Saddle Fit and the Circle of Influence

In recent years, people are becoming much more concerned that the saddle actually fits, and to this end "master" saddle fitters are cropping up left, right, and centre to do consultations on-site. When I was invited to Canada in 1986 from Germany to be the Official Saddler for the World Dressage Championships (held for the first time outside of Europe), we did an informal market survey which revealed that at that time saddles were treated as commodity items - used, abused, broken, and thrown away if they didn't fit. There was no one around who did personal barn calls, or could even properly fit a saddle or repair a tree.

Taking a saddle apart is easy; putting it together again properly is a whole other story. It was this personalized one-on-one service upon which we began to build our business, and we are gratified to see that it is now becoming the rule rather than the exception to take the horse and rider’s conformational requirements into consideration and do saddle fitting on site.

One pervasive problem we do run into, however, is that a lot of what is being said and written is simply opinion, and not necessarily nor always based in fact. You (as the rider) have at your disposal a whole slew of professionals, who are obviously experts in one area within the “circle of influence to the horse”. Yet the buck ultimately stops with the rider himself – whatever is suggested has to work for the rider. You can listen to the “opinions” of veterinarians on saddle fit, to the “opinions” of farriers with respect to lameness, (etc. etc.) yet when it comes down to it – whom do you actually want addressing the particular problem? Is the veterinarian actually capable of adjusting a saddle? Is the farrier actually capable of administering a shot to the stifle? No – generally you would leave that up to the professionals in their area of expertise, and you trust that they are going to do what is right – “in their professional opinion and to the best of their capability”. It is always a concern when, after the fact, another professional comes in and criticizes the work and solutions offered by another. (This is fairly often in our experience the trainer, who seems to have an inordinate amount of “say” in what is done, bought, or used without necessarily always having the benefit of the requisite information or experience to go along with the “opinion”). We are great proponents of the entire "circle of influence" theory behind maximizing performance - a cooperative effort of all equine professionals, working together, to determine what the proper mix is. (For example, a saddle can fit perfectly one day, everything works great, and the next day the farrier will come in and reshoe - presto, the saddle no longer fits as well!) Communication among all those involved in the maximization of performance and well-being goes a long way

That having been said, there is also one part of the whole equation which is often neglected - the importance of the saddle fit to the rider. I have often heard clients say “I don’t care if I’m not that comfortable; main thing is it needs to fit my horse” (and I will come back to this whole issue in a future blog – the next series will delve into the ‘9 points of saddle fit’ in more detail). In actual fact, it is much easier to fit a saddle to a horse than to a rider; there are many more measurements and conformational relationships which come into play in ensuring that the rider is actually in a saddle which fits, which is comfortable, and which allows him/her to concentrate on riding, rather than fighting the saddle to get into the proper, comfortable position. It is a fact we have discovered, that no matter how well a saddle may fit a horse, if it doesn't fit the rider comfortably and correctly, the horse will soon not be working to its full potential either, because it will feel the rider fighting the saddle.

As the rider, do your due diligence in ensuring that the people you work with for the health and well-being of your horse are truly knowledgeable and compatible with you. As a saddle fitter, I see upwards of 1000 horses per year, as do all of our fitters. These kinds of numbers give us a wealth of experience and situations to bank on, some of which I will be sharing with you over the next months.

