Research and Its Relevance to You and Your Saddle Fitter

Many of you will follow the work of Dr Russell Mackechnie-Guire of Centaur Biomechanics and be justifiably amazed at the information that he has uncovered through his research, as am I, says Master Saddler and Master Saddler Fitter Kay Hastilow (pictured left).

Although most of us are aware of his work as he generously publishes it on social media, gives many talks, presentations and webinars, he is also part of a team of talented and knowledgeable people similarly involved in research.

Mark Fisher, MS MSF, Dr Jane Nixon MRCVS  and many others are all busy working on different aspects of saddlery – note, no longer just saddle fitting but also girths, bridles, pads and many other items. Mark works regularly with Russell, top class vets and of course, the video operator, as all of this research has to be covered from every angle and to strict protocols. Such research is expensive, so we have to thank Fairfax saddles, in particular Vanessa Fairfax, for really getting the ball rolling with their work on girths, work that has since been continued across their range.

The research is great for design and development, but does this have any advantages for the saddler or saddle fitter working in the front line? You bet it does! Apart from knowing the proven facts of many products, there are many little pieces of information that have been a real help to us.

For example, experienced saddle fitters know that too wide a tree will not work very well, and that horses will not ‘grow into it’ as some have claimed – in fact the result was often the very opposite, but we were a voice crying in the wilderness if we tried to say this. Now we can point to the validated and widely available research done by Russell, Mark and their team that PROVES this. However, we have also found that the odd horse, not all by any means can alter width from the static fitting to the dynamic. Some go wider when working, but some go narrower. Many just stay the same.

It has become glaringly obvious that a horse fitted when static can completely change once ridden, in that a saddle in balance static can tip forward or back once the horse is ridden, often to a considerable degree. I used to fit a good dressage horse where I had to remember to set the saddle at a 30% angle tipping back, because as soon as his rider picked up the reins he would engage his quarters and lift his back so much that the saddle would then be level. If I fitted it level when static, the rider would have been tipped forward so much that she just couldn’t ride him.

Thanks to the research done by all, we now know that the horse’s gait and shape can change when ridden, affecting the fit and balance of the saddle. If your saddle fitter only ‘fits’ your saddle static, you will know that this is a job only half done. Unless there are justifiable reasons for not seeing the horse ridden in the saddle, do not accept this.

You will have seen that I mentioned Dr Jane Nixon in an earlier paragraph , widow of the late and much-lamented Stewart Hastie. He was the veterinary advisor to the Society of Master Saddlers and had been a font of knowledge for the Society when they initiated the qualified saddle fitter course and qualification 25 years ago. I am happy to say that Jane has continued his good work and now advises the SMS on relevant veterinary matters.

However, Jane’s main interest is in soundness, feet, shoeing and the influence of this on gait – an area where she has done a great deal of research. Is this relevant to saddle fitting? Oh yes! Amongst many other things, over long toes can give your horse a sore back! Who knew? And how does this help the saddle fitter? Hands up now. How many people have their horses shod regularly with a space of no more than 4 to 6 weeks between shoeing? Not that many I’m sure, and yet it is so important. Badly balanced feet, different heel depth or a host of other problems can all affect a saddle’s performance. In fact, it is becoming more and more obvious that we really have to look at the horse ‘in the round’, with every aspect of his care, comfort and welfare vitally important as they are all  interlinked.

The research work done by these people has given us so much helpful information and, whilst many of the longer serving fitters knew that back pain was as often as not a symptom rather than a saddle problem per se, we now have the research evidence to which we can refer. In view of this, the SMS has set up a research group who look out areas of saddlery, fitting, design and other areas where research might enhance our knowledge and therefore the comfort and welfare of your horse.

I have just touched the tip of the iceberg with this topic, but at least now you know that much of the information your SMS qualified saddle fitter tells you is research led, verified and available for you to look up yourself. Different days indeed from when you just had to believe what you were told!

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Building your knowledge will benefit both your horse and your riding – and help you work more effectively alongside not only your saddle fitter, but also other professionals in your equine support network.

