The reason that it is important to take into account both aspects of the horse’s shoulder conformation is that you lose “opportunity” to distribute weight over the biggest area possible, plus side to side stability, if the saddle is perched high on his back. It is best if the saddle sits as low as possible (without contacting the spine or wither).

If the saddle is too broad for the horse, it will sit too low and possibly contact the wither or spine. This is a very painful situation for the horse and very quickly causes tissue damage and usually a negative reaction in the horse’s behavior as he tries to tell the rider about the problem.

If the saddle is broad enough, but the angle is too narrow, there will be very sharp pressure at the points of the saddle. This will be painful for the horse. He may react to the pain in obvious ways, or play the stoic. Instead he may shorten his gaits and the rider may eventually see white hairs and muscle loss.

The rider may also be unstable as the saddle has no ability to prevent side to side motion because there is insufficient contact at the sides of the wither.

So to begin with, the saddle should have the correct breadth and angle to match the horse’s shoulder conformation. Check this by placing the saddle in the correct position, with no saddle pad, on the horse’s back.

Look at the line of contact made between the front of the saddle and the horse. Is there a gap toward the top? The saddle may not have enough breadth or be too narrow in angle. Is there a gap toward the bottom? A small gap may be ok – and give some room for muscle changes – but a large gap indicates that the saddle is too wide.

If the saddle is only too wide in breadth, but the angle follows well, a thicker pad may be the solution. If the saddle is too narrow in breadth or angle, no pad can solve the problem – it will only increase the pressure.

You must also look at the flare of the front of the saddle. You want some level of flare to allow for shoulder motion – to prevent the shoulder or shoulder musculature from running into a solid block of the tree. This is specific to a rigid tree saddle. A flexible panel will allow the shoulder to move underneath the panel if it is fitted and placed properly.

Now let’s continue thinking about what happens to the shoulder/saddle line with the horse in motion.

A second turning point in my saddle fit education came at a competitive trail ride. A young girl talked to me about her horse that was sore at the end of the ride. She brought her mom and horse over later. I was shocked as I ran my hand down his back – lightly as I always introduce the contact before any real pressure is used. The horse nearly collapsed from this light touch – extreme pain in the loins.

The rider was about 9 years old and probably didn’t weigh much over 60 pounds. She had ridden a 2 day novice ride, about 40 miles total.

She had also brought her saddle and I almost didn’t want to put it on him. We sat it on gently and checked the fit. Really, there was nothing obviously wrong with the fit. My best guess was that there just wasn’t enough contact area of the saddle to distribute her weight (even slight as it was) over the time of the ride. I hadn’t seen the girl ride and was not going to ask her to ride at this time. The saddle was a child’s dressage saddle, so very little area of contact with the horse. It had the typical rounded shape of stuffed panels, which really should not fit any horse, certainly not for hours of rid