How to Choose a Close Contact Jumping Saddle

A close-contact jumping saddle has a shallow seat, shorter flaps on either side and a square back. Find out how to fit a jumping saddle for a rider with help from the owner of an English tack store in this video on horse supplies.

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Hi! I'm Tori with the Leading Rein and today we're going to learn how to choose a close contact jumping saddle. A close contact jumping saddle generally has a square back instead of a rounded one, and the seat is not quite as deep. Because you want to be able to get out of you saddle and jump much bigger fences with this. It still has a pretty forward flap and moderate knee roll. You want to hop up here? There you go. Now this is not a very good fit for Franchesca. You can put almost a hand and a half in there so this would be way too big of a saddle for her. And you can fit about four fingers up here. So this would not be a saddle that I would recommend for her. You can also see that the flap is a little bit too long so her leg barely hangs down far enough to be in contact with her horse. And she would also have a tired time getting up in jumping position if she were to jump over a fence. So we would want to find something much smaller for her. But with the close contact saddle, you can get up out of the saddle a little bit easier when you are jumping bigger fences so you're not impeding with your horse's movement.