Riddle me this

[flaboy-]

You know I understand the logic behind saddle fitting but riddle me this.

How come we used to buy our saddles out of the Roebuck catalog, ride our horses 8-10 hours a day up to 4 days a week, and never had one problem with sores or irritated backs. Heck, all I hear now when someone says their horse cuts up is "check the saddle fit".

We used to have four saddle horses and six saddles. We never really cared about putting any of these saddles on any of the horses. We used old doubled up blankets, not the big padded things around today. Granted they were all quarter horses and all the saddles except one were roping saddles so I guess quarter horse bars. We never had a horse get a sore or a sore back. If one of horses bucked it when we first jumped on them at 2 years old.

I think we sometimes get carried away. I understand a poorly fitted saddle can cause problems but.................

 

[cowspider]

I agree< I think some times we blame the fit of a saddle for poor horsemanship on the part of the rider. pull on their mouth, kick 'em in the slats and you get a antsy horse. I rode an old Sear's and sawbuck saddle and never had a horse complain. ;-) :cboy:

 

[chippie]

Horses bodies have changed over the years. The saddles that were made in the 1920's, 30's, 40s and 50' would not fit the majority of horses today.

True, I agree with what you said about riding all day with a sears roebuck saddle, but you need to remember that those saddles were probably better quality than many of the cheap saddles today.

Plus some horses are more stoic than others about pain.

Also, as time goes by, people learn more. I have personally had experience with bad behavior caused by a bad saddle fit.

The bad behavior was solved with a trainers help. This horse was running through the bit, wouldn't stop until he reached the fence. Wouldn't take his right lead. He was 3 years old and the problem needed to be fixed before it became a habit.

I thought it was in his head, so off he went. He came back a changed citizen. He worked pretty good, would have his moments, then the white hair showed up.

I honestly thought that I knew how to fit a saddle. I thought that his fit well. Then I heard people talk about bad fit causing bad behavior and started wondering about my horse. A friend told me about a saddle fitting tape made by a saddle maker. I bought it, watch it and found out I didn't know poop about fitting a saddle after owning horses for a quarter of a century.

I checked the saddle on the horse and found that it bridged and was too tight against his shoulders. No wonder he didn't want to take a lead, he banged his shoulder against the tree.

I finally found a Double J team penning saddle with a 7 inch gullet and full quarter horse bars that fits him right. He is a short stocky quarter horse with mutton withers and a short back.

I'm glad that I bought the tape and learned about a saddle fits, because now if a horse has a bad attitude or problem and I know that the saddle fits then the horse doesn't have any excuse to act stupid.

http://www.aboutthehorse.com

 

[flaboy-]

Glad things worked out for you Chippie. You know when I got these two youngsters I decided it was time for a couple new saddles. I have an old big horn from the 40's and the Roebuck from the 60's but didn't trust them so I bought new roping saddles. The new ones are pretty well made by a guy in Alabama but soon I went back to the Roebuck. I am using a Roebuck I bought around 62 new. It has back swept forks an has help up to Bronco Skip's little fits. I put it on my two year old and I am working with him in it also. Eventually when I get these guys convinced I am in-charge I will go to the new ones again.

I probably have more hours in that saddle than many truckers have in their trucks. When I get in it I feel like it is part of me.

I have one horse with a longer straight top line and one that is a short back with a little sharper withers. When old Skip (long back) started his crap I remembered what folks said about saddle fit. I put every saddle I had on him and it didn't change a thing. Hence this thread. I just look at how the saddle rests on them and if I see no obvious problems they get ridden in it.

 

[chippie]

What I learned is that you can't always tell by looking at the saddle on the horse.

The way I learned to check a saddle's fit, it to put the saddle on the horse without a pad.

Run your hand up under the saddle under the bars where you sit. Then slide your hand towards the horse's rump. You should be able to feel the bars sitting on top of your hand until you reach the rear of the tree and then it should rise away from the horse.

On my horse, there was a gap between the horse and the saddle (bridging) and that caused the rear of the tree (the rock) to dig into his back over his loin.

Many of the newer saddles have skirts that come further down the horse's shoulder's than the older type.

