Tight Saddle

At the show on the weekend, Ian was approached by a rider who asked if he thought her saddle (western show saddle) was too tight down on her horses shoulders. Her horse had been showing signs of discomfort and pain whenever that saddle was used on that horse. She was concerned that the saddle was hurting him. When I tried, I noticed that I wasn't able to slide my hand in under the front of the bar. On assessment from Ian it did seem to be extremely tight, and this can restrict the shoulder movement and cause pain. He could not slide his finders under the saddle at this point, and he noted that the saddle was slightly 'downhill' on the horses back.

This can be caused by a tree that is too wide at the base of the front of the bars. So it slides too far down over the wither.  This means the weight of the saddle and rider, is not shared or spread, over the broad surface of the bar as it is supposed too. All the weight is concentrated on a narrow strip, at the top of the bar with very little weight at the bottom of the bar.  (Like standing on your toes instead of your whole foot.) We were able to loan this rider a contour pad to run under the saddle, as Ian thought it would assist in filling up some of the space left by the too wide bars, and offer some cushioning at the top. With the contour pad on, the saddle sat quite level. Using the contour pad did seem to make the horse more comfortable.

Please note that if a saddle tree doesn't fit a particular horse, it does not make it a bad saddle or tree. It just means that the tree doesn't fit that horse's back at it's particular time of development. No one saddle tree will fit all horses.