Re: fitting a saddle to a young horse

[Lynne Glazer <lglazer@cyberg8t.com>]

Hi, Laney.

OK, you punched my button.  What constitutes a good saddle?  How well it's
made?  and/or how well-suited it is for distance riding?

I have the "one rat" research results on using a "quality" English saddle
for a year on a 6 year old horse, whose back changed so substantially
during training that the saddle was restuffed to match no less than 4
times.  I think that's due diligence.  For her last 50, I shimmed it
because of the weight she lost in the wither/shoulder area, and it worked
fine for a few weeks before, including a two day 40 with all gaited horses,
during which she had to jog all day since they only used one gear.

During the 50 she lost weight right in that spot and got palm-sized edema
that night, later resulting in saddle sores and "white" spots.  (Pink skin
on a greyed-out horse; took months for the pressure sores to go away).

The saddle is a Passier PSL in beautiful condition, which *worked well* for
a good portion of the time, used with a 1/2" Skito pad.  When it didn't
work, it *really* didn't work. :-(  It always worked well for me, of
course.  So I'm not sure at this point how well a traditional English
all-purpose saddle works on THIS horse for distance riding since her
weight/shape changes depending on how much work she gets.

Some saddlers claim they can flare the bars on their trees, customizing
them for the changing back.  Jerry Stoner (Stonewall saddles) told me that
would be his method, a few months ago, but I'm not going to chance bringing
my mare to him until she's back in competition form (not a lbs thing
either, approx 65 lbs difference between working weight and sloth).  I'll
keep my Sports Saddle to fill in the gaps; it's the only saddle that seems
to fit this mare no matter what her current shape is.  This is the same
horse who couldn't go in my OF endurance cutback either.  She has a level
topline but is narrower in the withers than in the loins, the way Steve Ray
Gonzales described in his recent saddle fitting series in Trail Blazer.

Lynne
and Rem-member Me (svelte from above)



 >Hi, it's me again!
>	I'm having a discussion with a friend who has a 4 yo, just started mare
>that he wants to get a saddle for.  He says he wants to wait until he has
>been able to put some miles on her and till she finishes growing before
>getting a saddle because he thinks her back shape will change considerably
>between now and then.  I contend that the shape of a horse's back is
>fundamentally determined by its conformation and muscle type (i.e.thin &
>flat vs. thick & bunchy) and that any saddle maker worth their salt could
>build a saddle now that would take growth and development into
>consideration.  We both agree that a horse changes shape a lot over the
>course of conditioning and doing rides and that a good saddle should be
>able to accomodate a certain amount of that kind of change.
>	Anybody want to take sides or comment?  Does anyone use more than one
>saddle on a horse over the course of a ride year to accomodate changes in
>the horse's back?
>Happy trails!  Laney