Saddle fitters?

Gingerwitch

Gingerwitch

Well-Known Member
Joined
19 May 2009
Messages
6,102
Location
My own planet
Visit site
How do you learn this dark art ?

I am so fed up of not understanding why one saddler says this will fit, or that will fit and then the next person you meet says - that saddle has never fit your pony !
 
I suppose it's an art to be learnt like any other, type make and structure of saddle as well as knowledge of the horses physique and structure as to what trees suit what shape or type of horse? I'd like to do a fitters course but it ain't cheap! (and the brains a bit slow these days :) )
 
Or you get it from friends - "that saddle doesn't fit your horse", "I'm sure that saddle doesn't fit your horse" and you mention that actually it was fitted by the very well-reputed saddle fitter that they use and recommend at which point they suddenly decide it's a perfect fit *insert confused smiley*

www.mastersaddlers.co.uk has info on training - can't do direct link to page I'm afraid.


edited to add: blimey, it's more complicated than I expected!
 
Last edited:
I'm an old school Saddler which means when I trained we were saddle makers, rug makers, bridle makers, harness makers, saddle fitters, saddle flockers, did lorinery exams etc, everything really!
Now they tend to separate the saddle fitting from the rest, I learnt at the old Cordwainers college when it was still in Hackney, it shut down in about 2000 I think it was and moved to here instead:
http://www.capel.ac.uk/saddlery.html
 
cremedemonthe said:
I'm an old school Saddler which means when I trained we were saddle makers, rug makers, bridle makers, harness makers, saddle fitters, saddle flockers, did lorinery exams etc, everything really!
Now they tend to separate the saddle fitting from the rest, I learnt at the old Cordwainers college when it was still in Hackney, it shut down in about 2000 I think it was and moved to here instead:
http://www.capel.ac.uk/saddlery.html
Click to expand...

Sorry to ask but how on earth do we check what is being sold us - my saddles "looked" right and felt comfortable and had the correct gaps.... but then when you see a new saddle on them - it looked amazing and gave a totally different ride and i felt so much more secure/.
 
Gingerwitch said:
Sorry to ask but how on earth do we check what is being sold us - my saddles "looked" right and felt comfortable and had the correct gaps.... but then when you see a new saddle on them - it looked amazing and gave a totally different ride and i felt so much more secure/.
Click to expand...

I've PM'd you some details, hope it helps it's advice on having a saddle fitted whether old or new by a professional, Oz
 
Different saddle fitters have different systems of fitting, it's more art than science, though it SHOULD be explainable. I have known other fitters see one of our saddles and clearly not know what to do with it, one had a whole carrier bag of flocking added all along one side of the saddle making one panel big and fat and sausage shaped. It was clearly never going to do what the fitter hoped it would do, stop it moving sideways. The saddle probably just needed a width tweak, or making flatter against the horse's back or something similar. I know Balance fitters fit quite differently to how we do.

I was trained by the owner of the company who has the best eye and intuition of any fitter I know. I still have support and CPD from her and we share best practice through the company.

The SMS weekend course MIGHT be of benefit but equally if you know a fitter well they might be happy to take you out for a day, I've taken people out now and again.
 
It's a dark art & sms fitter qualification seems to be useless.
My mare lost weight & saddle was sitting too low - had local sms qualified fitter out, who put in some extra flocking, which made it look & feel better (to my untrained eye).
Couple of months later horse had a back covered in white hairs & muscle wastage.
Different saddler was out looking at husbands horse - got her to look at it & she appeared horrified. Removed all the extra flocking / narrowed tree & advise to repair muscle damage.
If we can't trust sms qualifications, what do we trust?
 