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Comment by Jochen Schleese on December 1, 2009 at 10:30am: Wow - thank you for taking so much time to address some of the points in my last blog - that's very gratifying that my comments were stimulating enough to provoke such a thoughtful response.
I will address some of these points you were questioning/commenting and try to clarify my statements.
1) You're right - saddlefitting is not necessarily a new concern, however today's consumer is much more educated and knowledgeable - before they may not have known what they didn't know - and as such they are placing more demand on doing what's right for their horses. You should always buy with the 'feel' of a saddle, which is why it's important not to depend on your or anyone else's eye and at least try out a saddle you're considering so you can 'feel' the difference. And you're right - there are salespeople and there are professional saddlefitters. Which bnngs me to point 2
2) Yes they can be quite expensive - especially if, as ours do, you have to commute for excessively long distances to provide on-site service to the client. These expenses are built into the equation - even if you're selling a $5000 saddle, there is a lot of overhead that needs to be covered for support staff, production staff, etc., If you're a one-man/woman operation of course, you have the discretion to charge a lot loss, and even less if you are located in a certain area and saddlefitting is all you do.
As with anything else - do your due diligence and find someone who has the credentials/ experience/training you feel comfortable with.
3) The situation was as consistent at the time I described in the mid-80's - it was for us a big risk to move house and home to Canada (although my wife had family here) and as such had the situation not been as I described (ie. had there been a lot of competent saddlers/saddlefitters around) we likely would have thought twice about jumping in with so much competition already established. I had an excellent position with Passier, my wife had an excellent career - we both had 6 weeks paid holidays, etc., etc., It was a risk, but given the facts (even if there were 'some' around) it made sense for us to come and build up our company here.
4) you may be correct - but, while saddle fitting is not necessarily 'rocket science'; it is an art and it does involve science. My background involves anatomy and physiology as well as the training to manufacture. (at one point my decision tree was between becoming a doctor or a saddler) As an equine ergonomist, I constantly try to increase my knowledge base and can combine the best of both worlds - plus combining my career with my former sport and hobby (eventing).
5) I beg to differ - you as a rider do have at your disposal a lot of equine professionals to assist you - your veterinarian, your blacksmith, your trainer, just to name a few. (of course, of varying levels of competency when it comes to saddlefitting, I am sure)
6)Agreed - that is why we actually teach saddlefitting to veterinarians, and invite them to join our Saddlefit4life network to be able to do the basic assessment of saddle fit, since it has been recognized that many symptomatic behavioural problems can sometimes be due to something so simple as a pinching saddle. (and we work with other professionals as well)
7) I have personally had a couple of instances where I went in to fit the saddle, everything worked, and the next day it 'didn't' - and upon investigation the one thing that happened in the 24 hours where the saddle went from fitting to not fitting was a reshoeing. this may be rare, but it has happened. My point was really only to say that saddlefitting basically cannot truly even be 'guaranteed' for longer than it takes for the next external influence to exert some sort of change on the horse - and there are lots of external influences that can do this - sometimes we have had to refit after only a couple of months because the horse has changed so drastically, which is why we take measurements each and every time so that the rider can compare for him/herself that this indeed is the case. Saddle fit is about fitting the saddle to a horse so that it works dynamically - when the horse is moving, in other words. Many saddlefitters are really good at fitting to a horse standing still, but the problems arise with the fit when the horse starts to move.
8) last not least, with all due respect, I personally have heard this statement made probably 10 times every year (which is not a large percentage given the literally thousands of horses I see every year), yet still often enough to be noted.

Thank you again for your comments. I look forward to hearing from you on my next blogs!

Comment by Susan on November 25, 2009 at 4:03pm: Thank you Jochen, I was wondering how the shoeing/saddle fit related, and now it makes sense.

Comment by Jan Jollymour on November 25, 2009 at 3:29pm: Jeez, I would hope my farrier wouldn't need to make those kinds of adjustments! I also have custom made saddles, both for myself and my horses. I'm 5'2", with short legs, and I ride big horses. My saddles feel wonderful, and my horses are relaxed and happy in them. My saddle maker comes to my farm once per year, and I try to catch him at competitions out of my area through the year as well - I don't know what I would do without him. It's one area in which I NEVER skimp, because it's my main communication tool, and I need the lines to be open and relaxed. I have to admit that I push my clients to purchase custom saddles if they possibly can (we save money in other ways) and keep them well fitted. The reduction in the incidence of soreness, rein lameness, crookedness, and sour attitudes is amazing. One still has to ride well, but it's so much easier when the saddle fits you both well.

I too am finding that there seem to be "master" saddle fitters around every corner, and I now warn my clients about a lot of them. I've had to learn the hard way, and I'd prefer that my clients don't have to spend as much time and money figuring things out as I did. Thank heavens there are actually some real "masters" available now - I remember when we had access to none, and had to make do...

Comment by Laura Coffey on November 25, 2009 at 3:11pm: I have a custom saddle. George, (the saddle maker) comes back to the barn periodically and adjusts the saddle to accommodate my horses ever-changing body. It seems like the only sensible answer solution if your horse works like an athlete. Laura

Comment by Jochen Schleese on November 25, 2009 at 1:54pm: This was just an example meant to illustrate that this could be one of the various external influences that could possibly affect saddle fit from one day to the next - it doesn't necessarily have to. I have adjusted a saddle to fit, only to have the farrier come in the next day and shoe - which made such a difference that all of a sudden the saddle started sliding back a bit as the horse stood differently (which impacted shoulder angle)
This was a bit extreme as an example; generally you will see the difference days or weeks later - if you change your training, change the food etc. The point is that there are many things that can influence the general well-being and performance of your horse - as well as how his saddle fits!

Comment by Susan on November 24, 2009 at 10:58am: "(For example, a saddle can fit perfectly one day, everything works great, and the next day the farrier will come in and reshoe - presto, the saddle no longer fits as well!)"

How would that affect the fit and how would a rider come to that conclusion? Also, in practical terms, what could be done about that, as a horse is shod about every five weeks.
Thanks.

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