How To Train And Qualify As A Saddle Fitter

Many people ask me how they can obtain training as a saddle fitter and what qualifications are required to start. If you are someone thinking of a career as a saddle fitter, you’ll also want to understand what qualification they will get at the end of your training and assessment. For a seemingly simple question the answers aren’t just so straightforward, says Master Saddler and Master Saddle Fitter Kay Hastilow (pictured left), but here I will try and put together both facts and advice on this subject.

Academic qualifications are not required to become a saddle fitter although sufficient literacy and numeracy are necessary to carry out your work. It is a craft / skill as much as anything and a surprising number of fitters are, for example, dyslexic to some extent. However, you must be able to take readable notes, communicate with your clients clearly and work out your bills correctly.

Experience with horses is a bonus. Perhaps surprisingly, in the early days many people on the saddle fitting course came from a truly trade background and didn’t know much about horses at all. Over the years this has changed, and the majority of trainee saddle fitters now come from an equestrian background.

At present it takes a minimum of three years to train and qualify as a saddle fitter with the Society of Master saddlers (SMS Qualified Saddle Fitter), which is a City and Guilds qualification. This qualification is recognised world-wide and is, in my opinion, the only qualification worth considering. This course is currently being reviewed and updated to enhance the training, but it won’t be any shorter overall. It will however give greater help and guidance along the way than has sometimes been the case in the past. Of course, more intensive training and modules will come at a cost, so you will need money to complete your training and attend the modules as is expected of you to gain your qualification. Details of the course and costs involved will be available soon from the SMS, although of course Covid has delayed the development work to some extent - but see link at the end of this piece.

There are shorter courses out there, but I suggest that these might be missing out on rather a lot, as our three years are very full. One week’s training, or even six weeks isn’t going to give you anything like sufficient knowledge to be a good saddle fitter. People trained this way just don’t know how much they just don’t know and sadly many horses may suffer from this ignorance.

You cannot sit the SMS assessment until you have been fitting for a minimum of three years to ensure that you have good experience in fitting – miles on the clock if you will. This time should be spent under the mentorship of a Master Saddle Fitter (MSF) or Qualified saddle fitter (QSF). This does not mean that you have to work for them, but rather that they will be available to you for some training, advice and to help you with any problems that might occur. This would mean that a saddlery shop without a qualified fitter could employ you (after some basic training) and you could still be registered as a trainee with mentorship with the SMS.

Getting a job as a trainee with a Qualified Saddle Fitter will not be easy as there are many applications for such a post should one come available. Good QSFs or MSFs will be very busy and taking on a trainee will seriously restrict the amount of work that they can do, as each fitting takes much longer if you are explaining everything and pointing out things of importance and interest. I would say that it would be, at the very least, the equivalent of losing one fitting a day for the first three months. Add to that your wages (low as you may think them) and you will see that taking on a trainee is a serious and costly consideration. There are also many legalities that must be dealt with correctly when taking on a trainee, all time consuming. At some time, the trainee will be sent out on their own and this is a big worry for their Master. They value their clients and will always worry for the first few months that everything is going okay. Remember that these people have spent many years building their reputation and business and it only takes a wrong attitude or bad error to destroy that reputation. I am not trying to justify the reluctance of some fitters to take on trainees, rather to explain some of the reasoning behind it.

Anyone considering taking on a trainee will be looking for someone keen and committed. Someone with a driving licence. Confident but not arrogant, prepared to work very hard (saddle fitting is NOT an easy job!) and happy in their own company. You will be on your own for many hours of the day so that is an essential attribute. Remember that if you gain such a position your employer is investing many thousands of pounds in you. Yes, the wages might not be massive, but I doubt many taking on trainees will see a return on their investment until the last couple of months of training. Some trainees find the going tough – clients are VERY demanding - and many trainees quit after a couple of years. For the employer, that represents a loss of thousands of pounds. Others, having gained their qualification promptly leave, so again the employer has lost out. This is why they will want determination, loyalty and commitment from prospective trainees. Training in bench skills may be a good indicator of such commitment.,

 Whilst you don’t have to be a ‘bench saddler’, i.e. making and repairing saddlery to become a saddle fitter this certainly adds to your appeal to a prospective employer. You will have to take the flocking course and exam before you can qualify, and this will be much easier if you already have some bench skills. It also means that when you go out fitting and a saddle needs re-flocking you can do that work yourself, (provided you have practised and practised until you can consistently produce an excellent finish) knowing exactly how you want it to be and make any adjustments required at the re-fitting. 

