Draftmare has a thread “Quality draft horse saddle” in post 15 there are pics of the saddle.
www.chronofhorse.com/forum/showthread.php?488496-Quality-draft-horse-saddle
Is it placed too far forward on the shoulder?
I don’t see it as that bad, the saddle can’t really go back much further without it being too far back on the horse. The fit looks a bit wide but the saddle pad seems to make it fit better.
http://www.equisearch.com/article/hands-approach-saddle-fit
While we need proper fit for horse and rider but at the same time we need to not start over analyzing and second guessing. If the horse is going fine and the fit is good for both horse and rider then maybe its the right saddle.
I disagreed with some of your statements, csaper58. And I didn’t think the saddle looked that bad. And I didn’t really think you were helping. 
Stepping on my soapbox…
Based on the number of posts here at COTH on saddle fitting, I think people have become unnecessarily obsessive on this subject. You are never going to achieve the mythical Perfect Saddle Fit because it doesn’t exist. Especially not in western saddles. In the case of saddle fit, that old saying, “the perfect is the enemy of the good” definitely applies.
All you can do is make a reasonable search for the best fitting saddle you can find and make a reasonable search for the most complimentary pad you can find, and if your horse appears to be comfortable and happily performs his job, then you’re good.
Now, if you’re aiming for 100 mile trail rides or spend long hours in the saddle every day or are headed for the Olympics, then sure, go ahead, be obsessive. It probably matters. But for most of us, that’s just unnecessary.
Stepping down… :lol:
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It occurred to me that I never answered the question that was posed - “was the saddle shown in Draftmare’s photos too far forward?” My answer - no. Not really.
Also, I knew I remembered reading this, so I started checking my bookmarks and found it. Surprisingly, it was on rodnikkel.com, which csaper58 posted links to.
Having the tree in this position means the front of the skirts of the saddle, which extend forward of the front bar tip, will sit just a bit over/on the shoulders of the horse. This is why it is important that the skirts be blocked properly.
The shoulder blades do rotate back when the horse moves. The three pieces of tape in the picture above show the farthest forward movement, the standing position and the farthest back movement at a walk. So why isn’t the muscle over the shoulder compressed between the shoulder blade and the front bar tips at maximum rotation if the bar is right behind the shoulder blade when the horse is standing? Because of two factors: 1.) The shoulder blade rotates back when the horse is moving his leg forward and there is no weight on it. 2.) There is no bony attachment between the front leg of the horse and his body. It is only held in place by muscle, and is therefore quite moveable, in and out as well as front, back and rotation. So as the shoulder blade rotates back, it can slide under the front bar tips of the tree because it is not held out from the body by bone (like human shoulders are). Because there is no weight on it, there is no high pressure to compress the muscle, and no pain or damage occurs. By the time there is weight on the leg, the shoulder blade is more upright, and therefore out from underneath the bar tip again.
Comparing the pictures on that site to those of Draftmare, I didn’t really see big differences.
Sorry - you are misleading her on where the saddle should be placed.
[QUOTE=csaper58;8596388]
Draftmare has a thread “Quality draft horse saddle” in post 15 there are pics of the saddle.
Is it placed too far forward on the shoulder?[/QUOTE]
I don’t think so. I think it looks pretty decent.
Photos can be misleading. I like to put a saddle on a horse and wiggle it a bit, see where it settles. If it seems to settle naturally, with not much wiggling, in a good area, I like it. And with Western saddles, there can be quite a bit of leather in front of the tree, so it may “look” more forward than it is. You have to be looking at the right screw wrt to the shoulder.
