The Art of Natural Dressage

Tomorrow I'm hoping to get on chance with a saddle. We havent used a saddle in over 2 months due to 1] our last bloody accident 2] its mis-fitting.


Im gonna put a bounce pad over my saddle pad to take off some of the pressure on her withers. If it starts to bother her Ill take it off.

Wish me luck! But do any of you have any type of tips for me.

Hey Michele --

I guess my advice is to be careful!

If you know this saddle doesn't fit, I'd be inclined to not put it back on her.

What's your reason for wanting to put a saddle on her again?

If it's not totally pressing, I think I would wait until I found a saddle that fit her better. If it fit badly enough to injure her back, that's a pretty bad fit.

Best,
Leigh

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I need to get back in saddle lol my EQ is going down hill so my instructor wants me to practice in saddle everyone once in a while.

I mean im planning on putting a nice thick foam pad under it to take pressure of any kinda off and the second I notice it bother her Ill take it off.

When I bring the saddle out if she moves away from it at all ill put it away for and try some other time.

Hey again Michele:

Does anyone have a treeless saddle you might borrow at your barn?

Or might it be possible for you to try and swap your saddle for one, or sell your saddle and buy another one that fits better?

There are others here who are far more sophisticated about saddle fit than I am, but my understanding/experience is that if a saddle doesn't fit, padding doesn't help. (Again, this is particularly true if the saddle fit badly enough to actually injure her back, rather than simply being uncomfortable.)

Here's an excerpt from a saddle fitting site:



And from another one (AAEP "Ask the Vet")"



My concern is that after you've been building this trust with her, if the saddle goes on and hurts you could find yourself back working through things you thought you'd gotten through. (And run the risk of injuring her again.)

I'm thinking about this like shoes -- I have had shoes that I love but that really hurt my feet when I wear them. After a month or two, I'll forget how much they hurt, and somehow imagine that they won't hurt as badly, and so I'll wear them again, and end up with blisters again!

Best,
Leigh

_________________
"Ours is the portal of hope. Come as you are." -- Rumi
www.imaginalinstitute.com

Hi Michele,

Did you get a smaller gullet?? Can you post some photos of the saddle placed on Chance, with no pad, especially get a wither shot??

Brenda

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http://www.youtube.com/user/Jack04574

My saddle is a Wintec 500 all purpose changeable gullet so I need to get it change. Its a Wide so I dont think putting more padding would cause more pinching IMO cause its far to wide lol.

Ill get pictures if I remember hehe.

Oh, I 'think' it's not pinching?? that you should be worried about, it's that the saddle is sitting directly on her withers ans spine!!!!! i.e causing pressure and possible subsequent bruising???? Even with a pad you can still have substantial pressure over the withers, and if it's really wide the spine too!! I remember when I visited, when I touched her, she was twitchy all over her wither and shoulder area???

A narrower gullet would keep the saddle higher so it doesn't touch her withers and clears her spine, so the padding is only ion contact ALONG her spine???

Jack, who has about the same wither as Chance but is a lot WIDER in body, uses a MEDIUM gullet, and when he was a bit thinner, he used a medium narrow!! Lucy uses a MEDIUM WIDE Wintec AP and she has NO withers at all and is 1300lbs, she is sort of ChanceX2!!!!!!

Take some photos for sure, BEFORE you ride???? Or like Leigh said, borrow a saddle and make sure it fits?

And I agree with Leigh, I wouldn't want to see you damage the trust you have built so far by hurting her back again! And I am not an expert either, just worked thru my own bad saddle fitting for Jack with the help of my CR instructor!

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http://www.youtube.com/user/Lucy04574

http://www.youtube.com/user/Jack04574

hmm I guess thats true I mean I can fit 1 finger when the girth is tighten when its not tightened I can fit 3.

I mean you dont think a nice foam pad under that slides right where the gullet is would help....

I need to buy a gullet kit soon.

I think that 1 finger is barely enough,and I htought it should be 2 or 3?? NOt sure about that...

What about when you sit on her?? Does the saddle then touch her withers?? Or is there still a few fingers worth of space

Check it out and let us know, pictures too!!

Brenda

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http://www.youtube.com/user/Lucy04574

http://www.youtube.com/user/Jack04574

Hey Michele -- if you can only fit one finger under the gullet without sitting on her, (and you should have the girth tight to check this, particularly with a fairly flexible saddle like a Wintec -- so the one finger measurement is a lot more accurate than the three finger measurement), and the gullet is too wide, then in all likelihood you're applying a lot of pressure directly on her spine and on her withers when you sit on her. Your weight will cause the saddle to lower and widen further. Further, the weight isn't distributed when the gullet is too wide, so the pounds of pressure are magnified on her spine/withers.

Again, in my understanding, a foam pad won't in all likelihood help -- the pressure will still be there.

Especially since you've got a saddle with a changeable gullet, and don't necessarily need to buy a whole new saddle, I absolutely wouldn't ride her until you've changed it out! Why risk hurting her or you if she blows up because it hurts again?

Best,
Leigh

_________________
"Ours is the portal of hope. Come as you are." -- Rumi
www.imaginalinstitute.com

I understand its too wide I was just hopeing for a temporary fix cause i cant get a gullet kit for a few weeks. Sitting on her you can fit 1 finger under teh gullet. Ill try and get pictures.

Ill ride her bareback till then.

Thanks for the replies!

I'm no expert about saddles...far from it...but I always thought that you should be able to fit 3 fingers under the saddle at the withers when sitting on it....there should be good wither clearance when you are in the saddle.

Imagine if you are sitting in the saddle at halt with only a small amount of clearance...when you start moving or trotting that saddle with be pressing right down every time you move...making it very uncomfortable for the horse....

Just my own opinion of course but I wouldn't use it until I'd got another gullet....why risk that trust that you guys have built up recently??

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Yes, three fingers.

Chances are that the pad will not do any good.

Strange, an instructor telling one to ride... I only teach my students when asked for and give them tips on how to train when I am not there and advise them to make their homework.
But tell them to ride, especially when the horse had problems AND a bat fitting saddle... well, I never heard such a strange thing but okay...
In my case I would advise the other way around (or at least lend them on of my saddles).

But that is why we are all different I guess...

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