You can check to see if there is room for the horse's shoulder's to move by sliding your hand under the saddle. There should be room for your hand to fit. If you have to raise the saddle up to get your hand under, it is too tight for the horse to turn comfortably.

I like the contoured pads too, especially for a horse with good withers.

I hope that I didn't get preachy because I didn't mean too.

Some horses are smart, and those are the ones that keep you on your toes. I think that those usually make the best working horses. They like having a job.

 

[flaboy-]

Preach all you want chippie. It don't offend me none. Heck I never listened to the preacher anyway. :lol:

 

[ALACOWMAN]

I live close to the saddle make'n capital in ala. where was your saddle made?

 

[flaboy-]

Bryant, Alabama :cboy:

 

[ALACOWMAN]

Bryant, Alabama :cboy:

thats it.. ider, bryant, flatrock, are eat up with saddle makers. they all worked at one time for big horn or simco years ago.. then went out on their on, who was your maker? that big horn is a collector so might want to hang on to it

 

[flaboy-]

Jerry Payne
Manager
Riders Choice Saddle Co.

Yep, I talked to him at length. He used to make saddles for quite a few of the "BIG" name makers. I think he still does when they get behind.

I had him to do some mods to mine but stopped short of the back-swept forks I wanted. I should have gotten them though but at an additional $250 I figured I would use my 40 YO saddle until I get all the foolishness out of them.

I bet that old Big Horn I have must weigh in at 50-60 pounds.

 

[ALACOWMAN]

friend of mine built two of my saddles built on modified association tree's would'nt trade em for any

 

[dewey]

i think most problems come from people useing the wrong size pads. go on some of the trailrides around and look what people are useing. if my saddle lenghth is 28 inches i want my pad to be atleast 32 inches long. i want some pad showing from underneath my saddle. two inches sticking out in front and that much or more behind same way on the sides. some people you can see any pad sticking out from under their saddles. it looks like they just have a saddle on the horse. look closer and the pad is shorter then the saddle and the back of the saddle is rubbing the hair off the horses back hips. some people have big wide saddles sitting on their horses withers. them kind they need to put two pads on the horse to make the saddle stand up. in the mean time they need to be saddle shopping for one that fits better. i myself like a square cut saddle better then a round cut saddle. one more thing that causes some back problems is the way some people ride instead of sitting up in the saddle they tend to lean to one side or the other. they sit on a horse kinda sideways for some reason. i asked one person why they did that they wasnt aware they was rideing like that.

 

[Alan]

You know I understand the logic behind saddle fitting but riddle me this.

How come we used to buy our saddles out of the Roebuck catalog, ride our horses 8-10 hours a day up to 4 days a week, and never had one problem with sores or irritated backs. Heck, all I hear now when someone says their horse cuts up is "check the saddle fit".

We used to have four saddle horses and six saddles. We never really cared about putting any of these saddles on any of the horses. We used old doubled up blankets, not the big padded things around today. Granted they were all quarter horses and all the saddles except one were roping saddles so I guess quarter horse bars. We never had a horse get a sore or a sore back. If one of horses bucked it when we first jumped on them at 2 years old.

I think we sometimes get carried away. I understand a poorly fitted saddle can cause problems but.................

Okay time to sound like CB on this one. The problem is not so much the saddle fit as it is the person fitting the saddle. I think as long as you have the basic right fit for a saddle... full QH bars, ect. it should be fine for a while. Meaning if your horse is acting up and you have the basic right fit on, it's probably the horsemans fault, not the saddle fit. Most newbies act like the horse is a dog and should react the same as a dog to petting and nice talk.... wrong. Horses do like the soft hand and scratching of the wethers, but they are not really too much of a companion animal.... I know some of you people have that "special bond", but dump some gain on the ground and try to do something with the horse while the grain is on the ground.

The problem is that people treat horses like a dog (a predator) instead of a prey animal.... trust and respect is all there is to it.

Alan

 

[flaboy-]

Come on Alan. When you said sound like CB I thought I was really in for some tounge lashing. :lol: Not stuff that makes sense!

Hey, you scratch that truck yet? Ya need to go ahead and put a little scratch in it somewhere so you use it for a truck.