Tell me about saddle fitting & sway backs...

[Heinz_57]

I asked a bit about saddle rec’s for my pony last fall, and was advised by most to wait til spring when he was filled out and ready to ride. SO, here I am. :lol:

As he gained weight in his leisure time, his back dipped a bit more, and he does have a slight sway. I think with proper topline building and strengthening his chest and abdominal muscles, it will reduce greatly in time. When his back is lifted it appears nearly normal.

Which leads me to this question: when fitting an out-of-shape horse with a sway, which shape do you fit to? His “at rest” shape is much more curved than his active, “engaged” shape, and it seems that a saddle that fits one correctly would not really fit the other. To add to the mix, he will probably need some variation of hoop tree; he is wide and round but with withers due to the sway, and he is definitely more “U” than “A” shaped. He is also slightly downhill AND not particularly long in the back, being just 13.2 or so. Did I win the trifecta or what?! :lol:

I DO plan to work with a qualified saddle fitter once I am rich enough to saddle shop (I just unexpectedly had to euthanize both a cat AND my other horse in the same day, so I am flush with vet bills). Just trying to educate myself in advance so I know what to look for, and how much it will probably cost me. I know Thorowgood was mentioned previously, and we do have a fitter that reps them in the area, though I’m not sure if those trees might be too flat front to back.

Picture attached for reference as far as the sway at rest; I know he’s goofy looking, but he makes up for it by being charming. If it would help, I can certainly try to get a picture of him with his back lifted for comparison.

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[Scribbler]

this would be a good place to use shims. I doubt there is any saddle that is curvy enough to fit a dipped back. But have a look at him on the longe and see how he uses his back in movement too.

[Jackie_Cochran]

I currently ride a mature horse with a worse back.

Back when I started riding him I finally got enough money to buy ONE good saddle. Since I do not own a horse anymore and I ride several different horses each week I investigated saddles that were supposed to work for more than one type of horse. I had already tried the Wintec GP and the Wintec Wide GP, but those saddles did not work for me and they did not work with several horses I ride.

I settled on a Pegasus Butterfly jumping saddle, mostly because of this sway backed horse, since the “foot-print” of this saddle on the horse’s back is shorter than regular English saddles. I HAVE TO use this saddle on him with a shimmed pad (I use a Contender II BOT/ThinLine pad with ThinLine shims), and I HAVE TO use a pad that allows bridging shims in a center pocket.

With this set up the horse is doing well. After our rides I groom his back with the HandsOn grooming glove and I sort of scrub his back hard, and I never noticed him flinching or acting sore before or after our rides. Before using bridging shims this saddle and the other ones I tried on him were sort of a disaster, shifting too much on his back. With the pad and the bridging shims (I use two on each side in the center pocket) we have not had many problems with the Pegasus Butterfly saddle which has a rather straight tree. When my riding teacher has to use him as an “emergency horse” she uses the same pad/shims set up with her normal jumping saddles that are kid sized.

This horse is in his twenties, he had never been muscled up properly (he had very bad training/neglect) and it is obvious that no one had ever tried to develop him systematically. Due to previous bad training and riding when he came to my riding teacher’s stable (he was “dumped” when his previous owner gave up) he did not like being ridden at all. Fortunately now he no longer looks at being ridden as a torture session. This horse will never become a “good” riding horse (low set neck, super thick neck after his jowl bones, sway back and way, way, way croup high) and he obviously had not been trained by a good rider, because who would want to waste their time on a horse that will never go anywhere? Your horse is MUCH better conformed than he is.

Since I will never get anywhere because of my MS I do not mind “wasting” my time on this horse. He has turned from a “rebel without a cause” to a horse who is willing to learn as long as I explain stuff to him clearly, and I now enjoy riding him. I give the Pegasus Butterfly saddle and the Contender II pad with shims a lot of credit for this, I doubt that he had ever found a saddle comfortable before.

Good luck in finding a saddle for your horse. Until then get a good pad that allows center shims, mine certainly helped me a lot with this horse.

[no.stirrups]

In answer to your question, you fit his engaged shape. But even before that, I would start groundwork to develop his abs and get his back lifting. If you fit the saddle to his out-of-shape form, then when he is in shape it may not fit anymore. Get him as close as you can to the shape you want him to be long term before spending a lot of money.

[CFFarm]

First, bless you for taking this guy on. Believe it of not I would suggest a treeless saddle or bareback pad to start. Not a lot of padding. Once it warms up it should fit better than a treed saddle. And I once knew a congenitally swayback much worse than yours who was on hell of a jumper.

[Heinz_57]

@no.stirrups

In answer to your question, you fit his engaged shape. But even before that, I would start groundwork to develop his abs and get his back lifting. If you fit the saddle to his out-of-shape form, then when he is in shape it may not fit anymore. Get him as close as you can to the shape you want him to be long term before spending a lot of money.

Thank you, he is in work now as weather allows (I’m in OR, it rains a lot here and my outdoor arena isn’t finished yet). His back is definitely more lifted in motion, unless he does a giraffe impression.

@CFFarm, I have been riding him bareback a fair bit. He only has about 10 rides under his belt (walk/trot) and most of those have been bareback (I do have a saddle that somewhat fits now, but will soon be too narrow). More out of laziness on my part than anything else. He embodies the good ol steady QH (pony) mentality and I swear he’s a little old man reincarnated. :lol:

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[KJT]

One idea when you get to the “which pad?” phase: Skito http://www.skito.net/equalizer-pad.html All kinds of shim options, customized to the saddle you end up with and great customer service. I found them through my fitter and ended up with a slightly shimmed, dressage saddle-shaped pad that works great under a Niedersuss Symphonie on my very short-backed Kiger. Kinda spendy, but works great and has saved me tons of money that would have undoubtedly been spent on fancy “regular” dressage pads. :winkgrin:

[Melissa.Van_Doren]

Correct work can only do so much to overcome conformation. Check out the Cashel Swayback pad.