im convincd my saddle is wrong! others are not!

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mazziek

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so when im on there is a finger betweek gullet and withers but any time i move slightly left or right the side of saddle comes into contact with his withers, is this right? i dont think it is but i been told as long as there is one finger gap its fine. also at the back i think the panels are rather close to his spine. was fitted properly about 4 months ago but he has done a lot of fitnening up since then. thankyou!
 
The saddle should never come into contact with his withers, it also shouldn't move around too much when you do, so I'd say it's wrong.
 
The horse has changed shape due to muscle and no doubt loosing excess weight so now the saddle does not fit.
Get a good saddle fitter back, have them look at it, it may just require re-flocking or you may need to exchange it for another, either don't continue to use it.
 
The fact that you can only fit one finger in rings alarm bells for me. You can get away with it, but not ideal. I suggest you get a saddle fitter to check the fit.
 
Only one finger when mounted is insufficient. Try rising up and down and you will see what i mean. There should also be adequate clearance at the sides of the wither too, so if the saddle is ouching that is very bad. Although muscles change the width of the spine wll not and the gullet needs to be wide enough to make sure the panels do not touch the spine. If the panels are sitting on the spine then the saddle never fitted in the first place because the skeleton does not change in a mature horse.

So from what you have said i would say you are right!
 
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