Importance Of Saddle Fit

Horses are fairly tolerant creatures, and so many of them will go about doing things without making it obvious to us that the saddle is not fitting comfortably. Others will make it obvious, ear pinning, tail swishing or even bucking, but when a horse does this, we don’t always think of how our saddle fits first...

We may attribute the behaviors to our horse having a bad attitude, but really we shouldn’t say that, until discomfort has been ruled out.

What are those white hairs on my horses wither or near the croup caused from?
When a lot of pressure is put in one area over a long period of time, the pressure will actually stop the blood flow to the area, which will in turn kill the sweat glands and cause the hair to turn white. The hair will likely never return to its normal color in that area.
If your horse already has white hairs, don’t be alarmed about it; there will not be any long term permanent damage, as long as the problem is addressed NOW.

There is no doubt that a good saddle pad can cause a saddle to fit better and be more comfortable for the horse and I encourage people to take advantage of this.
However, padding up should not be used as a method to make a poorly fitting saddle fit, as the thicker pad will make things tighter, causing more pressure, therefore padding up to reduce sores from a poor fit, will likely not help.

Here are a few important factors to look at when deciding if a saddle will fit your horse or not:
The tree – there are several different tree sizes, the most common being Full Quarter Horse and Semi Quarter horse trees. Semi QH trees will fit nicely on medium backs that do have decent wither, and Full QH trees are for broader backed “bulldog” type horses. Other less common trees include the Arab tree, which has narrower bars for the small, lighter breed. Gaited horse trees, which have a higher gullet and narrow toward the back, which allows for the additional shoulder movement of gaited breeds. And of course, Draft Horse bars which are very wide to accommodate the large breeds.

The gullet width – the gullet width can vary on saddle even with the same tree. If the gullet is too narrow, there will be contact at the bottom of the bar and not at the top; If the gullet is too wide there will be contact at the top of the bar and not the bottom and the saddle will likely be sitting down on the horses wither.
The flare of the bar varies as well. Flaring out too wide or too narrow will again cause contact to be present only at the top or bottom.

The length and shape of your horses back and the length and bend of the saddle must also fit. If the saddle is too long for your horses back or does not have the right bend, it will do what is called ‘bridging’ where the front and back of the saddle make contact (at the wither and croup) but does not make contact in the middle. This can cause sores, as there will be too much pressure in the areas of contact, since the weight is not evenly distributed along the entire back.
The opposite of bridging can be a problem as well. When a saddle has too much bend for the shape of the horses back, and therefore has contact only in the center and not at the front and back. This will cause the saddle to somewhat rock, and lift into the air at either the front or back. Again this will create excess pressure, as the weight is not evenly distributed.

These are all things to consider, as we all want our horses to be as comfortable as possible when we are riding. Proper fit of a saddle may even resolve certain behavioral issues a horse may already have.
The important thing to remember is that we are distributing pounds per square inch of contact on our horses’ backs, and therefore want to avoid points of excess pressure. Whether our horse is tolerant or obvious of discomfort, the fit of our saddle is a key factor in having consistent, good, safe rides.