Sorry to hear about your mare.
First things first: a saddle rep =/= a saddle fitter. The former sure does like to assume the duties of the latter, but they are very different. A saddle rep only has one MO: to sell you a saddle…
My personal experience is there are good and bad fitters out there… but fitting is hard, it’s a very complex process involving a lot of moving parts, and sometimes a saddle can fit on paper but not feel good for the horse – my own late gelding was an example of that.
One thing that has me sour is some saddle reps have very little knowledge; usually they complete a few hour course that is offered through a saddle company – from word of mouth it seems the majority of this course is focused on pushing the sale rather than actual knowledge about the intricacies of saddle fit.
There is a fitter local to me that for years said Devoucoux was The Name for horse comfort, and did not skimp when she told me my Stubben (or really, all Stubbens) were terrible for the horse’s back. She converted the entire barn to Devoucoux saddles… now, five years later, she’s changed her tune and is a Stubben rep and is saying all Devoucoux’s are terrible. People have such short memories.
The bottom line is no one saddle can fit all horses - some brands won’t fit most horses, some brands fit most horses, some styles won’t work for some horses, some styles of tree shape or size will… like I said, there’s a lot of variables, very little of which are static.
As an owner, I’ve spent thousands at this point reflocking my saddles and I am not entirely convinced that all of that money was well spent. I would be interested in seeing actual certification independent of the saddle company’s coursework, that touches base about actual saddle fit and how to remedy common saddle fitting issues we see in sport horses today. The MSA is a step in the right direction and I have honestly considered it for my own edification.
My experience with saddle fitters in my area has not been the most positive. My first fitter saw and reflocked my saddle 5+ times (every 6 months) before after increasingly escalating misbehavior it was revealed the saddle was the root of the problem. Changed the saddle and the horse was fantastic again. The frustrating part was this was a well known, longstanding fitter to the area who was far from a neophyte to fitting.
Had a different fitter out for a different horse who overflocked the saddle horribly, it rocked terribly when a rider was in the saddle but it looked “fine” when the horse was in motion…
Another saddle fitter I had out seemed to have all the certifications I wanted, was independent - I had her come out and look at the fit of four different saddles to pick the best one for my horse - saddle fitter came out, eyeballed them, didn’t even see the horse go undersaddle or change anything, claimed one fit perfectly, and charged me $250 (didn’t even reflock)… I was surprised with the one she picked as I thought it bridged ever so slightly…but she was the expert… I rode for three weeks in that saddle to a gradually more-sore horse, switched and the soreness went away.
I found another fitter who came well recommended and asked her to look at my brand new saddle, which I had purchased on the recommendation of a very knowledgable horse person’s eye. That fitter said the saddle fit fine, didn’t reflock it (since it was brand new it needed to settle), reflocked my dressage saddle but to me, my gelding seems worse after the adjustment.
So yeah, as an owner, count me in as someone that thinks that not all saddle fitters are created equal… and that there is a big difference between static fit (horse standing still) and “live” fit, which is how the saddle interacts with the back during motion and work…
BTW, if any saddle fitters are reading this, please come to Area 1 – we are in sore need of quality fitters here.
