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[RC] which saddle to use - Beth LeggieriI'm feeling brave today so will make some observations based on my own version of saddle roulette.
1. If inexpensive off-the-shelf saddles worked for endurance, then there would be no market for our wonderful custom saddlers. We continue to move past the "horse culture" sensibilities in which a horse was fitted for a saddle--and that saddle was sold with the horse if it changed hands.
2. Generally, you can get away with an ill-fitting saddle if riding a few trail miles on the occasional weekends. Most of our long-suffering horses will tolerate them. (Although if we were paying attention, we'd know that they were not happy. Bless their hearts, they tell us in a thousand ways that we later identify--in retrospect--when they are ridden in a properly-fitting saddle.) Add distance and time, and most often issues will develop. (Of course there are exceptions!)
3. Generally, lighter riders can get away with more in a poorly-fitting saddle than heavier riders can.
4. Generally, better riders (who use their bodies correctly) can get away with more in poorly-fitting saddle than those riders who *really need to take lessons*.
5. Generally, playing saddle roulette -- trying the economy off-the-shelf saddles -- rapidly becomes costly with all benefits of the less expensive option voided -- when adding in the freight for shipping (ordering and returning), the cost of vet bills to determine soundness issues that developed by the horse's attempt to compensate for the poor fit, and chiro work to fix what developed from their bodies' compensation efforts.
Beth
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Hideaway Farm, Jim & Beth Leggieri, Denton, TX
Athletes of Antiquity: Soaring Wings and Distance Arabians
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