Jump saddle for flat back?

[LazyA1]

Worth noting that there is a distinct group of Facebook saddle fitter posters that abhor anything French saddle. They detest the short tree points. I am not educated enough to know the science, but I do believe my horses tell me when their saddle fits. I have had French saddles that fit, and French saddles that don’t. I suggest getting your education from persons who do hunter/jumper not just dressage.

I have a local saddle fitter come tell me generally what to look for. Does my horse have a flat back, curvey back, is he wide, narrow? She can sometimes suggest a make and model. Then I go to my favorite saddle resellers and send pictures. There are some out there that work really well from photos. Then I get trial saddles and let my horse inform me. Then maybe a final blessing from my fitter. It’s a proces, but worth it.

[Scribbler]

My saddle fitter makes very careful tracings of the back and cuts them out on thin card stock. I can then pop them into the underside of saddles and see how good the fit is. It’s been really helpful as I can now buy a saddle locally that fits and have her come out to verify and tweak. If I was shopping online I could make a duplicate of the tracings and send to seller, ask them to pop them into the underside of the saddle and show me photos.

My saddle fitter trained on wool and loathes foam, likely in part because she hasn’t been trained to work with it, or you can’t work with it outside the brand factory. I did look into foam saddles at one point but maresy doesn’t fit the common brands.

Anyhow you could try making your own back tracings with flexible drafting rulers and card stock. My fitter is super precise and marks off in one inch (?) increments from the scapula, and we get wither gullet and increments to the end of the ribs, plus a front to back “rocker” curve on each side (many horses are subtly asymmetric). I think the front to back rocker curve and the wither gullet are the most crucial to eliminate saddles that won’t fit nohow noway.

Right before I met her I was saddle shopping and actually made a wither mold out of tinfoil for my mare. It was a bit flimsy but worked for shopping.

[blue_heron]

There is a Facebook group called Saddle Fitting Questions and Answers. Some of the information and opinions are questionable but it’s been great for developing my eye further and learning to recognize panels, balance, and shoulder fit right away. Of course you can’t feel how the panels make contact with the back but it’s better than nothing re. education. The people who don’t know what they’re talking about are pretty easy to weed out and you have to identify if you’re a fitter or not when commenting.

[blue_heron]

Can you send Santa my way too?

[HipNo34]

@blue_heron

Some of the information and opinions are questionable

Like the recent post where the comments were closed due to all of the “bad advice” being offered

I was like, “well. #$@&. So much for this place.”

That group requires people to identify themselves as a fitter or “not a fitter.” I wish all of the bad advice could be similarly flagged. I mean, not that some of it isn’t obvious, but still!!!