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POINT OF VIEW


By Jochen Schleese, CMS, CSFT, CSE Saddle Fit and Asymmetry in Both Horse and Rider


Rider balance and equine asymmetry are hot topics right now, and for good reason.


they are not sitting quite straight in the saddle. So even though the saddle looks absolutely straight and perfectly fitting when the horse is in the crossties, crooked- ness issues begin as soon as he begins to move.


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Effect of Rider Position In my experience, the saddle may stay in place for about two minutes. Then the rider starts to shift his or her position. Nine out of ten times the problem begins in the pelvis and legs. Next riders will compensate in the lumbar part of their back. Then it moves to the upper body: most of the time they have a rotation somewhere in their back causing one of their shoulders to be higher than the other. On that side, they also hold their hand higher. As a result, the saddle begins to shift over to one side or


the other, usually to the right. The longer they ride, the more movement can be expected. Afterwards when the rider re- moves the saddle off of the horse’s back and examines the dust pattern, what he will find is a little more dust on the side where the rider sat "heavier" to compensate. After years of saddle fit experience, I believe the rider actu- ally has quite a bit of influence on how straight the horse is— and how straight the horse becomes. I have only seen a handful of horses where the trapezius and the long back muscle (longissimus) were fairly naturally even on both sides. The dilemma is that in


order to protect the horse against long term damage, the rider needs help from instructors to learn to ride with better alignment. That isn't our job as saddle er- gonomists or saddle fitters. Trainers frequently remark


38 July/August 2016 This thermographic pattern


shows the uneven contact on the panels of a dressage saddle. The saddle pinches at the with- ers and there is more heat on the left side, indicating a stron- ger left shoulder that is push- ing the saddle over to the right. At the rear, the panels impinge on the horse’s vertebrae.


hen you look at pictures of riders from behind— even top riders—often


that the horse is the problem because he is crooked. Do we adjust the panels of the saddle so the rider is less crooked or do we leave the saddle as is and live with the ongoing slip- page during riding? Does the rider have the responsibility to take care of his body so he won't ‘damage’ his horse? The an- swers to these questions would be that the saddle should be adjusted to accommodate, and that the rider does share in the responsibility to strive for straightness and balance. Based on the circle of influence on the horse (see chart be-


low and more explanation in Warmbloods Today, September/ October 2015, “Saddle Fitting 101”), there is more than one factor that can influence the horse’s or rider’s physical con- formation within a very short time frame—sometimes even from one day to the next!


There are three possibilities the saddle fitter, trainer and


rider have to choose from based on the individual circum- stances in order to fix the problem today:  The panels can be adjusted to compensate if the rider


is ‘structurally uneven.’ (Flocking can be adjusted to compen- sate for situations like this.)  If the rider has poor posture, then I would suggest the


rider needs to work on his/her straightness by doing vari- ous core strengthening exercises. The saddle should never be used as a ‘seat prosthetic.’ The saddle is there to protect horse and rider from long term damage and not to be used as a crutch if the rider has no body control.  If the horse has one shoulder that is larger than the other, then the saddle will sit straight in the static fit but the


All photos and illustrations courtesy Schleese Saddlery.


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