Saddle seems unstable, ideas why?

[Lunabear1988]

I have the saddle fitter coming out (today) but as Coth is full of information and I like to be armed with as much knowledge as possible, I thought I’d post here.

My saddle just seems unstable lately. Like when I put it in I never feel like I’m happy with where it is. Like I will move it a little left. Then wait, no, a little right and so on. Like you can move the saddle side to side (laterally) too easy to my eye.

Undersaddle it seems like it easily gets crooked. I thought it was just one side and that my horse was the issue (or myself maybe) but yesterday my trainer said it was now being kicked towards the other side. Like the cantle is moving too much with his movement. Does this sound like it’s just too wide now? He did pop a either in the last yearish. It was fitted 4 months ago but not looked at while ridden. She did remove some flocking upfront… Oh one change that maybe is hurting the fit, is we started using a mattes pad. The fitter fitted it for the pad though and approved it. He had kissing spine so I was hoping a little bit of cushion (fitted with the saddle) would be helpful but maybe not?

It’s a saddle that is wool flocked and has an adjustable gullet.

The horse has a decent sized wither and he is a bit wide in his back. Not massively but definitely a little wider.

I’m not opposed to getting something else if this isn’t a fit anymore so open to suggestions. My budget wouldn’t be great though-$2500 maybe $3000 with some saving.

[MNDressage]

I was saddle shopping about a year ago for my horse and had a saddle fitter who came out with a variety of used and new trial saddles. There were a handful that we felt were good contenders when assessing fit without riding. I know enough to say when it’s an obvious no, but I’m no fitting expert. My horse will definitely let me know if the fit is ok or not so there were a handful that were an instant no from him when riding, but in theory fit fine. He’s particular, so wasn’t surprised by this.

Hope you get the chance to ride while the saddle fitter is out there so they can assess the saddle with and without a rider. I had a minor tweaks made to the wool flocking in the saddle I purchased 2 months later in addition to some adjustments made the day I test rode and purchased it. It was occasionally shifting just the tiniest bit to the side when I’d have him bend or do some lateral work (didn’t pick up on this until the fitter came back), but we were able to fix it with a minor flocking adjustment and he was back to being happy again. Not sure if most other horses would be quite as picky as he was because I couldn’t figure out what the issue was until the fitter was out and watched me ride in it again to see what was happening.

[Lunabear1988]

Yes watching me ride in it is a must today!! Something is definitely off about it. My horse is a good boy but I can tell it’s bothering him as well.

[clanter]

@Lunabear1988

Undersaddle it seems like it easily gets crooked

reminds me of daughter’s competitive trail pony whose saddle would always slip to the right. Traced the issue down to pony’s right front leg was actually a little shorter than left.

Our farrier set pony up on a flat concrete surface, measured the pony, added a pad on the right front, saddle slip was eliminated

[anonevent]

You might need longer points and/or a panel that continues lower…but probably longer points.

[DownYonder]

I had this type of issue some years back with one of my previous saddles. We were having to have it refitted every 4-5 months (at a cost of $300 per fitting) so I elected to get a different saddle. I sold the one that wasn’t working and found out later from the buyer that the fitter and company had determined that the tree had micro-fissures around the screws in the head plate. That meant that no matter how hard the fitter screwed them down, they would work loose and the very act of trying to tighten them caused the micro-fissures to get worse. FWIW, it was a composite tree, but I would think that a wooden tree could just as easily develop the same issue after time (although it seems that a wooden tree would tend to splinter instead of crack like a composite tree). And of course, you pretty much have to take the saddle apart to see what kind of condition the tree is in…

[Lunabear1988]

Unfortunately it’s slipping to both directions .

[Scribbler]

It could be a mismatch in the tree shape with his back.

[Lunabear1988]

So I took it up the fitter to check the tree and they deemed it sound. But that was my first thought.

[Lunabear1988]

Not sure what type of points are in that one but I’ll ask her about that. I was under the impression that they weren’t short points but it could be wrong. I bought what she directed me towards…

[Lunabear1988]

Yeah but have hoped she would have seen that when she was here just 4 months ago… But maybe watching me ride and it will make more sense.

[Lunabear1988]

My trainer was saying maybe it’s gotten too wide. Just because he’s grown and his wither popped up but we will see. I’m going to be pretty fussy, I need to saddle that fits in that we’re both comfortable in. If this saddle can easily be adjusted to do that then great if not we are quickly moving on to something else.

[DownYonder]

@Lunabear1988

So I took it up the fitter to check the tree and they deemed it sound. But that was my first thought.

Did the fitter take the saddle apart and closely examine the condition of the tree around the screws? My fitter couldn’t see the microfissures very clearly with her naked eye and my understanding is that they discovered them by using a magnifying glass.

[Lunabear1988]

I’m not sure if they did that but they took it apart. But I would think and a wood tree that they would be able to see it more easily?

And honestly my jump saddle has been feeling a little bit similarly (although less extreme.) and it has even more minimal use so I think it’s more likely to be a case of the horse has changed and they both aren’t fitting as well as they were. They are the same brand. But the dressage saddle It’s definitely worse, and it does feel like a coincided with taking some flocking out.

[Lunabear1988]

Update: so it appears that the half pad was perhaps the culprit. Riding without it and a different girth, it was and felt pretty straight and stable.

Riding in it a few weeks and checking back in with the fitter.

[outerbanks77]

Glad it is sitting better for you. I was going to mention the possibility of using a sticky half pad, and maybe a different girth (not sure what you’re using, but I’m thinking something that is wide at the sternum).

Did the fitter take tracings and notice any asymmetry?

My saddle would tend to slide to the right. My mare tends to be a little smaller on the right per the tracings, so I needed to shim a little more aggressively on the right front and also balance with a small shim on the left rear, and be really careful to get the saddle sitting straight when girthed up, so we didn’t start out crooked. It is kind of a chicken and egg problem, keeping the saddle straight on a crooked horse, so they can be worked in a way that they become straighter and stop tossing the saddle off to the side.

[Lunabear1988]

She didn’t take tracings this time but I’m supposed to email her again in a few weeks and keep in communication if anymore changes are needed.

We are hoping a vet appointment tomorrow will give us insight on anything else needed. Kind of a multi-prong approach here!

[MapleFarm]

A change in girth made a huge difference for me with my horse. I ended up using the mattes athletico, which seems to be best of all I’ve tried so far. The regular ergonomic girths that every company has a version of do not work for her and I get a lot of sliding.