Saddle Fitting.

[Clava]

Have saddle fitters taken away owner's knowledge of how to check and fit saddles? Surely every owner needs to be able to assess a saddle each time they put it on a horses back (as horses change so often)? and owners should be able to check a saddle's flocking for lumps and the tree for straightness - how much do you know and how much is responsibility just passed to saddle fitters? (a bit like hooves being the job of farriers?)

In past I remember saddle fitters being rare...has owner knowledge been lost? Or are people comfortable with the understanding they have?

 

[sbloom]

I think it is entirely possible for riders to have enough knowledge to be able to spot a bad fitting saddle, and to spot one that is a pretty decent fit. What it much harder is taking the knowledge that a saddle doesn't fit, and knowing where to go from there.

I have one customer who used to fit all her own warmbloods no problem, but she now has Highland ponies and really struggles and so has had saddles from me and I check them and flock them for her.

I try and encourage my customers to be able to judge when the fit has changed ie the horse has changed shape, by monitoring three basics - clearance, front to back balance and movement of the saddle. But this is on a saddle that fits well from the beginning. I think that is much better than having the saddle fitter out once a year and assuming everything must be fine. Just as we should know what a good foot shoud look like, and spot the warning signs that things are going wrong, we should be able to do the same with saddles.

 

[Love]

To be honest I wish I knew more! Obviously I know the basics but still don't feel I know enough.