what does a saddle fitter do?

H

horseluver4eva

Well-Known Member
Joined
28 January 2012
Messages
593
Visit site
A bit of a stupid question so please dont crit but in all honesty ive never had one before. my horses have been bought with made to measure saddles and checked by chiros when they come every few months however my new horse didnt have a saddle to fit; although ive had riding instructors etc try my wintec on him and they say it fits i still want a saddle fitter as peace of mind. my friend said today they check your own saddles and measure up for the right one which i obviously knew but she said your supposed to then buy one off the saddlerer if he has one to fit which has got me a bit baffled. is this true? thanks
 
They should look at what you have, if it seems to fit they may watch you ride in it, then they can make adjustments as required, often on site, if the saddle does not fit they then may suggest buying something else, you are paying for their time and any adjustments to be made there should be no pressure to buy a new saddle.
 
A saddle fitter checks the fit of your saddle and adjusts if needed and ought to advise you if it will not fit at all .
Some sell second hand ( often on commision ) as well as new saddles .
Some saddle fitters are trained to fit the saddles of one munufacturer and sell you those usually I think on a commission basis .
I will only use someone who sells a wide range of saddles .
 
To add to the thoughts, they should be qualified and have training. there is a national list somewhere. Some aren't officially qualified but practice anyway.
 
I had a saddle fitter out a few months ago. I showed her a saddle my friend was selling that may possibly fit my horse, she put it on and had a good look but then gave reasons as to why it didn't fit properly.
She brought a few saddles of her stock to try and i ended up buying one off her. The call out fee (considering less than a mile from where she is) was £30, and the fitting was £35 - plus saddle/girth/stirrups/leathers. In hind site i wish i had brought the extras like stirrups etc from horse companies online as they are much cheaper priced!
Im also sure they have to have a qualification. Mine seemed very happy to take a look at a saddle i had and gave a good explanation and showed me as to why it didn't fit good. Hope this helps!
 
they don't HAVE to have qualifications any old tom, dick or harry can call themselves a saddle fitter. However, if you want one that actually knows what they are doing and are qualified to do their jobs the society of master saddlers has a list on their web site.
 
thanks everybody you have been a great help!!! Rhodders i have checked that website and theres only 2 in my area non of which are qualified for fitting :/ does anybody know of one in cumbria?
 
thats a shame, some might possibly travel if they have other people to see in the area, I know the lady I use here covers a lot of Wales, but does a day in an area, so it might be worth looking at the nearest ones.
I only mentioned the above as I had a bad experience where I got ripped off for £1k for a new saddle by a company who set themselves up as saddle fitters/makers (and specialist ones at that), only to be told a couple of years down the line by a master saddler that the saddle I had bought would never have fitted my horse, as the tree was the wrong shape for him.
The problem with these things is we put our trust in people as they claim to be the experts, sometimes they are no such thing
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top