Precision in Motion: The Scientific Approach to Fitting the Moving Horse
What’s in a Fitting?
The process of a fitting varies fitter to fitter, but in reality, it shouldn’t. There are specific measurements and components that must be assessed in order to accurately determine fit for both the horse and rider. Much like having new tires placed on your vehicle, balance, rotation, alignment and inflation are part of that process and without it, can end up with a severely uncomfortable and dangerous drive.
Yet when it comes to the physical (and psychological) well-being of the horse, far too many fitters are happy to skip steps. There’s a reason why we have an 80+ point evaluation, with one main reason being a constant check and confirmation of previous findings along with detailed record keeping of overall development of the horse in areas such as muscling, un/evenness, gait, posture and more, and that’s not even mentioning what we evaluate for the rider.
Saddle fitting is not an abstract art-form, there is a science to it which needs to be followed to prevent injury, which in the end should be the absolute ultimate goal of the fitter, regardless of brand association or monthly quota.
A good fitting will take into consideration the measurements of the horse, the measurements (beyond seat size and flap length) of the rider, saddle condition, other tack assessment, static evaluation and the dynamic evaluation, at the very least.
You cannot properly fit a horse if you don’t have all the information on what they need via (many) specific measurements.
You cannot properly fit the rider without taking accurate measurements of the rider and seeing them in the saddle (not on the horse).
You cannot properly fit the saddle if you don’t assess it for possible issues (manufacturing or caused by the user).
You cannot properly assess the rider + saddle + horse together without seeing them all in motion.
Too often we see fitters throw a saddle on the horse, give it a jiggle, check a handful of measurements and give it the thumbs up.This is why the DYNAMIC fit is an integral part of any saddle fit assessment.
There are things that can only be seen with the horse under saddle. This is also why a baseline must first be established, such as having the horse lunged without any tack, before a saddle and rider are added. NOTE: Horses should not be lunged with a saddle unless there is a separate surcingle around the seat/back of the saddle to keep it still. Saddles are meant to have riders in them, so without, they will bounce and slam into the horses back and cause false hollowing.
So, what do we look for during a dynamic assessment? We watch the rider, the horse and the saddle, all separately and also together.
Here is an example of what we might see:
Rider Leans > Horse Compensates > Rider leans more > Horse compensates more > Rider leans and twists more > Horse compensates more and the cycle continues.
OR…
Horse compensates for twisting saddle > Rider leans > Horse compensates for leaning rider > Rider leans and twists more and so on. (We will touch on asymmetrical fit which is meant to keep the saddle STRAIGHT on the horse and ALLOW and ENCOURAGE proper, symmetrical development. Placing a symmetrical saddle on an asymmetric horse causes further asymmetry, which will be discussed in upcoming videos and blogs.)
Imbalance and gait symmetry, regardless of source, causes a domino effect between horse and rider that cannot be corrected by either if the interface (the saddle) between them isn’t corrected. You cannot have a rider who is balanced if the saddle isn’t, nor can you have a rider who rides evenly – such as posting without moving diagonally, or leaning if the saddle isn’t sitting straight on the horse. Just as a horse cannot move in a straight line if the saddle continually shifts to one side, the same goes for a saddle that crunches down on the withers preventing the horse from ever lifting the shoulders.
In order to break the cycle, you need to determine where the issue is coming from through a static and dynamic assessment. The rider and horse are observed in both directions, at all 3 gaits, to identify irregular movement patterns of the saddle, as well as leaning or overloading from the rider.
These observations are then compared to the dust pattern left by the saddle and the static fit assessment completed prior to the ride. Additionally, a brief assessment of overall posture compared to the ideal posture is also recorded and helps to guide any recommendations.
Without the ridden component, a saddle fitter only has half the picture of what is actually going on, and what adjustments in the tree, flocking and billets are required.
It’s the same as buying shoes without actually trying them on and walking around to test fit and comfort.
Watch the video above to learn more about how to fit the moving horse!