Saddle Fitting and Proper Carriage of the Horse

    I find it hard to successfully fit a saddle to a horse without proper back, neck and head carriage. We go to great lengths to find a superbly fitting saddle, yet our horse might be overweight, hollowed backed or we never lope on both leads so his one shoulder muscle is much bigger then other which makes our saddle to sit slanted and we think one stirrup is lower then other, yup I've been there.

    Bits also play a big role in lot of the above, at least in the first couple years of the horses training. Esp when it comes to trail horses or distance horses. In an arena setting we usually have time and opportunity to stop, recollect our horse and go on again. This is less likely to happen while riding out on a trail with few friends who would most likely leave us in the dust if we would stop every 30 paces and reset our horses head and pick up his belly. Or they would not ride with us very often. I find it very popular to ride green horses in halters, side pulls and snaffles for months, years or lifetime of the horse and it works for many folks, but there is a process which I usually follow, now I say usually because every horse is different, this is just my general rule.

    I start my horses in a halter, within few days I will go to a 3 piece snaffle bit and usually start paying attention to the horse’s back very quick. I find Myler type shank bits work very well for me, but again I predominantly work with trail horses and I like to go bit faster then a walk. In most cases horses realize within few days that if they lift their nose they can fight the rider and of course hollow their back. This is more common then lot of us realize or are able to see. Now to fit a saddle on this horse will never really work very well. Most of the time the saddle will be "bridging". Therefore expensive saddle doesn't have to be our first choice, sometimes we can focus on proper carriage, bit and building equal muscles on both sides of our horse’s back.

    It is up to you how you get there, you might very well be more skilled then I am with your hands and reins, but in my opinion proper back carriage is something we should pay attention to while fitting a saddle...

        John