Post by Elaine on May 22, 2009 11:18:36 GMT
First up, a great video - its under 1 hour long, and is very simple to understand. Definitely worth a buy if you want to get your head around saddle fitting, saddle checking, or if you're going to buy a saddle. About Saddle Fit - what everyone needs to know about saddle fitting! BY David Genadek. Published by 'About the horse'
www.aboutthehorse.com/ Thanks Tom for the loan
Seriously folks, this video is one to buy if you want good general saddle fitting knowledge.
Please excuse any mistakes in this........
____________________________________________________
1. Your horses body moves like a river of energy. The saddle is used to create a bridge over that energy. You don't want the saddle to fall in the river and change or block how the energy flows. If saddle presses on muscles above spine (near vertabrae) they will cause horse to hollow his back / go on forehand. You don't want this.
2. Figure out the shape of your horses rib cage. Is your horses back like a table top with a rounded rib cage at both sides of the table (Arabs, morgans, warmbloods), is he the opposite with his ribs angle sharply from his spine like a narrow triangle (upside down 'V') or is he in the middle (TBs), there is a moderate angle from his back bone, and his ribs arc moderately? So does his back look like a table, something with a little angle, or very angled with a narrow ribcage?
3. Wither / shoulder area: When a horse moves his head & neck, area around his shoulders and withers changes shape. You need a bit of room built into top front of saddle to cope with this bit of movement. If top front of saddle is too narrow and doesn't allow room, it will pinch horse when he moves.
________________________________________________
Parts of the saddle:
Rigging - what holds the saddle onto horse (girth etc)
Seat - supports rider, controls riders leg position.
Skirting system – protects horse form motion of stirrup leather
Underlying – saddle tree
Twist – bottom of bar (saddle) which is to stay touching horses back from front to back
Rock – allows for back to move up and down
Flair – front of saddle allows for changes in shoulder area when horse moves head right and left
Then you choose the gullet measurement – spread of the bars.
For example, if you have a narrow gullet measurement, but a very wide flare so lots of room for shoulders to move, it won’t hurt your horse. But if you have a wide gullet but a very narrow flare, it can restrict / hurt your horses shoulders.
________________________________________________
Girth: should be attached once in middle of saddle, not to either front or back and cause half of the saddle to bob about loose when horses moves. Also watch horse move around - when his front legs move look at girth - does his skin near top of front legs rub over the girth? If so you will get girth galls.
Or: western style - 2 'girth' equal tightness, one front, one back.
Or: another western-type variation - one girth, but attached to a latigo (triangular rigging) on which is attached to front & back of saddle per side.
___________________________________________________
SEATING: to get the line from your shoulder-hip-heel
Low point of seat to be in the middle of where you would sit in the saddle (not at the back of the saddle). Your heel when riding should be in line with this low point of the saddle, so the stirrup should hang the distance from your heel to the ball of your foot, from this imaginary line from the lowest part of the saddle seat to the ground.
_________________________________________________
SKIRTING:
Goal of skirting is to protect/buffer horse's skin against moving leathers. The tree bears the weight, not the skirting. So having a big skirt on your saddle doesn't improve weight distribution. On some western saddles, they attach the girth to the skirting - this is bad as defeats purpose of skirting (protection/buffer against moving stirrups leathers against horses back) and cause saddle to slip back when front legs move, so if you need to fix that you can cause front part of saddle to tighten around shoulders - not what you want.
___________________________________________________
Check:
Can you run you hand inside front of saddle from withers down to shoulder - is there room for horses body to move here or is saddle pinched in again horses shoulders/withers?
By having front of saddle roomy, saddle can be slightly more forward, so rider will not be sitting exactly in the middle of horses back, but slightly forward of this, making it easier for horse to carry them.
Check back of saddle is rising off horses back, not chaffing into it.
We want pressure to be in the middle part of the saddle looking at horse's side from head to tail.
Check girth not stuck right behind front legs, so there is room for front legs to move forward & backwards without chaffing into girth.
Sit in saddle. Can a helper tell you there is an imaginary line between your shoulder - hip - heel while you sit relaxed up in saddle, not forcing your legs into some un-natural position? You're much more secure and less likely to get unseated if you're in balance shoulder-hip-heel. Otherwise its quite easy for something to tip you off kilter if you start out unbalanced.
_________________________________________________
HOW TO FIX YOUR SADDLE!
1. Get rid of numahs and just rest saddle on horses back.
2.see if its tight at the front or back.
3. see if the middle part of the saddle fits horses snugly.
4. See if the girth is balanced - either one attached to the middle of the saddle from front to back, or two - one at either end of the saddle.
5. If front & back tight, and middle of saddle not touching horse back, a square of padding under whole saddle won't help as it keeps all of this the same. Can actually accentuate issues esp space under saddle. Instead, pad only the loose places.
