The horse = the princess in this case.
Basically looking for “hindsight is 20/20” insights that could have shortened your search.
My horse seemed like he should be a straightforward fit, but wasn’t. Lessons learned for a “princess and the pea” type - stick to wool panels that can be re-flocked and adjusted. Make sure you are working with a qualified and trained saddle fitter, not just a sales rep for a given brand. And don’t dismiss saddles that you assume won’t fit. Our magic saddle turned out to be a Prestige D1 Zero. It fit a couple of other horses in the barn that appeared to be a totally different shape from mine, so I had initially ruled it out. Lo and behold, it worked!
1,000% this. Mine was the same way - even the fitter was surprised at what we wound up for my mare. She is VERY VOCAL when she is displeased with her saddle.
1 Like
In order to fit us both, I went with a fully custom saddle that mixed two model types.
I had to put the mare down shortly thereafter for an unrelated issue.
Unless you’re olympic bound or have gobs of cash begging to be spent: don’t get too deep into it, use half pads to the extent possible so you don’t overspend.
That’s my advice.
6 Likes
Look at the girth & billet combined placement as well. The right girth/billet combo can make a big difference. It’s relatively cheap to change the billet placement if needed.
For example, I had one horse where point billets really helped with stability. My current horse hates any pressure on her shoulders, and is much happier in an anatomic girth.
Also, try going wider in the tree and using a sheepskin or other thick pad. I’ve seen a surprising number of horses, including one of mine, prefer a saddle that seems like it’s too wide.
3 Likes
Sadly, my horse despises half pads, shims, and the like.
1 Like
To a large degree, I say tough nuts. You can spend a bazillion dollars on a saddle and have her hate that too.
If she’s that fussy, I’d guess something else is going on with her physically.
3 Likes
Does your horse dislike the half pads and shims themselves, or are they aggravating a saddle that doesn’t fit right?
If the saddle fits, does your horse have issue with all half pads/shims or only specific brands/types?
I had one that absolutely hated Ecogold half and full pads. I have no idea why, but it was clearly unacceptable. I’ve used Ecogold successfully on other horses, but it didn’t work for this one. Mattes and Thinline with the same saddle were fine.
1 Like
Honestly I think a lot of princess and the pea stories are people who won’t put their stinkin’ leg on and make the sensitive ones handle it. Combine that with nerves that pull on the mouth and/or hinder forward movement in some way… bam, you’ve got a “princess”.
I’m not pointing fingers. I was that person for MONTHS before I realized that I was pussy-footing around the real issue which was how I was riding her. It’s not the saddle. It was never the saddle. It was my riding causing the tension.
I’ve got a jump saddle that fits me like a glove now, though. :lol:
4 Likes
Endlessclimb, sometimes it is the owner not realizing what is going on or not realizing what good movement feels like.
However there are horses that are extremely sensitive to saddle fit. My suggestion is to find a fitter who is will take the time and pin down what the horse does not like. My favorite thing horse like that is to change one part of the saddle fit for them at a time and not necessarily the “ideal” fit. I have tried 20 plus models before on one horse before finding the “one”.
The hard part is finding one that the horse and rider loves. My advice is to keep a very open mind. Also listen to your horse and if a certain type of saddle does not work, try a different type of saddle. .
2 Likes
I have gone done this path with my “prince”. 7 saddles in 4 years, with two custom made, has been a nightmare. However, in the end, I happily found Schlesse. The “infinitely adjustable saddle” is a perfect solution for both of my hyper sensitive welsh cobs. While I made many mistakes, and wasted a TON of money, I do believe my end result is a good one… good luck, this is not an easy journey you are on.
The thing that shortened my search was reading all the saddle stories on COTH and realizing that a do it myself search was not the answer. I also wasted a lot of time the last time I bought a saddle tracing, shipping back and forth, and trying, with not much luck. Doing it remotely or using a saddle fitter that repped only one or two brands was not an answer. So I came here to ask for recommendations for independent saddle fitter who knew something about Arabs. Got a name, got an appointment, got a saddle my horse is 1000x happier with. It also helps that he gave us a clear reaction each time the saddle fitter just put the saddle on his back - ears back and kinda bitchy if he didn’t like it.
I expected it to be a long drawn out ordeal and it wasn’t.
