Saddle fitters qualifications

Penny Less

Penny Less

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10 March 2009
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I find it a little disconcerting that various "qualified" saddler fitters are apparently not registered with the society of master saddlers. Two in my area (not naming any names) who are very well known are not currently registered and have apparently not undertaken the refresher courses needed to be members! Is there another society for saddlers etc?
Or do you tend to go with your own experiences with these people?
 
The Society of Master Saddlers is actually rather a joke. You can make a saddle and qualify as a Master saddler without actually fitting a saddle to a horse. I did my Saddle fitter courses with them and was horrified by the total lack of knowledge of horses, either their anatomy or their paces. I was turning horses away in training and refusing to fit them as they were clearly lame. The Master Saddle Makers could not spot the lameness and were clueless about how there were actually fitting and the impact on the horse. The courses seemed to focus on how to fill in the forms to ensure you had your back covered in case the client wanted to sue you for damage the saddle had caused to the horses back. Saddle Fitters who are qualified by the SMS are not saddle makers - they are trained to fit - not alter and adjust - that should be the Saddle Maker who does that. So if you want to go down the Master Saddler route - you need a qualified saddler who is also a qualified fitter. However i was totally unimpressed by the quality of the tuition and the huge gaps in the training. Never once was the negative impact of poor fitting mentioned. I then carried on my training with a phenomenal saddle fitter - who was a member of the SMS but was thrown out because she was highlighting the poor standards of workmanship in the manufacture and fitting of saddles. I was in an area then where I was fixing issues caused by one of the people allegedly training me on the SMS course. Results speak far louder than qualifications, I would want someone out to fit my horse who knows what they are doing and why, and the impact of the saddle, Loads of people who are SMS qualified are good, but having the qualification and recognition does not make them good.

i got into saddle fitting because an SMS maker and fitter caused serious damage to my horses back, and compounded the problem each time they came out to check it. I decided the only way I could ensure that never happened to one of my horses again was to arm myself with the greatest knowledge I could.
 
Interesting, Bosworth! I have armed myself with a couple of books re saddle fitting but having had a very difficult to fit horse have always relied on a qualified person (I thought)
Bit of a minefield isnt it ?
 
it is a total minefield. Qualifications are not as important as knowledge, skill and experience. if your 'qualified' person is doing a good job, then don;t blow them out because they don't have the letters SMS after their name.
 
I think you have to be careful about experience - just because someone has been saddle fitting for years does not make them good at it. I know several who have been causing serious damage for years. It is the knowledge, skill and experience along with the results that you need to look for. Some owners are so ignorant they would not know if the saddle was causing their horse to scream silently with pain, and they tend to be the ones who use the poor fitters. Ask people you respect and understand horses who they use and see how their horses backs are
 
Bosworth said:
The Society of Master Saddlers is actually rather a joke. You can make a saddle and qualify as a Master saddler without actually fitting a saddle to a horse. I did my Saddle fitter courses with them and was horrified by the total lack of knowledge of horses, either their anatomy or their paces. I was turning horses away in training and refusing to fit them as they were clearly lame. The Master Saddle Makers could not spot the lameness and were clueless about how there were actually fitting and the impact on the horse. The courses seemed to focus on how to fill in the forms to ensure you had your back covered in case the client wanted to sue you for damage the saddle had caused to the horses back. Saddle Fitters who are qualified by the SMS are not saddle makers - they are trained to fit - not alter and adjust - that should be the Saddle Maker who does that. So if you want to go down the Master Saddler route - you need a qualified saddler who is also a qualified fitter. However i was totally unimpressed by the quality of the tuition and the huge gaps in the training. Never once was the negative impact of poor fitting mentioned. I then carried on my training with a phenomenal saddle fitter - who was a member of the SMS but was thrown out because she was highlighting the poor standards of workmanship in the manufacture and fitting of saddles. I was in an area then where I was fixing issues caused by one of the people allegedly training me on the SMS course. Results speak far louder than qualifications, I would want someone out to fit my horse who knows what they are doing and why, and the impact of the saddle, Loads of people who are SMS qualified are good, but having the qualification and recognition does not make them good.

i got into saddle fitting because an SMS maker and fitter caused serious damage to my horses back, and compounded the problem each time they came out to check it. I decided the only way I could ensure that never happened to one of my horses again was to arm myself with the greatest knowledge I could.
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WELL said Bosworth!
I would not be in the master saddlers if you paid me any amount of money!
I have had to rectify far too many ill fitting and badly repaired and altered saddles by "Master Saddlers and Saddle fitters" over 23 years that I would not touch them with a barge pole (some saddles I have had to condem as too dangerous to ride in).There are, no doubt good S.o M.Saddlers out there, but I used to get called in to deal with all the problems the bad ones caused!
Experience, recommendations and healthy happy horses and their good backs are far better than a piece of paper telling people you have done a few days training!
Oz :)
 
So if I am looking for a decent saddler I cannot rely on the MS qualifications or word of mouth because most owners don't recognise the danger until there horses backs are damaged.

So how can we find a decent saddler. I have an ex-racer who is starting to be a bit antsy about his saddle being put on. I won't ride him again until he is happy with it so I need to find a decent saddler in West Berkshire asap. Does anyone have tb's with difficult to fit backs that they are happy to recommend please?
 
Bosworth said:
I think you have to be careful about experience - just because someone has been saddle fitting for years does not make them good at it. I know several who have been causing serious damage for years. It is the knowledge, skill and experience along with the results that you need to look for. Some owners are so ignorant they would not know if the saddle was causing their horse to scream silently with pain, and they tend to be the ones who use the poor fitters. Ask people you respect and understand horses who they use and see how their horses backs are
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This, find yourself someone you know who you respect and whose horse has a well fitting saddle. If your horse is getting antsy about the saddle going on then there is something wrong and you need to sort the problem asap before it becomes an issue. It may not be the saddle, it could be a bad back. but saddle first is the way to go. TB's rarely have a hard to fit back. They have high withers because of serious muscle wasteage, and you have to facilitate the muscle redevelopment when you fit a saddle. I personally would look to use something like a saddle company saddle which has the serge underside, and with serious muscle wasteage I would fit to prolite. That would allow the horse to muscle up and develop. The prolite can then be removed and the saddle will fit to the new width. In seriously wasted horses i would repeat the process a couple of times as the horse muscles up. Any saddle fitter who fits a saddle to the exact shape of a horse with muscle damage is further increasing that damage as they will be totally restricting the muscle development.
 
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