My friend has been trying saddles for her new horse. We noticed that the saddle she likes best has some bounce in the rear of the saddle- esp on the lunge & still a little bit in the rising trot when she’s riding.
Would this indicate that the saddle isn’t fitting properly (even tho she likes it)?
Is some bounce considered ‘acceptable’ & therefore not likely to cause problems, like soreness?
Thanks for any thoughts. 
Um, by bounce, do you mean it’s rocking? When you watch the horse walk without a rider, does the saddle tilt forward?
Not sure but this doesn’t sound good. The saddle moving will affect the rider and could throw off her position in sitting trot.
I had a saddle that would, during a posting trot especially, pop back up against my bottom while rising out of the saddle. I had my trainer take a closer look at the saddle and she confirmed my worst fear, my beloved saddle did NOT fit my horse and have since gotten a better fitting saddle for my boy. Sounds like your friend’s new saddle doesn’t fit her horse. Now, this is just my personal experience, she may want to have her trainer or saddle fitter out to check out the situation. Good luck!
No, the saddle does not fit your friend’s horse, and all that bouncing will make the horse sore. She should keep looking.
On the longe, I think some bouncing is to be expected. The only anchor point of the saddle is the girth, which tends to pull down the front of the saddle.
But during rising trot, your weight is in your stirrups, which should be more in the mid-point, shouldn’t it? It doesn’t seem it should bounce then.
There was an article on saddle rock on the Schleese website that I found interesting, as my Schleese rocks some and it concerned me. Yet, when I’m in the saddle, there’s no rock and it feels very solid. I’d think that would be the question.
Thanks everyone. The saddle sits level, doesn’t rock from side to side or back to front- when the horse is standing still. It doesn’t seem to ‘rock’ when in motion- it’s really more like a bounce (up off the back) with each stride the horse takes.
When on the lunge you can see the rear of the saddle bounce up off the back some with each stride. When she’s in the saddle at the rising trot you can still see some bouncing but it isn’t as bad. It does slightly “pop back up”, as lelevic described but so much that it is “against her bottom”.
Still, it sounds like the consensus is the saddle doesn’t fit correctly. Is this something that can be fixed with flocking?
That’s a poor fit. Is someone helping fit the horse? A fitter will know from what doesn’t fit what else to try. The rider’s comfort should be secondary. Hopefully you can suit both but the horse comes first.
Have her contact a saddlefitter to come out and take a look, they would be able to provide the best insight into whether the saddle fits her and the horse. Without seeing how much bounce is occurring, it is difficult to determine whether this is something she should be worrying about.
Bouncing up off the back is rocking, even though it may not be that evident when the horse is standing still. If the saddle is moving that much, adjusting the flocking is not going fix it. Your friend needs to pass on this saddle, and as Touchstone mentioned she should really get a good saddle fitter out to help her.
I know exactly what you are talking about - I’ve seen it several times. It means the saddle does not fit, period. A really, really mild case may be able to be fixed by flocking the rear of the saddle. Otherwise I think it means the tree is the wrong shape for the horse’s back - although hopefully any saddlefitters can chime in here and correct me if I’m wrong. 
But I have often seen the most exaggerated cases with upswept (banana panels) on flat-backed horses. Prestige, for example, has a more curved tree that is not suitable for very flat-backed horses. Ditto the Stubbens I’ve seen, although I don’t know if they have more than one type of tree to choose from. I remember seeing a super flat-backed mare who used to board at my barn walking by with an older Stubben on her, and the ENTIRE back half of the saddle (from center on backwards) was lifting up off her back, with actual daylight in between. It was soooo hard biting my tongue and trying not to say anything. Poor mare. But that was really extreme.
In any case, best thing would be to find a very good saddlefitter to come and look.
My saddle has upswept panels because my horse has a short back, although it is flat. So, the upswept panels keep some of the weight off of the rear of the saddle.
The term is 'excessie movement behind".
Now reality is all saddles move a BIT behind. … is it a GREAT fit with some movement behind? no. would i pass it over? Depends on budget and what we’re fitting against…
You need to think of saddle fitting as a set of check boxes… how many need to be ticked off as 'good"?? Well obviously we aim for ALL. but if i have 9 out of 10 boxes?? and we’re in the clients budget and the horse is happy in the saddle? HELL YES i’m happy with that fit! there are different levels. We have OK, decent, good, great and god i can’t believe how wonderful that is!.
Saddles change as horses change. My horse had 3 months of this winter- voila his saddle’s rocking a bit… WHY? he’s changed shape. Tweaked flocking a bit and rocking is down to nothing. Have had clients who had saddles who fit REALLY well but the horse REALLY hungered down behind- doubled with ‘regular’ billets- voila too much movement behind. Changed to a V billet behind and the excessive movement is reduced.
Also- movement behindo nthe lunge/in hand is NOT a sign of a bad saddle fit-… don’t worry about that- see what it does IN thes addle. Also i’ve seen certain riders make a saddle move more behind then others… some of them making it move ALOT… so much plays into it.
MY advice?? GET A FITTER. it’s less work- less money and less stress in the end.
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