Saddle Fitting for Smarties | Introduction to Saddle Fitting

Introduction to Saddle Fitting
Good Saddle Fit from the Start
Trees, Panels, and Motion
Saddle Fitting and Panel Design
Saddle Trees
More About Saddle Trees
Custom Saddle Fit.  What Does it Mean?

 

Introduction to Saddle Fitting

Though man has ridden horses for thousands of years, and will no doubt continue to do so, deep down we know that nature did not intend the equine back to be weight-bearing.

Good saddle fitting boils down to success at outwitting Mother Nature.This is the first of the two true great rules that apply universally in saddle fitting: thirty million years of evolution did not factor weight-bearing into the design of the equine back.  The second great rule: the first rule is the only rule that applies in every instance to every horse

None of the other traditional rules of saddle fitting is universally applicable, and neither saddle fitting nor saddle design is a matter of following a blueprint to a produce a solution.  It’s more like working a three-dimensional puzzle that is unique to each horse, with movement thrown in as the fourth dimension.

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There are no universal answers, but there are some great questions.  For example:

Our goal here is to help the thinking rider gain enough understanding of saddle design and saddle fitting to be able to ask hard questions about the saddles that they are considering for themselves, and most especially for their horses.  This has been broken into parts, including the basics of rider and equine movement, saddle panels and the saddle fitting process, and saddle trees and construction.  We also discuss the idea of the custom fit saddle as a solution for saddle fit concerns.  We hope you will enjoy the opportunity to drill down to a deeper level of understanding why particular solutions may or may not help provide solutions to common saddle fit challenges.If you would like to explore saddle fit options for your horse, we invite you to contact us.

 

Introduction to Saddle Fitting
Good Saddle Fit from the Start
Trees, Panels, and Motion
Saddle Fitting and Panel Design
Saddle Trees
More About Saddle Trees
Custom Saddle Fit.  What Does it Mean?