I am amazed when I travel to barns to do a saddle fit how many saddles do not properly fit the horse or the rider.  The best way to explain proper saddle fit to the customer is to use the comparison of starting to train in a pair of shoes that do not fit.  Would you be able to run comfortable in shoes that are too big or too small.  Now imagine that you want to ride and train your horse in a saddle that is either too big or too small.

First of all I need to apologize to my regular reading audience for the somewhat irregularly appearing blogs for the last month; October is always the absolutely busiest month for Schleese and I have been home three (!) whole days this past month (and honestly, November is not looking much better...) I am presently in Germany working on my book with my publisher and learning about an exciting new measurement tool that is truly state-of-the-art when it comes to determining the 3-dimensional…

I'm sort of tired, but I wanted to write this before I forgot! 

First, I finally got Cider's saddle to stay centered on her back.  As I've written before I had bought a Wintec Wide saddle to use on Cider.  At first I could not keep the saddle centered, and since my balance is not good I had to repeatedly re-center my saddle on her back.  Finally Shannon and I figured out something that…

Although of course it shouldn't be all about the medals and the winning, it absolutely thrills and validates me when one of my clients sends me a picture such as this one. (Christian Hartung riding “Watulele” from the Christiane Noelting Dressage Center in California). This is an absolutely textbook case of a beautiful horse demonstrating "Durchgelassenheit" ('throughness, suppleness, etc.') Of particular note is the fact that he has a beautifully rounded croup, the angle of the hind leg is…

Although I have in the past discussed tree points in detail especially in regard to tree point angle and tree point width, I want today to address really one additional key issue with tree points – and that is direction.



Tree points can be forward-facing, straight (more or less perpendicular to the ground) or rear-facing. Forward facing tree points have been proven to be extremely detrimental to horse health in that MRIs and fibre optic cameras have shown the chipping of cartilage…

This week I changed things with my tack yet again.  I wanted to see how the mares did in the jumping cavesson bridle without the running martingle after all those weeks using the Spirit Bridle.  When I got to the stable on Wednesday it was already hot at 8:00 AM, and I got even hotter trimming Mia's toes.  With the hot weather Mia's hooves are growing really fast, and since I cut back my riding on Fridays because of the heat I had a lot of rasping to do! …

Occasionally people will be fortunate enough to find a good used Schleese saddle on ebay or second hand or hand-me-downs from somewhere else – but the reality of it is that sometimes despite being fitted as closely as possible they may not actually be the best choice for both a specific horse and rider. Over the years we have changed our designs as our knowledge of equine anatomy and biomechanic requirements increases, so that older models may not be as ‘horse-friendly’ as the newer saddles…

Although I have broached this subject superficially in a past blog, I would like to address the last two key points in more detail, as they are important in determining the proper saddle fit especially for women – which is 85% of Schleese’s market – and makes us the only female saddle specialist in the world!…

There is so much debate currently about methods of training: German vs. French, classical vs. competitive, natural horsemanship vs. anything with an English saddle. It can get adversarial.

Most people agree that finesse is better than force in horse training, but we seem to have a hard time agreeing upon a definition of what those words actually look like in technique. That starts the debate…

 This blog is in response to a question raised from one of my recent blogs concerning a comment made in my very first Saddle Fit Tip #1 on Saddle Balance. Geoffrey wanted to know more about the stress lines I mentioned right at the beginning of the video. While I can tell you what to look for, I went to my good friend Dr. Joanna Robson, DVM and author of “Recognizing the Horse in Pain and what to do about it” for the physiology behind this.

She said that “the stress line that…

I have a client who is having problems that some of you also may have experienced. She has a horse with an old injury at the withers which, with pressure from any saddle over time with repeated contact created immense pain for him, which eventually resulted in him bucking off the rider. He is now pain free, has had Mesotherapy, and has shown that he (at this moment) is not in pain but has now a learned behavior to not tolerate anything on his back, any saddle etc. He is still bucking and…

This week it has been HOT and muggy down here in N.C..  My body is having some trouble adjusting to the heat this year, nothing major, but the heat came on so quickly!  I have really needed my canes to walk this week.  At least I can still ride at a walk! 

This all worked out good with Mia.  When I got to the stable Debbie's husband brought Mia up like he usually does, and…

This blog is going to be a little different; I actually got this email from several people over the course of a couple of days and it really spoke to me. I’m going to share it with you – even though it doesn’t directly have anything at all to do with horses, there is a(n equine) point to this (which I will get to at the bottom!) Some of you may also already read this since it is one of those internet chain emails. At the very least, it’s food for thought. Next time I promise I will…

I have often been asked by clients why our saddles aren’t flat on the horse’s back all the way from front to back – which makes them look like they don’t actually fit and will probably rock. Many riders don’t understand that ideally the saddle needs to slightly ‘rock’ at the cantle as the horse’s back engages.

It is the duty of the saddle fitter to explain to the client that a slightly rocking saddle will never put so much pressure on the horse’s back that…

Back at WEG there was one stand that was absolutely swamped for most of the two weeks we were there – the one with Jane Savoie and a mechanical horse. For those of you who were there, you might remember waiting in long line ups to experience the amazing new product developed by the geniuses through the partnership with Jane at Equi Sense.

Equi Sense is technology developed in order to help the trainer train better, and the rider ride better. It is truly eye-opening; when you sit on…