The Greatest Kindness You Can Do For Any Horse ...

Much of my work as a saddle fitter has involved handling clients’ horses or ponies. When saddle fitting, it is essential to get ‘up close and personal’ as you check their conformation, muscle development, assess for lumps and bumps, tightness, guarding, swellings and sores. Ideally, you will stand behind the animal to check the symmetry of the shoulders, rib cage and the muscle development in the saddle area. All of this requires the horse to stand still and accept this stranger handling them and working around them.

Over the years I, and no doubt most other equine professionals, have developed the knack of quickly building a relationship with the horse, assuring them that I have no intention of causing them harm. However, it is often the case that the owner does not have a good working relationship with their horse, and this can show itself as the horse having no respect of the owner, having very poor manners or sometimes, sadly, the horse is totally in charge and terrorises their human. This lack of manners and respect means that it becomes difficult, if not impossible for us to do our job. We have to spend a great deal of time establishing some ground rules so that we can work safely, and sometimes this is near impossible. We often risk injury, just because the horse is so poorly trained.

I have been lucky, in that only once was I hurt. A pony that I was trying to get to know swung round, knocked me clean off my feet and kicked me as I went down., ‘Oh’ said the owner. ‘She must think you are a vet. She loathes the vet.’ Thanks for the warning! Luckily my leg was not broken but I had an enormous bruise, and I couldn’t drive home for over an hour. I had to cancel my other appointments for that day and the rest of the week, which really isn’t funny when you are self-employed.

I digress. It is surprising how, in many cases I can get the horse to behave itself quite quickly.  No massive ‘sorting out’ – that’s not my way, and it rarely leads to a happy conclusion. I want the animal to respect me, not be frightened of me. Simple things like looking it in the eye and saying, ‘not with me pal.’ Seem to work well. It is often much easier if the owner leaves us for a few minutes, as the nervous vibes really get to the horse. It’s essential that the fitter is calm and unhurried. Our shoulders must be soft and lowered. Horses may not speak words, but they sure know body language!

I’m going to ask a question here. Do you think that its right that we, the equine professionals, have to teach the horse manners? That we have to make it stand still and be handled safely? That someone coming to see your horse has to risk injury to carry out their work? Of course it’s not, but how can we change this?

Education would be a great help, as some owners seem to have come into horse ownership by routes that have meant they have had little to do with horses other than to ride them. Suddenly, they are left alone with this huge beast that looks them over and decides who stands where in the pecking order. If you don’t speak ‘horse’ you could be in for a baptism of fire.

The Pony Club does a great job in teaching many aspects of horsemanship, but often it is the parent who has caught the pony, washed or groomed it and prepared it for the rally or competition. This teaches the child nothing about communication and mutual respect, and ponies really can be terrific teachers with this.

Sadly, not everyone gets to have ponies and go to the Pony Club, many getting their first equine when an adult. Not everyone can afford full livery, and many don’t have a regular trainer, so expert advice and guidance isn’t to hand. What is often available is a huge amount of ‘expert’ advice from all and sundry and sorting the wheat from the chaff can be difficult. This can range from ‘I’ve seen Monty Roberts, and you just give them lots of love and cuddles and they will do anything for you.’ (this isn’t what Monty says by the way, but it’s often interpreted as such) or ‘give it a good thrashing, as it has to learn to respect you.’ Neither will work and you will be left confused, possibly frightened, and with a horse that doesn’t know if it’s coming or going.

I’m not going to tell you how to teach your horse manners – that’s a professional’s job, although everyone I speak to seems to agree that training consists of calmness around the animal, consistency in your commands, repetition and reward – a ‘well done and a pat’, not lots of treats.

Don’t be frightened to ask for help. Watch the professionals around you and, when you find one who’s methods you like and whose horses are a joy to be with, ask for lessons on horse handling. Building a sound relationship on the ground is a great base to build on for your riding with said animal after all. Then you can be proud as the horse stands quietly for the farrier/ saddle fitter/ physio or whoever, and they will be more than grateful.

