Butet fit?

[Chestnut24]

Hi Everyone,

Thanks a lot so far for all the various advice.

I got a used Butet in excellent condition to try out.
The balance of the saddle seems great and immediately my leg position and rider balance was fantastic. There seems okay wither clearance and the saddle sits square on the horse’s back.
My one question mark is the shoulder / front panel area… Is this supposed to have contact with his side the whole way down?

The horse got rather thin in the winter and his topline needs work (looking into this with the vet at the moment), so his back muscles are not quite what they should be.

Any first impressions to this fit?

[weixiao]

Not a saddle fitter so take my opinion with a grain of salt but to me it looks like the angle is too wide. I don’t think it needs to make contact the whole way down the flap under your knee but it doesn’t it look like the angle matches the angle of your horse’s shoulder anywhere. Are you sure you have wither clearance all the way around when girth up and you are in the saddle? It looks awfully low to me there too.

[fivestrideline]

Obligatory Not A Saddle Fitter:

When you girth this down and sit in it, do you still have wither clearance? 2-3 fingers on the top AND sides of the wither? Best to do without any pads.

I’m about to show you some crappy markups of the part that concerns me, but in general, yes the panel should follow the shape of the shoulder. My concern is how little the area of contact (green wonky circle) is and how likely that is to pinch him whenever he takes a step. I also added some lines to show the general mismatch in angles.

NOW - I’ve been told by a few fitters that this panel misalignment with the shoulders is important, but if everything else is good it can sometimes work for the short term - usually to get by with a saddle until the owner can buy a correct fit or the horse muscles back up into their saddle after time off.

IIWM I wouldn’t BUY this fit, but I might have my fitter look at it to skate by for a few months if I already owned it. YMMV.

ETA: depending on his shape under the saddle and its exact construction, you MIGHT be able to make this work. But a fitter would need to see it in person. So, as usual, take this whole thing with a grain of salt.

[Bogie]

@fivestrideline

My concern is how little the area of contact (green wonky circle) is and how likely that is to pinch him whenever he takes a step. I also added some lines to show the general mismatch in angles.

This would also be my concern. The tree points are digging into the trapezius and that’s before you add a pad. It also doesn’t look to me like there’s enough clearance over/around the withers. Unfortunately I don’t think this saddle (and maybe this brand) is the right shape for your horse.

[Chestnut24]

Yes, thanks for this diagram, that is exactly the point I was wondering about.

[spurofthemoment]

Something else to consider about wither clearance is how the saddle sits with weight in it.

I’m not a fitter, but I am giving up my Butet (I love it for myself, so I’m a bit sad about it) because of the lack of wither clearance and because the angle for my horse is wrong (it looks a lot like how it fits your horse).

Another important note: you’ll have a hard time building topline in an ill-fitting saddle.

[Bogie]

@spurofthemoment

Another important note: you’ll have a hard time building topline in an ill-fitting saddle.

Very true. An ill fitting saddle can cause back soreness, but it also creates postural changes in your horse to cope with the discomfort. It can take some time to fix that.