Thank you Amanda! (www.thesaddletree.com)
3 Likes
This depends on how often you ride. If you want to ride daily you need a saddle that fits. To not have one means white saddle sore patches and you risk fistulous withers. The more times you ride a month the better the fit needs to be, but even at once a month it is still better to have a saddle that fits.
1 Like
THIS. Expecting a horse to just “suck it up” and push through the pain is really poor horsemanship, IMO. If they tell you they’re uncomfortable, believe them. To many supposed “fitters” are actually sales reps who have no interest in listening to what the horse is telling them. They are limited by the size and shape of the product line they sell, and have little incentive to tell a customer their saddles aren’t ideal for their horse.
4 Likes
I’ve had two super hard to fit horses over the years. Both times what looked like it fit they both hated. We started just putting on anything my fitter had that was balanced and would clear the wither.
First horse was a event horse so had to look for two. He blocked in his body and bared down. I did XC in huge bits in custom saddles and was so frustrated. Dressage was the same without the speed. Finally just tossing everything on him we discovered that he loved the whole back of the saddle to be up off his (very short) back. Even upswept panels were not good enough.
We ended up in a Sommer flextra dressage saddle and a Amerigo monoflap. Both saddles literally rolled across his spine when you watched him walk from behind. It was horrifying… but he was delightful to ride and we were doing XC in a snaffle within a month. Go figure but horses don’t lie.
The other horse is a dressage horse with big withers and shoulders and very curvy back. Since this was my second go around with this issue it hasn’t been as long or difficult as I just kept trying things on him.
Only mistake I made that I should have known better was I bought a saddle he loved but I hated. I just can’t find my personal balance in a schleese and that caused problems for my poor horse. Thinking I would just suck it up, and I could to an extent, and showed him successfully thru 3rd in it but I was causing some shelving on his back from my obvious balance fight…
So for this super curvy horse we found that we have to ride him with every saddle and not look at it in the aisle. Everything he likes has a slight bridge to the saddle standing in the aisle. When in motion his lazy self has to lift and work and his back flattens quite a bit. He is currently super happy in a Stubben euphoria. I needed to release the pressure off the back billet of the Y for him which I figured out about a week into it.
I believe some don’t care as much and some really do like what they like. Depending on what you are asking them to do, it may matter more or less. Horses expected to move up the levels in Performance will need closer attention to What they need. A horse going down the trails or a horse who is riding in level of fitness that isn’t changing would be less so, beyond regular saddle maintenance.
2 Likes
I’m not saying “suck it up.” I’m saying that you can spend 10k on a saddle and still have an unhappy horse because you don’t know how to ride it the way it likes to be ridden. I’d guess that the horses that are impossible to get a “good fit” as far as the horse’s attitude have some other issue making them uncomfortable - either with them physically, or the riding style of the owner.
@SuzieQNutter I agree. But a saddle that fits does not need to be fully custom, which is what this OP is alluding to. You can spend a fortune and still have nothing that works. It’s totally ok to get “close” and then use halfpads to make up the difference. I don’t buy that this horse “hates halfpads”.
1 Like
I am certainly not alluding to anything of the sort. I am looking for examples like those provided by no.stirrups and Guyot that will help me prepare questions for my fitter. Hopefully an adjustment to the current saddle will suffice, but I need to be able to communicate what is wrong, since the static fit is good. I am trying to avoid going down a long expensive shopping route.
What kinds of fitting issues have you successfully ameliorated by padding up?
My guy just really liked a tree that was waaaaay too big for him. I tried over and over again to use a saddle that “fit” him. Ended up with a tree that was on paper entirely too big and a sheepskin half pad to make up the difference. it made a huge difference in how well he used his back.
I know you said your horse does not like half pads, etc… but maybe it is the type of pad? Mine specifically wanted a true sheepskin pad. For yours - maybe the seams and edges are the issue and you could try a full pad with the extra padding integrated? They tend to have fewer edges that irritate them.
1 Like
@rothmpp I won’t count that out as a possibility. Thinlines are a no go, I think because of the edges. He did ok with a sheepskin under his jump saddle if it was directly against his skin, but didn’t care for it between another pad and the saddle. Once that pad started to deteriorate, he did not like it anymore. We did not really need it anyway.
I’d rather work with a fitter to hit on the right combo than experiment myself though, if I need it for fitting reasons. Pads get expensive fast! I also worry a lot about the impact on channel clearance.