A quote from Tom Roberts, that I’m happy to share here.

If you are fond of a horse and wish to do him a favour – train him well. Teach him good manners, good habits, both in the stable & under saddle. You never need worry about the future of such a horse if for any reason you may have to part with him. You assure him of friends wherever he goes. Perhaps the greatest kindness you can do any horse is to educate him well.

Tom Roberts. The young horse.

Like many riders and trainers, you've probably thought at some point that understanding more about saddles and saddle fitting would have the potential to help you improve your horse's comfort, performance and also long-term soundness - and not only are you right, you can now do that online, whenever and wherever fits into your busy lifestyle.

With online learning and training now much  more familiar to us all, Kay's highly acclaimed and informative 2-part video series continues to sell around the world since its launch in 2019. Aptly titled Saddle Fitting Know How - For Riders and Trainers, the two videos distil her 50 years of experience into over an hour of what is an unrivalled go-to resource for all Riders and Trainers interested in saddles and saddle fitting. They contain a wealth of information that will be of practical relevance to everyone serious about improving their riding, competing with more success or at a higher level and for those whose career is focused on training riders to develop their horses correctly.
Watch a brief trailer and buy securely online for unlimited streaming or downloading to your device at
https://vimeo.com/ondemand/saddlefittingknowhow

If you are working as a saddle fitter or in training for a career in saddle fitting, Kay's 8-part video series titled Fitting Saddles: The Essential Guide will support your learning and help you develop a more in-depth knowledge of the subject and include invaluable insights into running a successful business as an SMS qualified saddle fitter.

Watch a trailer and invest in one or more of the series that together form a definitive resource to enhance your understanding of saddles and saddle fitting.
Buy securely online for unlimited streaming or downloading to your device at
https://vimeo.com/ondemand/fittingsaddles

 

 

Busting Myths 14 - You should always use the first and third girth straps on your saddle when girthing up

There are many myths that have been going around with regards to saddlery and the use thereof. In this series of posts, I endeavour to show most of them are without foundations and can, in some cases, be the opposite of the actual facts.

Pictured left is author Kay Hastilow, Master Saddler and Master Saddle Fitter.

 

The average saddle used to have just three girth straps each side – one just behind the front arch of the tree on one web, then two more behind this, stitched to a wider web. We were told that this was because there was always a risk of one of the webs breaking, which did happen when we used flax webbing and tin tacks, as the latter tended to rust causing the web to rot and often break. We were told to use the front strap and one other so that you had both webs holding your saddle on. The only exception that you really saw was the addition of point straps which were rivetted to the end of the points of the tree. These were to help prevent the saddle going forward and usually seen on pony saddles.

How things have changed! And I’m happy to say for the better. With the options available to us as saddle fitters now, we are usually able to achieve a good fit with the straps suitably positioned without having to take the saddle away and fit extra straps. Our task is just to make sure that you are clear on which straps you will be using.

To know which straps to use, we need to understand what we are trying to achieve and that is, when the saddle is placed in the correct position, that the most suitable girth straps will lay vertically to the girth groove and therefore to the girth. If they are angled forward or back the saddle will move until that vertical line is achieved which may well pull the saddle forward onto the shoulder or back onto the lumbar area, neither of which is desirable.

On this GP saddle, girth straps from L to R are:
Point Strap
1st strap on a conventional saddle
3rd strap on a conventional saddle
Self centering, V web, back pull / balance strap
NB. Ususally there will only be three straps
each side on such a saddle, the third or back
strap being removed depending on what suits
the horse best for fit. This is just for illustration.

