Why do we have saddles fitted and measured to a standing horse? We want the saddle to be most comfortable on the horse when we have the back up and engaged, not when they are standing. The level of a horses’ work and collection can totally change the muscular shape. I know saddle fitters like us to ride after the saddle is fitted, but the measurements and fitting is on a standing horse. A dressage horse is expected to lift it’s back and collect more than any other discipline. I do wonder if our science is behind the need in this sport/creature we have so much to learn about? Genuine question from someone who would like to understand more.
I think it is because of the difficulty of measuring or fitting a moving horse. Also, at which gait and at which point in the stride would you fit for? What would make more sense to me is simply asking the horse do a belly lift to raise its back. Or perhaps just have the head down during fitting, which also raises the back. Most fittings are done with the horse’s head held up in crossties, which is not a weightbearing posture and, hopefully, not how they are being ridden.
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That’s a good question to ask a saddle fitter (or two). I always thought part of the problem has something to do with the fact that the horse has to be comfortable in the position before lifting its back before that would even be an option. A saddle fitted only to a lifted, rounded back might not be comfortable for a horse warming up at the start of the ride before the back is up and swinging, and thus might never get there.
There’s also the issue of dynamism. What part of the ride do you cater to? The collected trot? Extended canter? While theoretically the back is up for all this, it’s up to a different degree (for most of us, at least). The length of frame is elastic throughout a ride (a horse in piaffe is shorter than a horse in extended trot, for example), and the back correspondingly so. I guess you could pick your favorite posture and cater to that, but that sounds practically hard to do! ie., how do you measure a horse’s back while it’s in extended trot?
If there were a better way to do this, I think a lot of people would be curious to try it!
I just had a similar conversation with my saddle fitter. (Talking about adding flocking to an existing, fitting saddle.) She takes a look at the saddle on the horse first with no rider and when she flocks it to start, it’s just a general even up the panels and make sure there aren’t any soft spots. Then she looks at it mounted and more importantly while the horse moves. A whole ride, schooling whatever you’re normally schooling. Last time I was on and off 3 times before we got it tuned in to the horse’s preference.
One of my horses is fairly particular about saddle fit and we’ve come to the conclusion that if it fits “on paper” or while she’s standing still with me mounted, she hates it. It has it sit a bit low behind in order to be level when her back is up at all. Ultimately, it’s her back and she gets to pick what works for her.
This type of saddle fitting is an art—most saddle fitters don’t have any kind of capacity to measure a horse while it moves (except maybe things like the Pliance project) so you kind of have to do trial and error but trust the horse.
A dynamic evaluation is always a part of a thorough saddle fit. Just about any measurement has the potential to change when the horse is moving. If your saddle fitter isn’t watching your horse move I would argue they are not doing a thorough job.
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It is part of the rider’s responsibility to know how their horse feels under saddle, what they’re capable of, and whether or not the horse is holding back. They don’t have to know what the fix is but do have to be able to tell the fitter what they’re feeling from the horse.
My first fitter experience included a test ride, during which I ran my horse through his paces. And his trot lengthen was good, but not what I knew it could be. With great reluctance the fitter widened the tree points a quarter inch, and saw the difference when I got that extra lengthening performance.
I don’t think a full on training ride is necessarily required provided the rider knows what the horse is capable of, how they feel performing, and what issues crop up when saddle fit isn’t right. The rider can then specifically target those things in the test ride.
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I have experienced this. Due to footing issues I spent weeks at the walk one winter and did a lot of lift your back work. Once we were working trot and canter again he needed a flocking adjustment. And we did too much. He couldn’t carry himself for that long and the saddle was uncomfortable when he didn’t have that degree of back lift - but it took a couple of weeks to find that out. The test ride was really wow! in his willingness to lift his back at all gaits.
In an ideal world, this might be true. In my saddle fitting practice it is more likely that I will be the party noticing that the horse can do better and the rider who is surprised by how easy it is to get the horse working correctly once their saddle is right. Lots of people think it’s normal for their horse to be tight in his back, or to be crooked, for example, because that is how they’ve always known him to be. Only when the saddle is fixed do they realize they are farther along in their training then they thought!
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My independent saddle fitter is also an equine massage therapist. She has always started with fitting the basic saddle stationary. But will do a belly lift as part of the assessment. If that saddle seems like a good fit we move to the riding stage. She watches as I ride. Sometimes she will slide a hand under the saddle while I walk on the bit. She asks what a feel. May add a shim and try again.
On Carson I tried 10-12 dressage saddles in one evening. Some of them I might trot for a twenty meter circle and know that it won’t work for me. Next saddle. We only got to a canter for maybe 5 of those and then narrowed it down to 3 based on how he liked it. I kept my favorite for a trial. PA shut us down the next day due to COVID19. I eventually decided the horse was no longer safe to ride so returned the saddle before trying it again. However I have been through this process with her for two different horses and multiple saddles both jump and dressage.
You are correct, of course. 
And don’t forget that new horses can’t have that kind of knowledge yet. But like so many things in horses people don’t realize they have to take responsibility for part of everything to do with their horse.
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My saddle fitter looks at the standing horse and the ridden horse. She doesn’t stop adjusting until she’s comfortable with the saddle fit in movement.
I don’t think the science is behind what the horse needs at all. I think some saddle makers and some brand-specific fitters boast their credentials (NOT all), muddying the waters. I think one has to be knowledgeable about saddle fit in order to talk to potential saddle fitters/saddle makers. And know how each individual horse moves.
