Ali's saddle update... COMMENTS PLEASE.

[Chrisnstar]

Tomorrow is D Day, I pay for the saddle or send it back.

I had a 2 hour ride in the woods today with it over lots of terrain. I was not happy with the dry marks on her, but got to thinking about it and realized I had the saddle way too far forward on her and I know my body is really out of whack after a 25 mile ride yesterday, so I'm sure I was not sitting straight at all!

Here's how the saddle looked on her before we hit the trail. I have lots of trail stuff on it, which kind of makes the fit deceiving ...



I also was using the new Bates leather webbers that came with it, which are really stiff and were torquing my knee. When I rode in the saddle last week, I used an old pair of leathers that are broken in and everything felt really good.

There were no ruffed up hairs when I untacked after two hours nor heat, swelling or tenderness anywhere. I'm thinking it was operator error on saddle placement and rider error in my poor body alignment.

Here's what the dried sweat pattern looked like. You can see a little dry patch on her left shoulder, which I think is because of the saddle placement...it wasn't there the first time I rode her in it!





When I got her home, I put it back on her without pad and trail gear to re-assess. It looks like a nearly perfect fit so I'm thinking the dry spots were caused by me, not the saddle.



You can see how much further back I set it when I could see without the pad where it belonged.





There's 4 fingers of wither clearance without me in it, a good 2 with me on board.



arrrgghhh... of for the days of ingnorance and bliss before I knew saddle fit even mattered with horses!

[jennifer]

If you have the time before you have to get it mailed tomorrow- get your SI back into place, change back to the broken in stirrup leathers, put the saddle back a little farther, and take her for enough of a spin to get her sweaty and see what happens. (Wow, that was a real run on sentence!)

You're being out may be causing her to have the dry spot on just the one side.

You might want to have Ray take a look and see if your stirrup length is equal, too.

Jen

[Mary Ann]

Chris, I agree with Jennifer, and have a couple of other comments.

One is that you may be correct; you may be causing the dry spot. I recall that you have a mild degree of scoliosis, which causes you to collapse your body on one side. This can give you an imbalance, which can cause a dry spot.

Another is your horse can have scoliosis, too. Every time I've had a horse (or client's horse) with such an imbalance, either the owner or I have caught it while being tortured over saddle fit. The chiro has never mentioned it, although he has agreed with our findings. The way we see it is to put the horse in cross ties on level ground, and stand directly behind them on a stool or bucket. Make a sight line of the spine. You'd be surprised how many do not have a straight spine, even when standing square.

Another issue, especially with green or one sided horses, is over development of the muscles in one side of the withers. This can also be caused by one scapula that sits more upright on the body. This 'bigger' side gets the dry spot.

It helps if you can have someone scoop up the mane and hold it away, or if you put the withers part in some rubber bands or something for your exam.

I'm a little amazed at the height of the cantle on this saddle. It seems awfully tall. At first glance, it gives the illusion of a saddle that's too wide. I like it best with all the fleece; then the extreme height doesn't jump out at me.

But I'll be the first to say, though, looks don't matter as much as fit and comfort. I look forward to hearing what you find out today. I hope you get some good weather!

[spots]

Ditto Jennifer, ditto MaryAnn.

also...how did Ali act with it?

The other thing...I am looking at this particular one, and it just LOOKS different than the pics I have of the wider model, so I dug back in my email and looked, sure enough, this saddle really does look more different than I would expect, so I am wondering, is it the same seat (people) size as the other one or is it smaller? Did you measure it to see if it's measuring out to what seat size you ordered? I know Ali is short backed and sturdy but that saddle looks muuuuuch shorter on her. Maybe that is why your knee is screaming.

I know if you are sore in one knee you overcompensate big time with the other and that could indeed account for your dry spot. It's usually the second consecutive day in a saddle that really tells what is going on.

[Chrisnstar]

It's a true 18". I measured it and I have plenty of room for my big butt in it, unlike many 18s! I think the whole tree is shaped differently for wide horses which may make it look different from other English saddles. It's got a really wide twist which a lot of English riders would hate, but it is comfortable for my hips.

I decided to keep the saddle. I'm pretty sure it was me. If we do a few more rides and it turns out to be the saddle, I'll sell it on ebay. I've noticed the Duetts keep their value pretty well.

I'm going to the chiro before I do more saddle evaluating.

chris

[gypsy]

I agree with everyone on getting yourself fixed. I noticed after I broke my hip that I had dry spots when I never did before. As time progressed and I became stronger the dry spots shifted. Now I am probably 80% and I don't get the dry spots. I don't know how English versus Western but I think the saddle is most definitely to far foward.

[linda]

I agree that the saddle looks like it was placed too far forward. I know how tough it can be to get them just right. The girth does seem to be well back, though.

I am concerned because I think the saddle looks like it fits perfectly without a pad. My concern is that the pad--especially an endurance pad--may make the saddle too narrow. Think about buying hiking boots. They fit perfectly in the store when you tried them on with nylons. When you get them home and put on hiking socks, the toe box is now too narrow.

I have some Wintec webbers that I really like. They are the more expensive ones with suede neoprene on the side next to the saddle. They have left ZERO marks on the saddle--just like having the webbers/leathers encased in something all of the time.
Linda

[Chrisnstar]

Thanks LInda.. It's a very flexible saddle and I don't use all that much padding. I use one fairly thin pad, usually. I certainly wouldn't want to go any narrower though on her... But right now, she is about 100 pounds overweight, so when I get her fitted up it should be just about right!

I've got a pretty good selection of leathers and webbers to choose from.

chris