At PFI Western Store we work hard to help our customers with all their needs. Our expert staff is available to answer questions about everything from saddle maintenance to fitting your horse. We hope this article will help to further serve our online customer who may have the same questions. Feel free to respond with any other questions you have about this article. We’ll be happy to help.
Goal in Fitting: Make as much saddle bar to horse back contact as possible.
How much is enough contact? Two things determine this.
1. How much the rider weighs. The heavier the rider, the more contact is needed. Vise versa, with a lighter rider, you can get by with less contact. Remember you are trying to distribute pounds per inch.
2. How much bar surface is available. The less bar surface availability the more contact is needed. Vise versa, the more bar availability you can get by with less contact.
There are two major areas of concern when fitting a saddle.
I. Wither
In our industry, there is no definition for tree width sizes. There are generic terms such as semi-quarter horse and full quarter horse, which give an idea of what type of horse the tree should fit, but there is no rule for measurement. Each tree builder has their own idea of what fits each breed of horse the best. Let me say this again. There is NO industry standard on tree width. As a consumer, this is difficult. The burden of fit is on you, the consumer. There are several things to consider when fitting the wither.
Width
- If the saddle is too narrow, there will be contact at the bottom of the bar and not at the top.
- If the saddle is too wide, there will be contact at the top of the bar and not at the bottom. (Begin fitting the horse without a pad. Look and feel around the wither for contact.)
Bar Flare
- If the bar is flat at the wither, it can cause the saddle to be pushed back as well as restricting shoulder movement. This is more evident with gaited horses. There is no disadvantage to bar flare regardless of the breed.
- Bar flare can be evident in the front and rear of the saddle. As the front can restrict movement, the rear can dig into the croup if the rider is heavy and sits deep into the seat, or the horse is short backed, or sway backed. Each of these could cause soring if the saddle doesn’t have adequate rear bar flare.
II. Slope
There are two areas of concern when looking at the slope of the horses back.
Bridging.
Bridging occurs when there is bar to surface contact on the front (wither) and rear (croup) of the horses back but not in the middle. Usually, you can tell your saddle is bridging if there is soring or white hair in the wither and /or croup area. This is caused by two things:
- Bend or Rock. If the saddle doesn’t have enough bend in the bar to fit the sway of the horses back, it will bridge.
- Length of back. If the bar is longer than the horse’s back, it will bridge. This is most evident on Arabs, Paso Finos, Missouri Foxtrotters and other short backed horses.
White hair and soring in the withers is not always a sign of bridging. It could be a result of:
- Tree width-explained above.
- Rigging position.
As a rule, most horses do not need full rigging. They need rigging that gives more pull toward the center of the saddle or throughout the whole saddle rather than the front only. There are four rigging positions available in the industry.
- Center-Fire. Lines up directly in the center of the saddle.
- ¾” rigging which is 1-2” in front of the center-fire rigging.
- 7/8” rigging. This rigging is most common and gives you the best option between the ¾” and full-rigging option.
- Full rigging. This is when the rigging is directly beneath the swell or pommel. Most ropers like this type of rigging because of the pull on the horn when roping.
Rock - The opposite of bridging. Rock occurs when there is more bend in the bar than the horse needs; therefore it makes contact in the middle of the back before it makes contact in the front or back. Usually, when rock is visible the saddle will tip back and forth on the horses back. When the saddle is girthed up it will tip forward with the rear of the saddle sticking up in the air. When the rider sits in the saddle it will force the saddle down in the rear causing pressure in the front of the saddle going toward the middle of the back. This is most evident on mules. Be aware if the saddle is sticking up in the rear it may not be a rock problem but could be a width problem.
Questions people may ask…
a. What do white hairs tell me?
Normally, white hair is caused by a lot of pressure in one area over a long period of time. What takes place is the pressure stops the blood flow to that area which in turn kills the sweat glands and causes the hair to turn white. The hair may never return to its normal color. This is not something to be alarmed about and does not cause permanent long-term damage, unless you don’t pay any attention to the problem. (You should consult your veterinarian about any soring issues.)
b. What about padding-up or saddle pads?
Good saddle pads can cause the saddle to fit better. There is as much or more technology in the pad industry to help a saddle fit better and you should take advantage of that technology. Padding-up to help eliminate soring from a poor fitting saddle is not a good choice. For example, if a saddle is too narrow, padding up to buffer the pressure will make the horse wider which will cause more pressure.
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