Advanced Saddle Fit Client, Sue Jaccoma

Equestrian Saddle Fitting Process

On Site Saddle Fit Assessment
Saddle Fit Adjustments
Flocking Saddles

On Site Saddle Fit Assessment

The fitting process usually begins at your barn with a thorough assessment of your horse: his physical characteristics, his level of training, and his way of going. We will carefully evaluate his back for symmetry and for sore spots, and take tracings that will provide a record of his back shape at rest on that particular day, and help determine the most suitable tree type, tree width, panel shape and depth for his back. In the course of this evaluation, we encourage you to learn as much as possible about your horse's particular conformation and about the principles of correct saddle fit.

You will have an opportunity to make an initial evaluation of various demo saddles on your horse. We try to have a suitable saddle available for purchase on the day of the fitting, but it is not always possible to have the exact combination of seat size/tree type/panel pattern/flap configuration/ and leather, as this would add up to over 300 possible permutations in dressage saddles alone! We also have a range of demo saddles available to try, so we nearly always have something reasonably close to what is required. You will be welcome to ride in these saddles at the time of the fitting.

Saddle Fit Adjustments

Most wool-flocked saddles occasionally need adjustment to the flocking as the wool beds in to the horse’s back. Very often we are available at major New England horse trials and dressage shows to make adjustments to your saddle, or you may schedule an appointment for fitting elsewhere.

There are some common fitting problems that can occur over time, even with a saddle that fit correctly at the time of purchase. Most of the saddles that we fit have generously cut panels that can be adjusted to a certain extent to accommodate changes in the horse, up to a point. If the horse loses condition after a lay-off so that the saddle then fits a little too wide, we may be able to adjust the thickness of the flocking in the panel, or find some creative padding or shimming options that will be useful until the horse regains his previous top line. There are several types of pad that work very well for this purpose.

If, due to long-term changes in the horse's shape (or a new horse), the horse gains in width and the fit of the tree becomes too narrow, this is a more complex problem. It is possible in some cases to put in a new tree that is wider than the original. Stretching the tree will open it slightly at the tree points but will not widen the dimensions of the tree overall. We can recommend several SMS-qualified saddlers to do this work.

Flocking Saddles

As scheduling permits, we will be happy to examine saddles we didn’t originally sell. At a minimum, we can recommend the best course of action to adjust and maintain your saddle for optimum performance for you and your horse.

Here is our position on flocking saddles that we did not originally fit: If a saddle fundamentally fits the horse and only needs some adjustment to level out the wool in the panels, we can usually help. However, it is important to understand that the foundation of good fit is how well the tree conforms to the shape of the horse’s back, and wool flocking cannot be used effectively to compensate for a poorly fitting tree. For example, a saddle may sit cantle low on a particular horse for a variety of different reasons. If it is sitting low behind because the fit of the tree is too narrow somewhere in the front half, the fundamental issue is with the tree. Stuffing up the back of the panel in an effort to level the saddle is not only ineffective, it may do much more harm than good.

In another instance, if the tree is a decent fit but the saddle is sitting a bit too low behind, it may be because the panel itself is cut too shallow for a particular horse. Again, stuffing wool into a relatively small-volume panel in order to “inflate” the back and level the saddle is the equivalent of stuffing a tennis ball into a flat envelope. It won’t solve the problem and may invite unintended consequences. Even where a tree fits well, not every panel is designed to be altered significantly by flocking. Much depends upon the pattern on which the panel is cut. A panel without gussets has limited internal volume and cannot always be successfully reshaped. Some saddlemakers design panels to have a very particular shape and curvature (normally the more banana-shaped styles), and these typically cannot be altered by flocking. The wool in the panels of a saddle has a lifespan, and at a certain point it more or less expires. There is wide variation in the rate at which this happens, but it is caused in large part by felting: the process by which the aging wool stiffens and loses its natural resilience. Heat coming off the horse's back and pressure from the weight of the rider eventually cause felting of the wool fibers and they become hard and unyielding.

When this happens, the wool needs to be stripped out and replaced with new wool. Stuffing more flocking into felted, hardened panels isn't a satisfactory long-term solution to this problem, and frankly we feel in many cases that using a cushiony pad is a better solution than trying to revive fossilized panels. The alternative is to strip-flock the saddle, which involves replacing the old wool with new lamb's wool, essentially returning the panels to new condition. We can refer you to several SMS-qualified saddlers who do an excellent job with this.

It is awkward if we make a special visit to flock a saddle, and when we get there we don't feel we can really help the situation. This might be because the tree size is wrong for the horse, or the panel design does not allow for much adjustment, or the flocking has felted into woolen bricks. In such cases, if we cannot make the saddle fit through adjustments in the flocking, we will tell you that. However, we can identify any other issues there may be with the fit of the saddle, and sometimes suggest padding or shimming solutions that will at least enhance the horse's comfort.