Master Saddler and Master Saddle Fitter Kay Hastilow shares her thoughts and experiences of choosing professionals to support different aspects of your horse's health and wellbeing...
Here are just a few of the skilled people working regularly with horses that that come to my mind - vets., physiotherapists,
farriers, nutritionists, trainers, equine dental
technicians and of course saddle and bridle fitters . All of these are professional people who have
invested a great deal of time, effort and considerable amounts of money into
learning their trade and gaining qualifications, so that we can know that we
can trust them. They also have to be members of their relevant professional body, (which requires
proof of correct insurances held), which oversees the qualifications, deals
with complaints and upholds the standard of each profession. All of these
memberships will be subject to constant updating of their skills and knowledge
through CPD (Continual Professional Development), expensive and time
consuming though these are. All so that any QUALIFIED professional whom
you employ will be insured, knowledgeable about their subject and up to date on
changes and research undertaken in their field. As with all professions, some
practitioners will be better than others, but you do at least know that they
have all, at some time, shown their ability and do have their professional body
keeping a check on all of its members, with insurance behind them.
I find it very frustrating that someone who has spent a minimum of three years to train, say as a saddle fitter, including very expensive courses, modules and working with mentors, and has gained their SMS Qualified Saddle Fitter status after a very tough assessment, is all too frequently overlooked for ‘Wendy down the road who has loads of saddles to try’. ‘Wendy’ hasn’t got a clue just how much she doesn’t know, will happily stick anything on a horse to sell a saddle (these have often been supplied sale or return by a manufacturer with a requirement to sell ‘so many’ a month. No pressure then!) and in 18 months or so they will have had so many complaints that she just shuts up shop and goes off to do something else. Meanwhile, your good competition horse has chucked in the towel and is virtually valueless or, even worse, has been damaged by the saddle to such an extent that expensive veterinary treatment is needed, with no assurance that the horse will ever be the same again. So, what do you do? Complain to their professional body? They aren’t a member of any as they don’t hold the necessary qualifications. Sue them? Ever tried that? Firstly, they don’t have any liability insurance, and it’s expensive to sue someone.One such person who was threatened with this said; "Go ahead. I live in rented accommodation. The saddles don’t belong to me. My car is ancient, and as I need it for work, they won’t take it off me anyway." Lovely.
I know that vets get very frustrated that people will call
in ‘the back man’ before calling the vet, often meaning that, by the time they
get to the horse the condition has worsened, it will take a lot more time to
get the horse right again (if that is even possible now) and often the problem
has been exacerbated by the ‘treatment’. I understand, as a horse owner myself,
that it can be frightening to call the vet in as bills can mount up very
quickly, especially if technical diagnostics are used, but you can always say,
right at the start or at any time through the treatment, that you really don’t
want to spend that much money. So long as you have a realistic budget there are
often options available.
I wonder, would you be happy to have an unqualified surgeon operate on you, even if he has a big following? Or, perhaps have the barber remove teeth for you, as used to happen? Of course not, so why, when you own a precious horse, do you consider using these unqualified people? Often, these folk have great charisma and have a believable line in various theories, but without any testing, evidence or proof. They tend to ‘take people in’, but so often it all ends in tears.
Someone within my area when I was regularly saddle fitting set up their own business and promptly started rubbishing many of my fittings, being blissfully unaware of many of the factors involved. They had decided that trees should be wider (a theory that sounds plausible, but we know isn’t correct as Dr Russell McKechney-Guire’s recently published work has clearly demonstrated) and promptly started widening the trees in many of the saddles that I had fitted, often with disastrous results. Opening trees on some of the tree squeezing machines is a very skilled job, skills that they did not have, so many of the alterations led to crooked trees, where one of the tree points sat at a different angle to the other. Wide fit on the left, say, and medium on the right. Net result? The back of the saddle will kink over to one side, causing considerable discomfort and possibly injury to horse and rider.
Many of these people came back to me – "I’m so sorry, they were in the yard and seemed so nice, and I know it’s a long wait to get you…(have you ever wondered why good fitters have a long waiting list, while this person can come tomorrow?)" But once a saddle has been opened unevenly, the only real answer is to replace the tree, as trying to correct it is very unlikely to be successful. New trees are expensive! Also, if a tree has been widened, it’s difficult to bring the width back in again without the risk of it opening back out as the rivets have, to some extent been weakened. There were a lot of very unhappy and out of pocket customers around for a while.
Please also be aware that a farrier, a trainer or an equine
dentist, say, is not an expert, does not hold a
qualification in, nor is registered as a saddle fitter and so should never give
an opinion on a topic beyond their speciality - and neither should the saddle
fitter comment on other professions. I have, on occasion been told that the
physio., trainer or farrier has said that the saddle doesn’t fit. Do you think
that we don’t talk to each other? In every case I have spoken to said
professional, only to find that what they are alleged to have said is a million
miles from the truth. A good
professional respects other professionals and will try to work with them rather
than against them.
May I ask that when arranging for the saddle fitter, physio or dentist to come out, that you enquire, before booking, what qualifications they hold and whether they hold insurance cover? No fully qualified professional will be anything but delighted to receive such a request and be proud to tell you what they have achieved. Be careful though. Some people in the ‘back person’ and saddle fitting world claim to hold qualifications, when all that they have done is attend a short course, often just a few days, and are given a certificate for this, with no assessment or professional body involved. Ask who they hold the qualification with and look up that awarding body. It’s easy enough on line, where you should be able to see just what was involved in gaining the said ‘qualification’. I know that some saddle manufacturers have their own in-house training, but this is usually for just a week or so. Definitely not long enough to understand anything really!
Increasing your own knowledge will help you work more closely with your saddle fitter and your horse will benefit ...
Kay says; "Knowing when you need to book your saddle fitter is an important aspect of managing all ridden equines. Having spent more than 50 years working with saddles and fitting them to horses and ponies, I have retired from actively fitting saddles and I am now focused on sharing what I’ve learnt to help develop knowledge and understanding of what goes into achieving a correct saddle fit. I feel that video enables me to do that much more effectively than would be possible in a book, I enjoyed the project immensely and am delighted with early feedback from those who have already bought these two videos which are specifically to help Riders and their Trainers understand a little more about saddle fitting and why it is so important for every ridden horse and pony.”
Saddle Fitting Know How - For Riders and Trainers is
available as two videos for unlimited download or streaming from Kay’s own
Vimeo On Demand page for a one-off charge of just £35 per video – less than the
cost of a good quality saddlecloth or a lesson from a trainer!
The first video looks at Conformation and Movement of the
Horse, Types of Tree and their Influence, Different Panels and the Position of
Girth Straps.
The second video explains How to Assess a Saddle for
Soundness, Straightness and Safety, Recognising a Good Fit, the Balance of a
Saddle, When Saddles Move and finally, Rider Influences.
These two new videos contain a huge amount of
information and together they provide over an hour of expert Saddle Fitting
Know How. Certain to become a ‘go-to’ resource, one that you’ll view again and
again, Saddle Fitting Know How – For Riders and Trainers uses clever graphics
alongside clear explanations and insight into many different aspects of
achieving and maintaining a correctly fitting saddle.
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