Jingleballs
Well-Known Member
Id noticed that Cs GP saddle wasnt sitting as well as it had been and he hadnt been going as well in it just over the last couple of weeks.
Id booked my usual saddler fitter to come out and fix it but had been given details of a local saddle fitter who had a Medilogic pressure pad that they used to check the fit of the saddle so decided to go with this option. Basically, the pad sits under your saddle, it has over 400 sensors to check the pressure at each point of the saddle. They then synchronise this to a video camera and it records the pressure as your ride in w/t/c.
So we tested both my GP saddle and dressage saddle in their current state to see what it showed up.
As expected, because the GP had become too wide for him, the saddle was rocking so whenever I rose in trot the pressure would go to the front of the saddle and the saddle would lift at the back and whenever I sat the opposite would happen.
I was pretty happy with how my dressage saddle was sitting but was surprised to see that it was also doing this although to a much lesser extent something that we would never have picked up on without the pressure pad as there was no visible movement and it felt pretty balanced.
So, fitter played about with the different gullets for the gp (I have spare gullets as hes changed shape a lot in the 2 1/2 years Ive owned the saddle). She decided that the medium gullet was the best in terms for fit of his wither I was shocked to be honest as he had been in a wide and I was sure the medium would be too tight especially around his shoulders. She also dropped the dressage saddle down to a medium wide gullet to see if that improved things.
Went back into the school and rode in both with the pressure pad again and then reviewed the videos results amazingly the pressure points had disappeared and there was even pressure across the whole of the saddle. There was a slight lack of pressure at one point near the middle of the GP but we added some flocking and when we tested it again it was perfect nice even distribution of weight across the saddle.
Ive had such a horrid time with saddle fitters in the past that it was nice to have the added help of the pressure pad to show me that the saddle was not causing any issues particularly with the GP saddle there was no pressure at all showing at the shoulders which has reassured me although due to his shape (narrow wither, big shoulders, round tummy) the GP saddle does want to slid forward slightly so saddle fitter has advised to keep an eye on this and possibly look into a curved girth to help with this. I've also been girthing on the 2nd and 4th girth strap which she suggested could very well be the cause of the saddle sliding forward as I've anchored it too much at the back,
All in all Im very pleased with it although time will tell if weve got it 100% right but I feel a lot more confident in the fit of the saddles!
Id booked my usual saddler fitter to come out and fix it but had been given details of a local saddle fitter who had a Medilogic pressure pad that they used to check the fit of the saddle so decided to go with this option. Basically, the pad sits under your saddle, it has over 400 sensors to check the pressure at each point of the saddle. They then synchronise this to a video camera and it records the pressure as your ride in w/t/c.
So we tested both my GP saddle and dressage saddle in their current state to see what it showed up.
As expected, because the GP had become too wide for him, the saddle was rocking so whenever I rose in trot the pressure would go to the front of the saddle and the saddle would lift at the back and whenever I sat the opposite would happen.
I was pretty happy with how my dressage saddle was sitting but was surprised to see that it was also doing this although to a much lesser extent something that we would never have picked up on without the pressure pad as there was no visible movement and it felt pretty balanced.
So, fitter played about with the different gullets for the gp (I have spare gullets as hes changed shape a lot in the 2 1/2 years Ive owned the saddle). She decided that the medium gullet was the best in terms for fit of his wither I was shocked to be honest as he had been in a wide and I was sure the medium would be too tight especially around his shoulders. She also dropped the dressage saddle down to a medium wide gullet to see if that improved things.
Went back into the school and rode in both with the pressure pad again and then reviewed the videos results amazingly the pressure points had disappeared and there was even pressure across the whole of the saddle. There was a slight lack of pressure at one point near the middle of the GP but we added some flocking and when we tested it again it was perfect nice even distribution of weight across the saddle.
Ive had such a horrid time with saddle fitters in the past that it was nice to have the added help of the pressure pad to show me that the saddle was not causing any issues particularly with the GP saddle there was no pressure at all showing at the shoulders which has reassured me although due to his shape (narrow wither, big shoulders, round tummy) the GP saddle does want to slid forward slightly so saddle fitter has advised to keep an eye on this and possibly look into a curved girth to help with this. I've also been girthing on the 2nd and 4th girth strap which she suggested could very well be the cause of the saddle sliding forward as I've anchored it too much at the back,
All in all Im very pleased with it although time will tell if weve got it 100% right but I feel a lot more confident in the fit of the saddles!
