. However there was still too much movement at the back and another saddler told me the tree was too curved for my horse's back.

New saddle fits much better with just a thin numnah underneath but there is still a small amount of movement at the back - enough to break the hairs at the back during the coat changing period. Saddler said some horses have a lot of movement behind so it's pretty impossible to keep the saddle completely still all of the time and advised me to try a gel pad underneath. I found normal gel pads were too thick but an ultra thin (3mm) one (the kind designed to stop saddles slipping) seemed to solve the problem completely.
 
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pongwiffy my lad sounds like he is similar to yours. From the photos I don't think that fits though EF, poss too narrow in front which is making it swing behind? - It also looks like it might well push you back into a chair seat.
 
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