Saddle fitting: The difference between "really good" and "good enough"

[Renn_aissance]

I wonder what kind of horse those ever actually fit, outside of fat school ponies with no withers where the saddle could not impinge on anything because there was nothing to impinge upon?

I remember that Ibn, who was an aged half-Arab large pony, had a Crump saddle, which he wore with a foam lollipop pad “so it fits.” Ibn was probably curvy in the back by conformation but by the time I knew him he was of a very distinguished age and it was definitely a sway. Bless that pony. I seem to recall him being into his 30’s when he died.

At that farm we rode in Crosby, Crump, and Smith-Worthington saddles- the S-W being flat little pancakes, too. Bridget got a Pessoa and we were all very jealous.

[IPEsq]

It actually looks to have decent clearance at the pommel to me. At least these panels haven’t broken down. But probably on the narrower side. I had a couple of them and rode TBs. This saddle used to go on our TB who was actually on the beefier side. My mare needed a gel pad or something like that but we didn’t use lollipops or egg crates or anything usually. I did own some rear riser pads but can’t recall really ever using them.

I had a child’s size one that went on a pony that was had a back like a couch with no withers.

I have been tempted to try this on my current high withered one since he seems to hate most French trees but this saddle would be too big for me.

[Pally]

I am LOLing over here because I actually have an ancient wide tree Crump I keep around “just in case” something I ride is too rolly-polly for one of my regular saddles. So far that list has included a QH and a lil Arab.

Glad you found a saddle that works for your boy after all.

[Renn_aissance]

After all that, I’m even more glad that I held off on a perfect panel and decided to shim for a few months, because he’s changing shapes again. On the bright side, he’s changing in exactly the direction I hoped he would, so the topline loss from lighter work during quarantine is coming back up. Not bad for an old man whose work is more focused on relaxation and lateral and longitudinal flexibility than throughness.

Given how much his back fluctuates in the course of a year, I’m seriously wondering about converting the panels to wool vs. continuing to shim. (This is all the normal and predictable consequence of changes in his work and his weight.) But I’ll see what he does over the course of the winter and whether the changes continue to be in the expected directions.

[kattmac17]

I meant to ask if there was enough wither clearance with the Paris x. I was looking at one for my horse bc I can’t find a used vesuvio and a Paris x seemed like what I may need

[kattmac17]

Well the Paris X actually. The vesuvio is hard to find used and honestly I prefer more of a medium twist and when I saw the Paris x I thought it may be a good fit for us both

[IPEsq]

How much fluctuation are you talking? Some fitters I know recommend shimming after a point rather than messing with flocking very much. So while wool is of course easier to adjust, it might not make a big difference practically…you may still find yourself needing to shim.

[Renn_aissance]

His most noticeable fluctuation tends to be in the wither hollows- he has them as a matter of conformation, but he tends to have summers in light work because he doesn’t cope with heat very well. Combine that with good grass and he gets a little zaftig so the hollows fill in, whereas in the winter the saddle needs help being lifted up off of the wither. This is something that foam can do very well and has done very well for him in the past if it’s put in the right place rather than distributed over the entire bearing surface of the panel region- on a DVX, going +5 in the 4 region compared to the rest of the back tends to work well for him- but then it causes the saddle to sit high and create incorrect pressure over the trapezius muscles for the other 6 months out of the year. He was previously in a 4+5 3+0 and we’d talked about subtracting panel and shimming up, so he now has a 4-5 3-10 (a neutral panel wasn’t right for him over the summer.) This will be right on the money in June, but I need to experiment with the shimming arrangement in the front for January. I do have a set of shims I made for him out of running shoe insoles that supports that wither hollow area specifically, so I need to give that more of a try.

As a younger horse he had less fluctuation season to season, but now that he has the heat intolerance, the age-related changes, and the whole semi-retired thing, it’s part of the package with him. And for what it’s worth, his back is doing exactly what I hoped it was going to do this winter, so none of this is a surprise. The decision is whether to panel for summer and shim for winter; panel for winter and shim for summer; or go wool and have flocking adjustments done seasonally.

[IPEsq]

Maybe look into getting a set of Prolite shims. They do make a half pad with pockets that has no padding at all, just fabric, but you probably can just stick one of their front shims under your saddle and they will stay put. I did this for a while right after my guy was imported because he lost a ton of weight and has mega withers. There are a variety of thicknesses. I found these play nicer with a foam saddle than felt style shims.

If Prolite material is too firm, look at the Fleeceworks perfect balance pads. The stock insert is a very squishy foam. What looks like 10mm is probably 5mm once your weight is in the tack. A little more adaptable than a 5mm Prolite. They come full length. I just cut them to make front or rear shims as needed. Also good to adjust the length this way too like if you need a little bit in the back but should use a longer shim to prevent bridging. They don’t shift in the pocket if you use only a portion. They do sell other foam and wool shims separately. And since the pads are woolback (I don’t get the sheepskin ones just wool), that’s also pretty nice to use in winter.

[Renn_aissance]

Huh - thanks for both those recommendations as I wasn’t familiar with either of the products! The Prolite adjustable wither set might be just the ticket. I’m currently using Thinline shims and I think they’re a great solution to a lot of different problems but they’re not really 3D enough for the wither area.