There are several options for this type of training.  There is Capel Manor in Enfield, just inside Greater London and a saddlery training centre is due to open this year in Walsall, West Midlands. Both offer courses of two years, I believe, and these can lead to a City and Guilds qualification. They will teach you a broad range of skills, many of which will help you as a saddle fitter and to understand just how a saddle is made – essential knowledge for a fitter. There are also several small commercial saddlery schools around the country offering short courses that can work towards City and Guilds qualifications. Some will take you right the way through but many offer ‘starter’ courses to teach you basic skills. Once you have the basics you can go to The Saddlery Training Centre in Salisbury, Wiltshire where they again do week long courses that can, over time, get you to your bench skills qualifications. This excellent centre is an approved test centre and many bench saddlers have honed their skills with Mark Romain here.

Another thing that can improve your chances of landing that precious training job is broadening your equestrian knowledge in many fields, as will any relevant training that you have taken prior to applying. I’m thinking things like Horses Inside Out with Gillian Higgins, so that you understand anatomy and movement more clearly (so essential for fitting successfully), any of the training sessions or webinars run by Dr Russell McKechnie-Guire of Centaur Biomechanics and other courses providing knowledge and training about horses, especially in anatomy, movement, gait abnormalities and the like. Time spent out with a good equestrian vet will also be beneficial if you can arrange it. It all helps and shows determination and commitment.

Just be careful if you are looking at ‘training in saddle fitting’ from some sources. There are some weird, unsubstantiated theories out there and you don’t want to muddy your thinking with such content. Look by all means, but always ask “what testing has been done to substantiate your claims”? Has such testing been done to strict protocols, has it been repeated and is it repeatable?’ You will be amazed how many of these enthusiastic people go very quiet when you ask this question. I know of some that have just refused to answer after repeated requests for this information (we know, then that realistic testing has not been carried out in such cases.)  Alternatively, they will say something like “Overall it showed XYZ”, but refuse to tell you what protocols have been used. You can make figures tell you many things if you cherry pick the bits you want. Always question, never take anything as gospel without proper backup. Almost all of the training given by the SMS is backed up by scientific research, so can be trusted.

Some saddle fitters are prepared to take people out for a day’s fitting to observe the work and gain a great deal of knowledge during the day. This will give you an idea if you like the work and want to pursue it as a career or increase your knowledge if you are working towards your qualification, but do expect to pay for this as it is time consuming and very tiring to take trainees with you. Also, some fitters will give a couple of days intensive training in fitting to get you started or to improve your skills. This is something that I do  occasionally, but you should expect to pay for this, whoever gives it.

You will know that I produced a series of films on saddle fitting – ‘ Fitting Saddles: The Essential Guide’ available from my Vimeo On Demand pages (details at the end of this piece),  which will give a good insight into what is expected of you as a fitter and all that is involved, as well as a great deal of information on fitting. The series is very good starting point for anyone thinking of this as a career and provides a good basic knowledge if you are lucky enough to gain a position as a trainee.

When looking for a trainee position, be prepared to move and live elsewhere. You would be very lucky to find someone willing to take you within easy travelling distance unfortunately.  Understand that the pay will not be very much at least for the first few years so you won’t be earning a lot, but neither will your employer whilst training you!

It may seem to you that I have not been very encouraging in this article. This is because you need to want this very badly to get into the profession, but having said that, this is the most rewarding, pleasurable job that I can imagine. I have been a saddler for over 50 years, specialising in fitting for at least 45 of those. I have seen horses branded as ‘bad’ blossom and become happy and contented, as are their owners. I have seen ‘lame’ horses come sound. I have seen ‘stoppers’ and ‘nappers’ learn to love their work and the amazing thing is that the horses often remember you. To be greeted with a whinny and a cuddle from past equine customers is a thrill that I just can’t describe, so if you think that this is a job for you, go for it and I hope that you get as much joy from it as I have done.

©  Kay Hastilow July 2020

More information on training as a saddle fitter can be found on
The Society of Master Saddlers' website at www.mastersaddlers.co.uk/training

You can find our more about my series of training films -
Fitting Saddles; The Essential Guide at https://vimeo.com/ondemand/fittingsaddles
which once purchased, can be streamed anytime, watched on TV, mobile or tablet or downloaded as DRM-free SD, HD and mobile files. 

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