Over the past few weeks, I've learned more about saddle fitting than I ever imagined. There are as many views about saddle fitting as there are riders. One thing I know with absolute certainty, is that a saddle does not fit properly makes for a very unhappy horse, and understandably so. Harley had put on muscle in his shoulders from all the riding and schooling we had done, and I had no idea it changed the fit of his saddle. Here is a photo of how my saddle flares out at the bottom front panel, so that when I tighten the girth and the panel is pulled down against his shoulder, the top pinches into his withers.
I have a professional saddle fitter coming out to see if my saddle can be altered to correctly fit Harley. I am hoping it can be done, but if not, I will definitely invest in a saddle that fits him perfectly.
Fortunately, my saddle has a Gullet Exchange System, which means that different width gullet plates can be put in the saddle to make the tree wider or narrower as needed. When I bought my saddle, I also bought the 2 next wider gullet plates, with the idea that schooling and training would bulk him up. There are no guarantees that a wider plate will make the saddle fit him, as the angle of the plate also has to be correct, but I remain optomistic.
The photo to the right is my trainer's saddle; it fits him much better and conforms to the slope of his shoulder.
Will let everyone know how the fitting turns out. Meanwhile, I have a much happier horse now that I am using my trainer's saddle and he is not being pinched. We are both very out of shape and are working on coming back to strength and fitness gradually and carefully. Soon we will be back to schooling, and hopefully doing ground poles soon on our way to jumping.
