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Fit #2 – The Bridge Fit
These addles are built for contact only at the front and
the back of the saddle support area, and some equine
professionals believe that by increasing the pressure at
the front and the back the saddle becomes more stable
and the horse will bring up his back during movement to
result in full panel contact. This is a false assumption, as
multiple diagnostic tools have proven. Massive pressure
in the front and back remains – dry spots, white hair, etc.
result at the front and the back, but rarely in the middle.
The horse’s back should be loose and supple and should
swing left to right and up and down. If the back is in pain
this movement doesn’t happen and the horse becomes
a leg mover rather than a back mover. Same as in Theory
#1 Little fitting required, since the saddle barely moves
as the horse’s topline doesn’t change positively. We see
atrophy under the cantle and behind the shoulders and
deformation in the lumbar-sacral area.
This type of fit is specifically used on saddles which are
purposely built to allow the hollow back look which
is popular with saddle seat, “big lick” and Tennessee
Walker enthusiasts. The rider’s weight sits primarily on the
lumbar area. They literally prevent the horse’s back from
engaging by disallowing the ‘wave of motion’ through
the horse’s back. They prevent spinal mobility and don’t
allow the horse to canter. This creates a false elevation
where the hindquarters cannot step under and carry the
weight. The back hollows and the shoulder blade rolls further
back to create the artificially high lift in the front leg.
The saddles have extremely narrow gullets to not allow
the back to come up. Or is anyone going to argue that
this is a natural type of gait for a horse? And don’t even
get me started on the ‘training methods’ that still seem to
be pervasive to achieve these looks.
The person who changed the name of bareback pads to
treeless saddles is unquestionably a marketing genius.The
word saddle traditionally infers the inclusion of a tree. The
tree’s job is to act as an interface to support the rider’s
vertical spine over the horse’s horizontal spine and distribute
the rider’s weight over a larger surface area on the
horse’s back. Without the tree, you have no support for
the rider and little weight bearing surface. There has been
no scientific publication to date or veterinary endorsement
which approves the use of a treeless saddle.
While admittedly there have been some radical improvements
in treeless saddles over the past couple of years,
there are still many issues I have with them. I know they
have their advocates, and they may work for a while, but
in the long run they will still result in concentrated pressure
points on the horse’s back (mainly below the seat bones
on the spine and ligaments – and this has been documented
in scientific press). The rider’s weight is effectively
doubled on the horse’s back as there is no support for the
rider’s pelvis. Therefore there is no pliable seat and the
horse will suffer for it.
saddles I had been used to in Germany. What I couldn’t
understand was the fact that almost without exception
there was keyhole pad upon rubber pad upon felt pad
under the saddle – basically negating the concept of
‘close contact’. But everyone was doing it because the
elite was riding this way.
Unfortunately, this is part of the concept that ‘one size
fits all’. Saddles are bought because top riders endorse
a particular product (for whatever reason) – and not
necessarily because they are right for the individual or
actually fit either horse or rider.
Fit #3 – The Hyperextension Fit
Fit #4 – The Treeless Fit (Bareback Pad)
Fit #5 – The “Modern Sport” Fit (sometimes a combination of Fits 1, 2 and 3)
This is where the premise
of fitting a saddle according
to ‘fad’ sometimes
overtakes the more
common sense logic of
‘function’. I remember
when I first came over
to Canada from Germany
and saw my first
show jumping competition.
Most of the riders
were using extremely
small, flat saddles that I
later learned were called
‘close contact’ – in direct
opposition to the bigger,
bulkier jumping
Continued...
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