I have been battling the saddle fit issue for a
while now, and I read with great interest the posts on ridecamp.
My coming 6 year old gelding
developed saddle fit problems last year, his first year of serious
riding. Late summer he developed some white hairs on one side of his withers. A
friend of mine has the Port Lewis saddle fit system, it is a gel filled pad you
use under your saddle. After riding with it for a while, you take the pad off
and it tells where you have pressure points, because the gel is
displaced.
My horse showed pressure points on one side,
corresponding with the white hairs.
I made sure I changed diagonals, and rode in both
leads. I believe the verdict is that my horse is build different on each side.
My next step could be to buy an expensive custom saddle pad from Port Lewis, but
is this the answer? I would be willing to buy a new saddle, but no matter what
saddle I buy, they will not be build on a "crooked" tree. The tree will always
be even, and therefore only fit on one side.
I have been doing some reading and it sounds like
this is common occurrence in horses, could this be why so many of us are having
saddle fit problems?
I will be taking some riding lessons to make sure
that it is not me causing this problem, I thought I have been very careful to
change diagonals frequently, however, my gelding does prefer one lead. I also
realize that he is not done growing yet and perhaps his back will change
yet.
Should I consider a flexible tree saddle or a
treeless saddle? I really prefer the Western type saddle.
