Jumping Ahead
of the
Competition!
By Jochen Schleese, CMS, CSFT, CSE
©2018 Saddlefit 4 Life ® All Rights Reserved
A properly fitting saddle is key
to your horse’s back health!
Is it just as important to ensure that my jumping saddle fits
as well as my dressage saddle? I don’t really ‘sit’ in it like my
dressage saddle - does fit really matter that much?
fit the gullet plate asymmetrically in order to achieve this
necessary support equally well on both sides, and allowing
the required freedom of movement for both shoulders
equally. As a matter of fact, if this crucial piece of saddle
fitting is ignored, and a saddle with a symmetrical gullet
plate is put on a horse’s back – it will inevitably fall to one
side as it is pushed there by the more heavily muscled
shoulder (usually the left, twisting the saddle to the right).
You will see many instances of pictures of riders from behind
sitting on a saddle which seems to have slipped to the
right. Many saddle fitters will address the problem – unfortunately
62 www.EliteEquestrianMagazine.com TRAINING & Showing
incorrectly! – by shimming the smaller side instead
of the larger side. This sounds somewhat paradoxical (why
would you make the larger side even larger?) but it makes
sense when you consider that the additional shimming on
this larger side will actually stop the saddle from shifting
over to the other during motion because of the additional
padding. And remember that any adjustment to accommodate
asymmetry should be seen only as an interim
solution.
Continued...
Saddle Fit and
Jumping Saddles
Q:
A: The art and science of saddle fit has become part of the
consciousness of the importance of truly caring for your
horse; of really working together with every equine professional
who is part of the “circle of influence” around horse
and rider. Traditionally however, it has been dressage riders
and endurance riders who have been the most concerned
with having a properly fitting saddle, because these are
the disciplines where it seems to really matter how comfortable
the horse (and rider) are – because otherwise performance
can be visibly impacted.
The design of jumping saddles has been primarily dictated
by a certain ‘look’ that especially hunters want to achieve;
in the past little attention has been paid to a) whether
these saddles actually are ‘anatomically correct’ for the
rider and b) whether they actually fit the horse. If you look
closely at pretty much any jumping saddle, you will discover
that they all generally have very narrow gullet channels
and non-adjustable panels made of felt or wool. The paradox
is that the ‘close contact’ the rider wants to achieve
becomes pretty much non-existent after keyhole rubber
pads and other saddle pads are added. Very rarely will
you find a truly adjustable jumping saddle that can be fitted
in the flocking as well as adjusted in the tree width and
angle to accommodate the shoulder angle and necessary
room all around the withers.
Hunter/jumper saddles are usually placed pretty far forward
on the horse’s back – which is good, because you
generally do want to sit as close to the withers as possible
as this is where the horse’s back ‘swings’ the least – but it
is also bad, because often times in achieving this, the tree
points are actually placed on or over the shoulder blade.
This will of course impact the horse’s freedom of movement
over the shoulders and shorten his stride and ability to actually
jump. The next result of this is that instead of allowing
the rider a balanced seat, the pommel will be much higher
than the cantle – thus the need for pad after pad to bring
the back of the saddle up level again. Most riders prefer
the jumping saddle to be center-balanced.
Particularly the shape and position of the gullet plate, the
stiffest and most stable part of the saddle, needs to accommodate
the natural asymmetry (i.e., usually the left
shoulder is bigger – higher and further back) in the horse’s
anatomy during saddle fitting. Its necessary function cannot
be substituted for or eliminated by reflocking, shimming,
or the use of other special orthotics in the panel area.
Because of the pretty common occurrence of the unevenness
at the horse’s shoulders, it will usually be necessary to
A saddle that was too long, and incorrect
training, too, results in abnormal development
of the loin muscle area.
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