Pursuing Peak Performance: Solutions to Saddle Dilemmas
We asked our readers via Facebook and email to send in questions about saddle fitting for certified master saddler Jochen Schleese of Schleese Saddlery. Here are the questions with the answers Jochen kindly provided.
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have always been taught the girth should lay a full hand’s width behind the elbow of the horse. I assume this is so it will not impede the movement of the horse’s elbows.
This also brings the saddle further back on the horse’s back, which allows for more shoulder freedom. But when riding, I find my students (and I) tend to sit too far back. As soon as we move our weight to the front of the saddle, the horses relax more, are in better balance and perform better. So has this trend of moving the saddle and girth further back back- fired in terms of the rider’s position? Or are we dealing with a saddle that doesn’t fit the rider correctly and now needs to ‘put’ the rider more forward in the saddle?
Excellent question. We have seen this phenomenon many times—saddles are actually being placed too far back, which causes several things to happen. The saddle should never sit past the 18th thoracic verte-
bra, as it will hit all sorts of reflex points resulting in negative behavior. It will impact the kidneys causing frequent urination, it may impinge on the ovaries (making mares—especially in heat—very cranky!) and it may cause bucking by sitting too close to the SI (sacroiliac) joint. The horse may begin to pace or show a four-beat canter. These are just a few of the possible issues; symptomatic lameness in one or both hind legs may be another result of a saddle sitting too far back. The girth will naturally seek the narrowest point (point
of least resistance) for its positioning, which is why—even if you girth up a hand’s breadth behind the elbow—the saddle
will slide forward during motion as the girth tries to find its proper position. This absolutely is a fit issue; the billets will pull the saddle forward onto the horse’s shoulder blade in this instance, potentially damaging the cartilage. The fit issue can be caused by the simple fact that the
billets may be set too far back on the saddle, not allowing the girth to be positioned properly from the get go. You are absolutely right that the closer you are to (but
The billets on this saddle are set too far back. The saddle is positioned behind the shoulder blade but is past the 18th thoracic vertebra (making it too long on this horse’s back). Billets will get pulled forward when the girth then moves into the narrowest position behind the elbow. The red circle shows the potential damage that can occur at the shoulder blade when the saddle is pulled forward by the girth.
not on) the withers, the better your horse moves. This is where your center of grav- ity aligns with the horse’s, and it’s where there is the least movement of the horse’s back. The goal is to have the saddle tree ‘divided’: up to approximately 30 percent of the rider’s weight at the front, 40 percent in the middle and 30 percent at the back. There are now saddles on the market which don’t follow this guideline, and health-related issues will result down the road, both to the horse’s back and for the rider. Proper placement of the billets is critical to putting the saddle and rider in the right balance.
This diagram on the horse’s back is a percentage break- down of where the rider’s weight should be distributed in the saddle.
I
Left: Where the two yellow lines intersect is where the triceps and latis- simus muscles cross. Behind the red ‘x’ or where the two yellow line cross is the ideal spot for the girth buckles to be. Right: This girth is too short for this horse and will irritate him during movement.
All photos courtesy Schleese Saddlery
own a horse with fairly high withers that are narrow but his back demands a medium-wide tree. I have a cutback saddle designed to clear the withers but it still sits too
low on his withers because of the saddle’s width. I’ve tried all types of pads to accommodate this problem but I know that’s not ideal. Are there saddles out there designed to deal with this type of fitting problem? Do you think my saddle can be adjusted somehow?
The designation of ‘medium wide’ has nothing really to do with the horse’s back width. It has everything to do with the
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