Stupid first saddle question..

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zoon

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No reason to ask this at the moment other than wanting to know - I've always wondered! I have older horses who always have a saddle fitted by a proper saddle fitter and a 6 month old, so many years away from any of this...

When you are backing a horse, what saddle do you use? How do you get a saddle fitted to a horse who has never worn one and never been sat on? Last time I had a youngster, I was a teenager so never had to worry about this as it was all done for me!

Might sound like a stupid question and very obviously, but honestly I am stumped! If you don't ask, you'll never know! So want to ask what people have done with their youngsters.
 
Well, with mine, they're usually used to wearing a roller for long reining, then I use an old saddle to get them used to it being on their back, get them used to the girth etc, then I get a saddle fitter to fit a saddle as best he can without someone sitting on it (my saddlers pretty good and lets you have the saddles for a while to get used to them before you commit :) ), then go from there :)
 
The things with babies is that as soon as you get a saddle fitted a few months later you'll most probably have to have it fitted again as they are constantly changing shape due to muscling and growing up. With our two youngsters we used a cheap e.g wintec or thorowgood LIGHT saddle. We have made sure it is a reasonable fit, e.g doesn't lift at the back nor tip at the front, sits nicely on the back but isn't too narrow/too wide, and with wintecs and thorowgoods (new versions) they have the changeable gullets also so will usually fit most things. After the horse has got used to having the saddle on their back, and riding away quite nicely that's when we would usually get the saddle fitter up, usually to fit the saddle they are currently using - which in both cases have been fine :).
 
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