I am constantly amazed that riders (and too often their trainers) are
oblivious it seems, to the importance of the balance of the saddle. If they are
aware of this, then there are some rather weird ideas as to how to see if the
balance is correct. Apparently, you can ‘put a cotton reel on the seat and it
should stay in the centre’. Oh yeah! This takes no account of how the horse
reacts when the rider gets on.
He may drop his back, in which case the saddle, previously
thought to be ‘level’ will be tipping back. When he is actually working,
he may well ‘lift his back’ into the saddle, and it would then be tipping
forward. Funnily enough, both faults will make the rider tip forward as the
rider attempts to prevent themselves from getting left behind, often bracing
their lower back in an effort to stay upright. Sore backs (with the rider)
commonly result from this.
I find that the best way for a rider or trainer to see if
the balance is correct is to ride the horse so that he is warmed up and going
as you expect and then have someone take a film of this. You can freeze frame
it on side views to see, does the saddle look level? Is it tipping back , so
that the rider is tipping forward in an effort to stay upright? Is the saddle
tipping ‘downhill’, with the rider probably sticking their legs out forward and
bracing themselves to stay ‘in position’?
It is easy to put a temporary pad under the front or back of
the saddle to try and balance it and ride with it like this to see if there is
an improvement in the rider’s position. If the results are good, then contact
your qualified saddle fitter to correct this for you. It might be necessary to
use adjusting pads to get the result that you want, and I would suggest that
trainers should have a multi-adjustable pad, such as the Prolite thin multi-adjuster pad with them when teaching, as correctly balancing the saddle will
greatly improve their pupil’s position.
__________________________________________________________
When you don't know what you don't know ...
Kay explains; “I have spent more than 50 years working with
saddles and fitting them to horses and ponies. Having now having retired from
actively fitting saddles, I am focused on sharing what I’ve learnt to help
develop knowledge and understanding of what goes into achieving a correct
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would be possible in a book. I enjoyed the project immensely and am
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The first video looks at Conformation and Movement of the
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