To break a horse to saddle, desensitize the horse to the elements of the saddle, rub the saddle pad all over the horse, and carefully put the saddle in place. Be patient and careful when breaking a horse to saddle with help from an equestrian team head coach in this video on horse training.
When breaking a horse to saddle, after they're comfortable being groomed and have the basic leading skills necessary, we're just going to start with getting them desensitized to things like a saddle pad. I'm going to rub it all over her. Flap it around. I just want to make sure that nothing I'm going to do when I'm putting the saddle on is going to scare her. She seems pretty comfortable so I'll go ahead and put the saddle pad on where it's supposed to be and next bring the saddle over and make sure she's comfortable with it near her, going to carefully place it on. Let her have a little time to get used to it and then I'm just going to take it off and put it back on again. It's very important when you're breaking a horse to ride, you're very patient and careful. What you want to avoid is over facing them, making them scared of something that you'd like to be able to do with them for the rest of their life.
Specialty: Hunter, Jumper, Equitation
