A saddle is a big ticket item—and I can almost guarantee that sooner or later (probably sooner) your true believer is going to start shopping for one.

There’s a good chance the new saddle is going to cost more than the horse did!  My advice is to shut up about the price and do what you can to insure she gets the best saddle for her and her equine companion.  Believe me, a decent fitting saddle is going to cost you less than a trip to the emergency room.

Just because her horse came with a saddle doesn’t necessarily mean it fits.  People buy saddles for a number of reasons:  they like the looks, the price is right, a friend recommended it, or it’s comfortable to sit in.  Often no consideration whatsoever is given to fit from the horse’s point of view.  Which is part of the reason so many people get bucked off.

Saddles are static.  Horses move and change shape over time.  A saddle can either aid or restrict the horse’s ability to move.  When a horse has a rider on his back and can’t use his whole body to move, one of two things generally happens.  Some horses are quite tolerant and do their best to accommodate the rider and put up with the pain as best they can, but with reduced performance.  Others get cranky and either run away from the pain or dump the rider out of the saddle.

Most saddles tend to be too narrow in the front, thereby putting pressure too close to the spine, squeezing the horse on or behind the shoulder blades.  This is especially true of English saddles.  Western saddles are generally made wider.  They were originally designed for working cowboys, who rode in them all day, mostly walking and trotting on a loose rein.  Modern riders ask for more athletic movements, and that’s where the western saddle’s shortcomings begin to appear.

Even for a non-horse person, it’s easy to see indications a horse is restricted by the saddle.

• ears back
  
• swishing tail
  
• unwilling to go forward
  
• after riding there are dry spots, ruffled hair or skin irritation on shoulders or back
  
• looks like its going downhill, looks it has short front legs
  
• sore back and/or joints, often has lameness in the front feet

There is nothing you can do if the saddle is too small for the horse.  Suggesting she buy more pads to protect the horse’s back is like suggesting she buy three more pairs of thick socks to protect her feet when her shoes are too small.  It just doesn’t work—and makes the problem worse.

A pad and shims can help if the saddle is too big.

Before your partner goes saddle shopping, suggest she take an unbent hanger or length of baling wire out to the corral and bend it over the horse’s back at the position of the second scapula  (you don’t know where that is, but hopefully she does). She can use it to compare her horse’s shape to the prospective saddle. This makes it more likely she will buy the right width saddle…one that is bigger than the hanger shape so the horse has room to move and grow. 

It’s tempting when your beloved comes home and announces she’s got her eye on a cheap used saddle to encourage the purchase as a way to keep horse expenses down.  There a lot of good used saddles out there, some of them on the market because they don’t fit the horse they were bought for.  But a bargain isn’t a bargain if the tree is broken (the tree is the wood—or sometimes plastic—form the saddle is built on) or the saddle is in poor condition.

Only purchase a saddle with a return policy.  Your partner will need time to try the saddle on her horse before she commits to keeping it.  This goes for used saddles as well as new ones.  If she is inexperienced and is buying a used saddle, have a trainer or independent saddle maker inspect the tree during the trial period to make sure the frame is still in one piece and that the rest of the saddle parts are safe. 

Be sure she rides in the saddle before she commits—the fit is different on a horse at rest and when it is moving.  The saddle may not pinch or poke when the horse is standing still, but can become very restrictive and painful when he starts trotting. 

The saddle also needs to fit the human.  It somewhat depends on the discipline the rider follows.  An English saddle fits differently than a western one.  Balance point comes into play.  Body style makes a difference.  Happily, most horse people are pretty good at determining a good personal fit when it comes to a saddle.

A couple of years ago I would have said “Beware of the $300 saddle, it’s probably junk.”  The same caveat is likely true today.  But with the current state of the economy, some horse people are selling excellent saddles at a major discount as they try to raise money to pay for hay and cover other horse expenses.  But be sure the saddle fits the horse.  Silver conchos and intricate leatherwork are lovely, but they won’t keep anyone safe.

The bottom line:  how the saddle fits the horse is probably the most important factor in selecting a saddle, no matter what it costs.