You want a bridge over the horses back from side to side so nothing rests on vertabrae but it all rests on both sides, NOT a bridge that goes from 'right' withers area to 'right' behind seat area, and also from 'left' withers area to 'left' behind seat area, creating a bridge on the sides of the horse underneath where you sit.
www.aboutthehorse.com/ Thanks Tom for the loan
Seriously folks, this video is one to buy if you want good general saddle fitting knowledge.
Please excuse any mistakes in this........
____________________________________________________
1. Your horses body moves like a river of energy. The saddle is used to create a bridge over that energy. You don't want the saddle to fall in the river and change or block how the energy flows. If saddle presses on muscles above spine (near vertabrae) they will cause horse to hollow his back / go on forehand. You don't want this.
2. Figure out the shape of your horses rib cage. Is your horses back like a table top with a rounded rib cage at both sides of the table (Arabs, morgans, warmbloods), is he the opposite with his ribs angle sharply from his spine like a narrow triangle (upside down 'V') or is he in the middle (TBs), there is a moderate angle from his back bone, and his ribs arc moderately? So does his back look like a table, something with a little angle, or very angled with a narrow ribcage?
3. Wither / shoulder area: When a horse moves his head & neck, area around his shoulders and withers changes shape. You need a bit of room built into top front of saddle to cope with this bit of movement. If top front of saddle is too narrow and doesn't allow room, it will pinch horse when he moves.
________________________________________________
Parts of the saddle:
Rigging - what holds the saddle onto horse (girth etc)
Seat - supports rider, controls riders leg position.
Skirting system – protects horse form motion of stirrup leather
Underlying – saddle tree
Twist – bottom of bar (saddle) which is to stay touching horses back from front to back
Rock – allows for back to move up and down
Flair – front of saddle allows for changes in shoulder area when horse moves head right and left
Then you choose the gullet measurement – spread of the bars.
For example, if you have a narrow gullet measurement, but a very wide flare so lots of room for shoulders to move, it won’t hurt your horse. But if you have a wide gullet but a very narrow flare, it can restrict / hurt your horses shoulders.
________________________________________________
Girth: should be attached once in middle of saddle, not to either front or back and cause half of the saddle to bob about loose when horses moves. Also watch horse move around - when his front legs move look at girth - does his skin near top of front legs rub over the girth? If so you will get girth galls.
Or: western style - 2 'girth' equal tightness, one front, one back.
Or: another western-type variation - one girth, but attached to a latigo (triangular rigging) on which is attached to front & back of saddle per side.
___________________________________________________
SEATING: to get the line from your shoulder-hip-heel
Low point of seat to be in the middle of where you would sit in the saddle (not at the back of the saddle). Your heel when riding should be in line with this low point of the saddle, so the stirrup should hang the distance from your heel to the ball of your foot, from this imaginary line from the lowest part of the saddle seat to the ground.
_________________________________________________
SKIRTING:
Goal of skirting is to protect/buffer horse's skin against moving leathers. The tree bears the weight, not the skirting. So having a big skirt on your saddle doesn't improve weight distribution. On some western saddles, they attach the girth to the skirting - this is bad as defeats purpose of skirting (protection/buffer against moving stirrups leathers against horses back) and cause saddle to slip back when front legs move, so if you need to fix that you can cause front part of saddle to tighten around shoulders - not what you want.
___________________________________________________
Check:
Can you run you hand inside front of saddle from withers down to shoulder - is there room for horses body to move here or is saddle pinched in again horses shoulders/withers?
By having front of saddle roomy, saddle can be slightly more forward, so rider will not be sitting exactly in the middle of horses back, but slightly forward of this, making it easier for horse to carry them.
Check back of saddle is rising off horses back, not chaffing into it.
We want pressure to be in the middle part of the saddle looking at horse's side from head to tail.
Check girth not stuck right behind front legs, so there is room for front legs to move forward & backwards without chaffing into girth.
Sit in saddle. Can a helper tell you there is an imaginary line between your shoulder - hip - heel while you sit relaxed up in saddle, not forcing your legs into some un-natural position? You're much more secure and less likely to get unseated if you're in balance shoulder-hip-heel. Otherwise its quite easy for something to tip you off kilter if you start out unbalanced.
_________________________________________________
HOW TO FIX YOUR SADDLE!
1. Get rid of numahs and just rest saddle on horses back.
2.see if its tight at the front or back.
3. see if the middle part of the saddle fits horses snugly.
4. See if the girth is balanced - either one attached to the middle of the saddle from front to back, or two - one at either end of the saddle.
5. If front & back tight, and middle of saddle not touching horse back, a square of padding under whole saddle won't help as it keeps all of this the same. Can actually accentuate issues esp space under saddle. Instead, pad only the loose places.
You want a bridge over the horses back from side to side so nothing rests on vertabrae but it all rests on both sides, NOT a bridge that goes from 'right' withers area to 'right' behind seat area, and also from 'left' withers area to 'left' behind seat area, creating a bridge on the sides of the horse underneath where you sit.