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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 974
  
Location: USA | Ok, bought a saddle for my horse and I thought it fit fine. I had my 3/4 5 star underneath and sweat patterns were always even, no dry spots anywhere. Well, fast forward a couple of months and my horse is not working like she had been. Something kept telling me saddle fit. I switched pads on her because I was thinking the saddle was too small and I wanted to see if the saddleright pad would show different sweat patterns, and sure enough she had a huge dry spot on her left shoulder and a smaller one on her right shoulder. But the day before I rode her in the 5 star and the sweat pattern was good. Just some food for thought . . . |
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What Name?
Posts: 1994
| I was always told to try them with a very thin saddle pad. But 5 star seems to compensate for a lot fo saddle missfittings. |
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Married to a Louie Lover
Posts: 3303
| Try a 1/2" 5 star. I have a 3/4 and a 1/2 and it makes a world of difference. I thought for months about selling the 3/4" because it just sits there, but I'm glad I didn't because I just started putting some rides on a friends mare and it fits her perfect, for right now. She needs topline and I have no doubt with a month or so of rides on her, she'll be sharing the 1/2" with my boy. I also tried a saddleright because I found a used one for a deal. I wasn't crazy about the fit and my horse flat out hated it.
I also make it a point once a month or so to throw my saddle up there without a pad and really check the fit. Everyday when I saddle I'm checking shoulder clearance, and occasionally running my hand along the entire bar under the pad to check for pinching.
Saddle fit is an evolving art because muscular structures change. I went through 4 saddles last year, saw my horse add enough muscle behind his wither to fill in the dip and go from a 7" to an 8" crown c. We got pretty far along into fitting a 9.5" in the wither, but he's not broad enough through the back and loins to fit there. Ended up with a standard tree Pozzi Pro. I think if we had tried the Pozzi before the crown c's he would have been a case for a #10 with the dips behind the shoulder, I prefer to build the topline and fill in the dip.
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 974
Location: USA | OhMax - 2015-04-23 7:31 AM
Try a 1/2" 5 star. I have a 3/4 and a 1/2 and it makes a world of difference. I thought for months about selling the 3/4" because it just sits there, but I'm glad I didn't because I just started putting some rides on a friends mare and it fits her perfect, for right now. She needs topline and I have no doubt with a month or so of rides on her, she'll be sharing the 1/2" with my boy. I also tried a saddleright because I found a used one for a deal. I wasn't crazy about the fit and my horse flat out hated it.
I also make it a point once a month or so to throw my saddle up there without a pad and really check the fit. Everyday when I saddle I'm checking shoulder clearance, and occasionally running my hand along the entire bar under the pad to check for pinching.
Saddle fit is an evolving art because muscular structures change. I went through 4 saddles last year, saw my horse add enough muscle behind his wither to fill in the dip and go from a 7" to an 8" crown c. We got pretty far along into fitting a 9.5" in the wither, but he's not broad enough through the back and loins to fit there. Ended up with a standard tree Pozzi Pro. I think if we had tried the Pozzi before the crown c's he would have been a case for a #10 with the dips behind the shoulder, I prefer to build the topline and fill in the dip.
My husband (who is not a horse person) is starting to question my sanity on why I have so many saddles and not enough horses. And I just checked, my pad is 7/8 thick, not 3/4. I think when I bought my first 2, I was going by their website's recommendations on saddle thickness for barrel racing.
That's the thing, I started legging this mare up about 2 months ago and she's gotten so much more stout and defined. My saddle fit ok before, but not so much anymore. I bought a bigger saddle for her, but it's a hair too small for me. Go figure. I have my mare right now in a 10.5" gullet and it fits her, but like I said, she's really stout. I just thought it was interesting how the 5 star pad "hid" the poor saddle fit. I think the pads are great and they are supposed to help ill-fitting saddles so it definitely was doing its job. But, at least in my case, it definitely hid dry spots that showed up with another pad.
I totally agree that saddle fitting is an evolving art and a constant work in progress. I have another mare whose right shoulder is significantly smaller than her left and her shoulders are uneven from years of poor saddle fit. Working with her to get it better. |
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 Famous for Not Complaining
Posts: 8848
Location: Broxton, Ga | 7/8" is what I think the website suggest. Is what I use no dry spots. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 927
Location: Iowa | You also need to check how their hair lays after taking off the pad. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 313
Location: WI | memory - 2015-04-23 9:16 PM You also need to check how their hair lays after taking off the pad.
If the hair is ruffed up in a circular area is the saddle to wide? or? |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 974
Location: USA | Mine will have kinda ruffed up hair over her loin area which made me think her saddle was too narrow for that area . . . ??? Everywhere else is normal |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 974
Location: USA | CJE - 2015-04-23 8:26 PM 7/8" is what I think the website suggest. Is what I use no dry spots.
That's what I used and had no dry spots. However, my mare has been refusing to turn the left barrel and with a different pad I have a nice sized dry spot on her left side and a smaller one on the right side. |
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