With many horses this will correspond with the old advice to use one and three but that is  assuming that ‘one’ isn’t a point strap, as many saddles now have this fitted as standard. In some makes you will have a point strap, a standard positioned ‘first’ strap followed by two fixings to which you can attach a third strap. The first fixing generally is for when you are using the ‘first’ strap so that you would be using the equivalent of one and three on an older style saddle. The second fixing that your third strap can attach (or is attached) to is either on a fixed web angled forward, or on a V web where the fixing, and therefore the girth strap can find its own centre and not pull the saddle forward. These back straps are usually used when employing the point straps as these will tend to pull the front of the saddle down, causing the back of the saddle to lift, move and bounce. I find the fittings on the V web best for this as the fixed straps, in trying to get vertical are inclined to pull the saddle forward – just what we are trying to prevent by using the point strap! That rather defeats the object of the exercise I find.

Mind you, the other reason for having these back straps is to prevent saddle slip over to one side. Now the reasons for saddle slip are many and we can cover that in another post but if this happens, you have discovered the cause and there is nothing that you can correct in the horse, yourself or the saddle to prevent this, then you need a balance strap. Rather like with side saddles where the rider’s weight is more to the left side of the horse, a balance strap is fitted on the right side to prevent the saddle from moving over to the left. A fixed strap works very well as a balance strap, as does the strap on the V web, but must be used just on the one side, opposite to the way the saddle is moving.

On this dressage saddle from L to R:
Point strap through panel
Web for first strap if point not required
Self centering, V web back strap

Obviously the above is talking about saddles with short girth straps but we have similar options with many dressage / mono flap saddles. Most dressage saddles seem to come with a point strap as standard these days, which I suspect is because so many big moving dressage horses push the saddles forward that makers, especially I suggest those on the Continent, consider this essential. This really isn’t true though as many, especially thoroughbreds that are eventing not only don’t need these straps but positively hate them and will be restricted in their action because of this. I see that many British made saddles nowadays have webs fitted so that you can choose which front strap position is best for your horse – a great advantage I feel.

The point straps, where fitted, can lay in different positions but if angled back a little (as always used to be the case) they will just drag the saddle forward until the straps are perpendicular- just what we are trying to avoid. Once this was realised the point straps were either run through the front panel or under the knee roll, or a loop was sewn to the top of the front panel that the strap goes through, so holding the strap straight. So long as these don’t cause pressure beneath the strap where it crosses the panel this works well for those horses that need this help.

The rear straps are almost universally on a form of V web now, and all the better for that. They help to distribute the pull of the strap over a wider area and give better stability to the saddle, therefore the rider and the horse which, as we all now know enables him to work more easily. If a balance strap is needed this can be achieved by putting some stitches in the web so that there is slightly more pull from the back web fastening than the front but all in all, these options are a huge improvement on what went before.

Of course, none of this helps unless you are using a suitable and well-designed girth, but more on that another day.

 

Understanding more about saddles and saddle fitting has the potential to help you improve your horse's comfort, performance and also long-term soundness - and you can now do that online, whenever and wherever fits into your busy lifestyle.

With online learning and training credibly established as 'the new normal', Kay's highly acclaimed and informative 2-part video series continues to sell around the world since its launch in 2019. Aptly titled Saddle Fitting Know How - For Riders and Trainers, the two videos distil her 50 years of experience into over an hour of what is an unrivalled go-to resource for all Riders and Trainers interested in saddles and saddle fitting. They contain a wealth of information that will be of practical relevance to everyone serious about improving their riding, competing with more success or at a higher level and for those whose career is focused on training riders to develop their horses correctly.
Watch a brief trailer and buy securely online for unlimited streaming or downloading to your device at
https://vimeo.com/ondemand/saddlefittingknowhow

 

If you are working as a saddle fitter or in training for a career in saddle fitting, Kay's 8-part video series titled Fitting Saddles: The Essential Guide will support your learning and help you develop a more in-depth knowledge of the subject and include invaluable insights into running a successful business as an SMS qualified saddle fitter.

Watch a trailer and invest in one or more of the series that together form a definitive resource to enhance your understanding of saddles and saddle fitting.
Buy securely online for unlimited streaming or downloading to your device at
https://vimeo.com/ondemand/fittingsaddles