Saddle/SaddleTree Fit |
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As the oldest and largest manufacturer of classic wood western saddle trees, we at Steele Saddle Tree receive a large volume of inquiries regarding saddle fit.The majority come from riders who are experiencing difficulty finding a properly fitting saddle for their horse. These horses are frequently described as 'unusual' shaped because every off-the-rack saddle they've tried causes soring, is unstable, won't stay in position, or their horse acts up when it is placed on the horse's back; all of which can be indications of improper fit. I can assure you as a saddle treemaker with literally dozens of available fits,'unusual' is the new normal.
When horses were the chief mode of personal and family transportation in this country, they were bred to a somewhat |
| uniform conformation within the breed. A saddle represented a considerable investment, so it wasn't necessarily replaced as often as your horse. The saddle often needed to properly fit your last, your present and your next horse. A horse that didn't fit your saddle rendered your investment worthless, so was not in great demand. 'Unusual' shaped horses were relegated to activities other than riding, such as pulling wagons and carriages or plowing. With the present demand for carriage and plow horses at essentially zero, there is now only one major market for horses - Riders. Uniform conformation, as a prerequisite for buying a 'riding' horse, has disappeared over the past century as the understanding and awareness of proper fit has declined. In other words, there was a time when if you bought a 'riding' horse, chances were it fit your saddle. There are no longer 'riding' horses, 'carriage' horses or 'plow' horses. They're all 'riding' horses now! But riders continue to consider proper fit a given (though there is a growing awareness of the problems associated with improperly fitting saddles). We're never going back to the way it was, so the next step is to increase rider knowledge of proper fit in order that these 'unusual' shaped horses must no longer suffer under poorly fitting saddles. |
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| It All Begins with
the Saddle Tree |
In the simplest terms, a saddle is an
upholstered saddle tree. Some trees
require the saddler to create and shape the
saddle seat, but the underside shape, or 'fit',
is not routinely altered by the western
saddler. Therefore, how your saddle fits,
or conforms to your horse's back, is
determined primarily by the shape of the
tree inside. If the tree doesn't fit properly,
neither will the saddle. There are pads that
enable you to fill in the spaces created by
or resulting from an improper fit. These
function well for fine tuning a relatively
close fit, but cannot completely
compensate for a drastically improper fit,
so should not be used as a permanent
substitute for a truly properly fitting saddle
tree / saddle. |
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| What is Proper Fit? |
At Steele Saddle Tree we define proper
fit as achieving contact between the tree
and the horse's back over as large an area
as possible while not creating pressure
points during normal riding activity. This
distributes the combined weight of the
rider and equipment over as large an area
as possible, thus reducing the pound per
square inch ratio (the more square inches
of bearing surface, the less weight per
square inch with a given load). There is
no single, absolute definition of proper fit
because different riding disciplines benefit
from slight variations. For instance, a
barrel racing tree gives the rider an
advantage if it has additional clearance at
the ends of the bars so that 'bridging' and
the associated restriction is not an
impediment to the horse when bending
around the barrels. A cutting tree gives an
advantage to the rider by having a flatter
rear rafter angle. This allows the rear of
the saddle to float, thereby not restricting
the horse's maneuverability by locking the
horse's rear end to its front. There are as
many of these slight variations as there are
disciplines but, in general, more contact
means less pressure per square inch and
thus less likelihood of restricted blood flow
and skin/muscle trauma. |
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| Fit Classification-
Confusion Rules |
| Despite the near-universal use of
measurements (gullet, spread, etc.) and
breed- or body type-specific descriptions
(semi-quarter, full quarter, draft, gaited,
etc.), there are NO INDUSTRY-WIDE
ACCEPTED AND UTILIZED
STANDARDS for saddle tree fits! It's
every saddle tree maker for themselves;
one tree makers' 'quarter horse' fit is not
necessarily the same as another's. Even
within some tree maker's own lines, the
same fit description can be applied to
entirely differently shaped trees.
Furthermore, it is impossible to accurately
describe - especially for comparison
purposes - the complex, three dimensional
shape of a saddle tree using a few
measurements from one side to the other. |
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| Determining Your Needs
and Selecting Your
Saddle |
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Due to the reasons mentioned, it is
virtually impossible to determine that your
horse needs, say, a 'quarter horse' fit. The
only way to know if a particular saddle
truly fits your horse is to place a tree
identical to the one inside the saddle onto
your horse. This is impractical and more
often than not, impossible (How many
stores have trees that correspond to all
saddles in stock?). Steele Equi-Fit saddle
trees are the only ones on the market that
adhere to an across-the-board standard of
fit that can be readily tried or demonstrated
on your |
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| horse using 'Fit-To-Be-Seen'
(FTBS), the Equi-Fit saddle tree fit
designation and demonstration system. An
overview of Fit To Be Seen® (FTBS)
follows. |
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