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 saddle fit. I feel that video enables me to do that much more effectively than would be possible in a book and have produced two videos that I am sure you will find both informative and interesting. Ienjoyed the project immensely and am delighted with feedback from those who have bought my videos.”

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.

Find out more and get access to these unrivalled and informative videos at  

https://vimeo.com/ondemand/saddlefittingknowhow  

Your horse will thank you in more ways than one - and your riding will benefit too!

Click to buy videos for streaming or download

Is Saddle Fit A Welfare Issue?

Wow! What an amazing response! Well into ‘four figures’ of you answered our question “Is saddle fitting a welfare issue?” reports Master Saddler and Master Saddle Fitter Kay Hastilow. I am delighted to say that out of all of these responses, only one person didn’t think that it was so. This has really cheered me, as many of you will know that I have been doing this job not just for many years but for a frightening number of decades and sometimes it felt that I was trying to push a heavy boulder uphill. This poll, however, shows that now the message is out there and that horses will really benefit as a result.

For many years we had people that said “It isn’t necessary. I can tell if a saddle fits or not.” Sadly, in the past this was sometimes the instructors, and their clients would ask them for their opinion. This was often to buy the saddle that they personally liked with absolutely no understanding of the intricacies involved in saddle fitting for both the horse AND the rider. Happily I believe that this is not so widespread as it once was and instructors understand and value the depth of knowledge that a saddle fitter has, and often fitter and instructor will work together to obtain the best possible fit for horse and rider. This really is as it should be, respecting the knowledge and abilities of other people and uniting for the best outcome.

If you employ a properly qualified saddle fitter such as The Society of Master Saddlers Qualified or Master saddle fitter you will know that they will have been fitting saddles under the guidance and support of a  well- qualified and experienced saddle fitter for a minimum of 3 years before they could even sit the exam, to ensure that they had plenty of experience as well as knowledge. Sadly, this is not so with many other qualifications. They also have a strict to code of conduct to which they should adhere, and there is a complaints procedure should you have a problem. Nothing is perfect but I believe that these are the best fitters that you can engage. Also, because I believe every SMS qualified fitter is either totally independent from any saddle manufacturer, or works for a retailer that is likewise totally independent, you can be sure that the fitter will be looking for the best saddle for you and your horse, not just the best from their manufacturer’s range. You will find that most fitters favour one brand over another, but all will hold a selection of brands and styles. It may well be that for that fitter they will know that the range from brand X suits the average type of horse, riding standard and budget within their area, but they are in no way tied to selling just that one brand. Nor do they have a sales target that they have to reach each month for any particular brand. That makes a big difference.

The depth of knowledge that a good saddle fitter has is incredible; our clients often having no inkling of many of the factors taken into consideration by them. Here are but a few.
Tree SHAPE, not just width.
Tree point length. (did you know that shorter points give less support to the panel, so with a high withered horse these are often fitted narrower than the horse’s shape, just to give clearance to the wither? We all know how that could end don’t we?)
Panel shapes and their suitability for various shapes of horse.
Girth strap options that may be necessary to keep the saddle straight for you and your horse. Ever wondered why a fitter is not showing you mono flap saddles with long girth straps? That might be the reason.

Perhaps these will be topics for further blogs. Please let me know if there is something of particular interest to you, or a factor of fitting that you would like explained as I would be happy to write blogs on the most often asked questions.

Stay safe and enjoy your riding. ___________________________________________________________________________________

Increasing your own knowledge of saddles and saddle fitting 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.

Find out more and get access to these unrivalled and informative videos at https://vimeo.com/ondemand/saddlefittingknowhow 

 

Your horse will thank you in more ways than one! 

Click here to buy videos for streaming or download

Horse People and Qualifications; Why Such Disregard For Qualified Experts?

Horse owners need many skills and services to help them keep their much-valued horses and ponies not only in good condition, but also fit and healthy enough to perform the tasks asked of them, whether that be top-level eventing or simply hacking around the woods.

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.

Find out more and get access to these unrivalled and informative videos at https://vimeo.com/ondemand/saddlefittingknowhow 

 

Your horse will thank you in more ways than one! 

 

Click here to buy videos for streaming or download