saddle fitting comments

[Kimberly Price <PLOUGH1@ix.netcom.com>]

Well, I learned a little more during my saddle search last week and
wanted to share.  I am using a Kieffer dressage for training and lite
riding (20miles or less) while I decide what to do about a long distance
saddle.  I choose the dressage because I like my feet under me and I
like to work the horse on the trail in collection, etc.  So I chooose
this saddle because of the tree.  The angle of the tree matched the
slope of the horses shoulder (looking at it from the front).  The panels
lay flat along the horses back so the tree was not too wide or too
narrow.  The seat seemed to fit me nicely and it is basically a nice
German saddle.  Here is what the guy at Caspian told me:

On arabs, your weight should be between the 13-15 vertebrates. Arabs
have a short back in the sense of where you can put your weight since
they are missing one vertebrate.  Depending on the type of riding you
are doing, a saddle that bridges is not necessarily a saddle that
doesn't fit.  For dressage horse's that do mainly collection, he would
allow a saddle to bridge as the horse's back will raise up to the
saddle.  For trail work though, this is not good.

He felt the saddle did not fit ME very well, regardless how comfortable
I am or where I am able to put my legs.  He said my butt was forced to
sit to far back on the cantle and my weight then comes down on the
horse's loins.  The rise in the front of the saddle forces me in this
position.  I found this strange as there is plenty of room behind my
seat when I am sitting in this saddle.  But he said my pelvic bone was
not between those vertebrates and there was nothing he could do for me
with this saddle (as in reflocking).

The way he knew where my center of weight should be in relation to the
horse: he had the horse do a belly lift and so the back was raised and
the high point was where it should be.  Interesting.

The resolution, a very thick gel pad to fit under the saddle and
distribute the weight and impact as well as mold to the horse's back.  I
am still searching for the right distance saddle....

Just some things I never thought about before.....
Kimberly (thinking more & more about bareback riding)
& Mystery the Morab ("hey, quite tickling me!")
Pt.Reyes, CA