Real Life Rider: The Perfect Fit
I have to be honest -
I grabbed this saddle because I thought the flaps
would be too short and it would be a nice comparison
with another saddle we brought along for our
Real Life Rider photo shoot. It came from another
professional who is shorter than me. Turns out it was a
perfect fit for both me (ok maybe I can use a 17.5”)
and our demo equitation horse, Common Sense, or
Sarge. So let’s look at this saddle in more detail.
Featured is a full buffalo Antares Connexion, with a
17” seat and a 2N flap. It has M15 (standard) panels
with no specialization, on a standard medium wide
tree. I am 5’ 4” and wearing size 30 Tailored Sportsmans.
Sarge is a 16.3 hh warmblood who wears a
size 80 blanket and a 52” girth.
Looking at photo 1, you can see the flap is perfect for
me. My thigh is behind the thigh blocks, my knee hits
the middle to lower third of the knee flap and there
is some space visible between the edge of the flap
and my knee. Looking at the bottom of the flap you
can see it hits me on the widest part of my calf about
a third of the way down, giving me lots of contact
with the horse’s side. Now, if I like a smaller seat,
which I do, the seat is great. If I wanted a little more
room to move, I would need to go up a half size.
Now let’s look at the fit on Sarge. Although a big
horse, Sarge has a pretty standard back shape that
the standard Antares panels fit perfectly. Looking at
photos of his back (photos 2 and 3) you can see that
although he has some pretty big shoulders, he gets
narrower and slopes in behind the shoulders where
the tree points will sit. The wither is moderate and the
back, although long, has a gentle rise to it towards
the hip. If he did not narrow behind the shoulder he
would need either a wider tree, or thinner, sculpted
out panels, or some combination of both. If he was
more concave behind the shoulder he would need
a panel that is more built up under the tree points to
support the saddle on either side of the wither. A flatter
back would require thicker paneling behind.
In the side view photo with the saddle on Sarge (photo
4), you can see the pommel and cantle are level,
and that all visible parts of the panel are in contact
with his back. When I ran my hand under the panels
(photos 5 and 6) there was equal pressure on all parts
of the panels and when we girthed up the saddle,
the pressure remained equal in all areas and the
saddle didn’t sit down onto his wither at all.
Photo 1
66 www.EliteEquestrianMagazine.com
Photo 2
Photo 3
/www.EliteEquestrianMagazine.com
