Many people around the country have access to a thermographic camera. If used carefully (and this is important!), thermography is a great tool to help determine saddle fit.

Thermography measures heat and has many applications for the horse. For saddle fit, it can be determined where a saddle has too much contact or not enough by the color patterns. First a *before* shot of the horses back is taken to get a baseline of the horses heat patterns. Then the saddle in question is put on with as minimal pad as possible, preferably none. Then the rider will ride the horse for 10-15 minutes until the horse is warm but not sweaty. Then an *after* shot of the horse is taken to see the change in heat distribution as a function of how the saddle fit. An image of the underside of the saddle to see the heat pattern is also taken.

This shot is the one that really tells the story. The client is given printouts of the images or sent a CD. If the saddle can be restuffed to fit the horse, these images would be given to the saddle maker.

The color scheme is : white is the hottest, then red, then yellow, then green , then blue and black is the coolest. The image at the right is the underside of the saddle after the horse was ridden in it for 10 minutes. The white (hottest) is very obvious at the withers...this saddle was WAY too tight for this horse. There is also an area of minimal contact in the middle of the saddle (yellow and green) where it was bridging...it was then contacting again in his loin area (back of the saddle).

Here are some people that might be in your area:
Dr. Deb Sell - Morgan Hill, CA (408) 460-9960 or drdeb@thegrid.net

Debbie LaBerge, Certified Thermographer
ThermoHorse Equine Thermogrpahy
info@thermohorse.com
www.thermohorse.com

If you do thermography and would like to have your contact information listed here, please contact Marlene