I am stressed to death with saddles, I had bad back issues so I bought a WOW but it never seemed to fit right and horse seemed to be unhappy and sore, so I've given him two month off and now decided to buy a flair dressage saddle as it's the flair that helps my back and the dressage position helps too. My saddle fitter brought me a Barrie Swaine dressage saddle to try which is flair fitted and I tried it today but i thought it possibly seemed a bit tight just at either side of his whithers, when I stood up in my stirrups I couldn't comfortably fit three fingers to either side of the pommel, also the knee blocks weren't big enough for me but my fitter said she would put bigger blocks on for me. Then I have seen an ideal roella dressage saddle for sale which I would have to have converted to flair but I love the saddle. I just don't know what to think, it's totally doing my head in :-(
 
When someone in the know explains and shows you how a saddle should fit it makes perfect sense. But some horses have more specific preferences than others.
it makes me think of my mum who always says that certain styles of collar will irritate me. Actually certain styles of collar irritate her - I'm quite robust to collar style.
 
Dear oz...can i be a pain and have that info to? I'm going through hell with my saddle and horse and think it may help!
Many thanks!
 
Dear Oz, please could you copy and paste it into a little PM for me too please!? I feel I should know much more than I do about saddles as my knowledge is very basic xx
 
lisa_dundee said:
I am stressed to death with saddles, I had bad back issues so I bought a WOW but it never seemed to fit right and horse seemed to be unhappy and sore, so I've given him two month off and now decided to buy a flair dressage saddle as it's the flair that helps my back and the dressage position helps too. My saddle fitter brought me a Barrie Swaine dressage saddle to try which is flair fitted and I tried it today but i thought it possibly seemed a bit tight just at either side of his whithers, when I stood up in my stirrups I couldn't comfortably fit three fingers to either side of the pommel, also the knee blocks weren't big enough for me but my fitter said she would put bigger blocks on for me. Then I have seen an ideal roella dressage saddle for sale which I would have to have converted to flair but I love the saddle. I just don't know what to think, it's totally doing my head in :-(
Click to expand...

I don't know abut the roella but the ideal Jessica's take flair very well I have three of them two are conversions one was flair fron the start.
I struggled with the dark art of the saddler too until I started working with my present one who when she realised I was interested has taught me so much. I get it now and have a simpler time as a result .
I would never use a fitter who only deals in one type of saddle my saddler sells several brands and sells a lot of used saddles gives you a chance to try a lot and make a good choice when you buy.
 
Conversely you could say that a fitter who deals in a specialist brand, and your horse falls into their specialist area, may get to the right fit much more easily. Plus, a fitter with one or two brands will know those brands inside out, if the training has been sufficiently in depth and the support is there, and will know the bare trees. Unless you have seen every tree in the flesh it is impossible to know the set of the bars in detail, even if you can see other aspects of the tree inside the saddle eg front to back curve. I wonder how someone can truly udnerstand every tree across the ranges of maybe 10 brands....

In terms of trying saddles fully, always make sure you get your 7 day trial - get them to come to you rather than you to them, and you are legally entitled to that trial, whether they tell you or not.

Horses for courses, and if your fitter who stocks 10 brands can't fit your horse, maybe call a specialist!
 
sbloom said:
Conversely you could say that a fitter who deals in a specialist brand, and your horse falls into their specialist area, may get to the right fit much more easily. Plus, a fitter with one or two brands will know those brands inside out, if the training has been sufficiently in depth and the support is there, and will know the bare trees. Unless you have seen every tree in the flesh it is impossible to know the set of the bars in detail, even if you can see other aspects of the tree inside the saddle eg front to back curve. I wonder how someone can truly udnerstand every tree across the ranges of maybe 10 brands....

In terms of trying saddles fully, always make sure you get your 7 day trial - get them to come to you rather than you to them, and you are legally entitled to that trial, whether they tell you or not.

Horses for courses, and if your fitter who stocks 10 brands can't fit your horse, maybe call a specialist!
Click to expand...

But my saddler would fit my horse she has access to lots of saddles lots of types and lots of experiance .
Now sbloom I know from your posts on here you are a kind and principled person who is very generous with your time helping people on here but let me tell you based on forty plus years of experiance that not all people selling single brands are principled and horses are stoic .
 
I hear you, I just wanted to put across the other perspective. I know some fitters of individual brands have literally only been on weekend courses, or perhaps even only one!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top