How to Fit a Horse Saddle

Fitting a horse saddle requires considering the rider's body size and type and the horse's breed and body build. Find the right seat, size, width and general fit of a saddle with advice from a riding instructor in this video on equestrian living.

We're going to talk about the fit of a saddle. When we think about fit of a saddle, as we look at this western saddle, I want to think, consider me, the rider and my body size and how I'm going to purchase a saddle that's going to be correct for my seat. We talk about seats and the inches here within the seat. I like to ride in a sixteen inch saddle. That seems to fit me best. But I also want to consider the fit to the horse. I'm riding your typical paint horse which is basically a quarter horse, so I'm going to look for a saddle that's not going to be too narrow, so it'll accommodate his wider shoulders. As well as the length of it, we want to be sure we haven't chosen a large model saddle in its design that's going to sit too far back over his loins. I'll start out of course making sure that I have a good saddle pad that'll take up any extra room and possibly help the fit of the saddle in some ways. However, we keep in mind, a good fitting saddle shouldn't need a lot of saddle pad. In fact sometimes we even recommend very little, cause it's the good design of the high quality saddle that'll make that comfortable to the horse. I make sure that all my saddle straps are up before I go to put it on him and then make sure that it's placed properly before I can evaluate the fit of the saddle. In other words, as I look at the fit of the saddle, I want to be sure that the girth strap is going to be fastened right behind his elbow. Otherwise I might not be evaluating the proper spot where the saddle ought to fit. Things I'm looking for is we call it the bars of the saddle. That would be the distance between this side and that side. I want to make sure when I fasten it, I can place my hand underneath this area here, so that I'm not in any way what we call pinching his shoulders as we fasten it up. So I walk to the other side, I know my horse well so I can trust that I can walk quietly behind him, undo all my riggings, make sure the saddle's in its proper place. Nothing is twisted. Come back to the other side, begin to tighten it as I recognize some of the features of the fit. The other very important piece of fit is to be sure that we have chosen a saddle that has adequate room underneath the pommel here. The pommel being that part of the saddle just below the saddle horn. So as I fasten this up doing the front strap first and the back strap second. We'll go ahead now and examine the fit of the saddle to be sure that as we get onto our ride, we're going to have a comfortable partnership with the saddle and the horse. I want to be able to place my forefingers underneath the arch of the pommel, which that does very well. I want to be able to place my hand in between here. Not too loose. It needs to fit securely so it doesn't rub him as it moves too much but certainly not too tight, pinching their shoulders. If you've got a proper fit to your saddle, you're not going to see those pressure points underneath when you take that saddle off. Where the hairs been sweating a little bit more than other places which tells us we have more rub there. Very important to the long term use of this horse. He's going to work much harder for you if we're sure that his saddle and his equipment fits well.