Tired of feeling that your horse is just not going as well as you think he should?

It could well be your saddle. Poor saddle fit is one of the main causes of musculo-skeletal and behavioural problems in horses. The sad part is, that is usually not identified until the horse displays serious behavioural problems such as biting when the girth is tightened, rearing, and bucking. By this stage the horse has muscle damage and is in chronic pain. We would never expect to wear shoes designed on the ‘one size fits all’ concept, but we often expect our saddles to fit many horses.

Horses and ponies come in all shapes and sizes, and we have a wide range of saddles to select from in today’s market. The problem starts when the owner tries to select a saddle to suit their needs, and that of their mount.

Careful saddle selection and the correct fitting of the saddle are imperative if the horse owner wishes to minimise the damage the saddle will cause to the horse’s muscles. By better understanding the direct and indirect impacts saddles have on the horse’s muscles and knowing how to correctly fit the saddle the horse owner can minimise the damage that may otherwise result.

Direct impacts:

Too tight girth
Too narrow gullet
Tree too small for the horse concerned
A narrow tree
Too wide a gullet
Narrow panels

Indirect impacts

Incorrect positioning of the saddle
Rider not sitting correctly
Mounting from the ground

Why it is so important to make sure your saddle is working for you not against you… muscles need to be free to move! they need to fully relax between contractions, they cannot do this if there is constant tension from discomfort or pain from the saddle. Tension then spreads through the horse’s body causing further injury; a tight muscle is more likely to tear during exertion.

A horse with an uncomfortable saddle will find it difficult, if not impossible to engage his hind legs to any great degree and so lift his back. Other problems that will arise over time or directly when a bad fitting saddle is used are:

Sour behaviour
Cold backed
Stiffness
Muscle atrophy
Impaired movement
Hollow back
Dull eye/lack lustre movement
Misbehaviour
Sores in the saddle and girth region

So what to do?

Well you have to get the saddle fit checked out, for those of us with busy work schedules, or not near an experienced saddler this can be major drama but good news is at hand. 'Free to Move' is a super 30-minute video, which shows you how to check out your saddle and make sure it fits correctly by following its simple tests that you can do yourself.

The video and handy booklet has been compiled by equine massage therapists who where distressed at the huge number of horses they were being called to treat whose problems stemmed from ill fitting saddles.

The video also has some ideas for the horse owner to rehabilitate sore backs that have been damaged by poor fitting saddles. After previewing the video here, we put it to the test checking out the fitting of saddles on the Eques team and found it very easy to follow.

So empower yourself when buying your next saddle, assess the one you’ve got and give your horse every opportunity to be ‘free to move’

For more details on this handy video email Caroline Hamilton click here