Should I use a Western saddle or English saddle for my horse?
Elaine
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- 7 Comments
The best saddle for you & your horse is the one that fits you both perfectly. However, in my experience with about 15 saddle fitters in Ireland a fe years back, I found only 1 guy in Cork who could accurately fit a saddle, to my satisfaction.
And the bad news is that many of my horse friends in Europe, UK, Australia & the USA have had the same issues. It’s really difficult to be able to find a saddle fitter you can trust.
I’ve seen bad saddle fits which were said to ‘fit’ – my own horse included – and which actually didn’t fit the horse and caused pain!
My own poor horse had to get a physio out to after two saddle fitters, approved saddles didn’t actually fit him.
How do I check if my saddle fits my horse?
First, get a physio out to check your horse for back pain.
At least once a year I get my equine physiotherapist out, and after an hours session she can tell me exactly if and where my horse has any tender spots, pain or physical issues.
And she can tell me if there are any issues along my horses back.
This is priceless information, and quite often if a saddle is hurting the horse, the horse might not show obvious pain, so the rider may not know about it.
Whats bad about a saddle that doesn’t fit?
A saddle that doesn’t fit the horse will cause you a lot of issues. Sadly many horses just suffer in silence and you may be unaware of the issue. This can start at not liking being groomed, or not standing still at the mounting block. And it can led onto bolting, rearing, bucking & refusing to move.
A saddle that doesn’t fit you, or puts you in a chair position, will make it very difficult for you to sit in balance on the horse, rather than behind the movement. If you would like to work on nice lateral work and soft feel and lightness, a saddle that actually helps you is a great asset.
So step 1 – get a physio out at least once a year to check your horse. Find out as soon as you can if your current saddle is ok.
What type of saddle is best for my horse?
Buying saddles – General
If you are jumping, then you need a jumping saddle. If you are not jumping, if you are just doing flatwork, then you really need a dressage saddle if your budget allows. Jumping saddles and a lot of GP saddles are forward cut.
This forward cut means the knee roll area will block your horses shoulders when you are doing any type of flat-work or arena work.
So any nice bends and sideways movements you want will be restricted by the cut of your GP / jumping saddle. So – if you can – and you jump & ride flat, you’re looking at 2 saddles.
English Dressage saddles
You’ll notice a lot of dressage saddles for sale are ‘medium’ fit. 99% of them will probably not fit your horse! Any medium’s I’ve seen have ended up being very narrow indeed. Stand in front of your horse and look at his body. It is an upside down V? Is he a round circle? Have some idea of his shape before you go looking on the internet.
Large knee rolls – are a fashion, not a necessity. the issue with them is they tend to make you sit a little further back in the saddle, behind the balance point and behind the strongest part of the horse’s back. Any rider who sits too far back on the horses back (where it is not as strong to be able to support the riders weight) may lead to back pain for the horse.
A super useful tip – High quality adjustable saddles and very well known, especially in Germany. The more I see the more I reckon having a saddle you can adjust the width in is a very good idea.
Especially if you can’t try 40+ more traditionally made demo saddles on and pick the one that suits you perfectly.
In general for dressage saddles, the range in stock in Ireland is limited to just a few brands. So there is not a huge amount of choice really, and the brands are not very well known dressage saddles.
This could be the case in many parts of the world I reckon!
Western Saddles
These are very popular. Unfortunately most of these are too long. And many have you sitting in an armchair position. Both are which are not good at all for your horse’s back health.
It’s very rare to find a weetern saddle that is the correct length for the horses back. The ‘fashion’ is long. Ugh.
It could be useful to see some saddles, built like the old Vaquero saddles which are a shorter length. You can see some well made western saddles here.
Barok & Baroque saddles
Baroque saddles are not to be found much in Ireland but Deuber (DP in the USA and Australia) the German brand do a great selection of treeless / and 100% adjustable gullet baroque saddles called ‘Startrekk’.
You can find them in Australia, UK, Europe & the USA.
I got one to try on my round, short, flat backed Connie. Its on its widest setting, is lovely and short and seems to fit with no issues!! There are also other nice Deubers in different ranges. I also have tried and loved the Buckeburger and Orleans treed Spanish saddles from Deuber.
I LOVE my Deuber. While it has a leather tree it feels exactly like a traditional treed saddle.
I feel really secure in it, a bit like in an Aussie stock or western saddle, due to the raised pommel & cantle parts.
Deuber saddles of various styles tend to put the rider naturally into the shoulder – hip – heel position, and not have you sit too far back.
This is super important for me to be balanced as a rider.
And it’s super important for the horse that you don’t sit too far back on his back (armchair style) as that’s likely to cause bad pain for your horse.
I also now have a treed Deuber baroque saddle, with an adjustable width tree. I’m ridden in it for 2 months.
Custom made saddles
A custom made saddle for your horse, does not meant it is going to fit either. Just google it and you’ll read lots of stories about how this went wrong for many horse owners.
Yesterday the physio came out to check all the horses. Oz’s back is perfect and he has never looked this good.
Sommer (Germany) are one of the few brands that do both a upside down shaped ‘V’ tree (like most trees) but also an upside down ‘U’ shaped tree, for horses that are very broad right along their spine.
However you cannot adjust the width of their saddles until you have a massive machine to do this.
Barepack pads
If you are in the unfortunate situation like many of us that have a saddle that doesn’t fit, as a temporary measure here are some very nice bareback pads. The Grandeur are the fanciest but there are a few more nice brands out there also.
One of the most important tools we use to connect with our horses when we ride, is the saddle we sit in.
So it’s 110% critical that it doesn’t cause any pain for the horse, and that it fits both the rider & the horse.
Elaine.
Tressna Martin
Thanks for this – it is very timely. I had my saddle re-fitted on 20 December and have done my 100km since then. Dusty showed signs of lameness and I remeasured him – he’d filled out 12mm but had atrophied at the shoulders. I put the old (wider) gullet in. I had the vet come out yesterday and she says the saddle is marginally too long and the channel is too narrow and gives me an armchair seat. I also tried on the dressage saddle which I dont use and she said it was worse.
It took me a year to find my current saddle- and agonised over the fits of about 30 saddles before I bought it. Ive had 4 saddle fitters help me but in the end, you can only trust your horse.
CLAUS POHL
Hi Elaine! This is a nice blog and I agree with a lot of what you are writting about. The problem I see is that most saddle fitters have no clue. Here in Germany at least 80% of all saddle fitters are sales people. They have no idea how a saddle should be fitted. Unfortunatly the chiropractors are gods and have no idea either. Many of the manufacturers haven’t got anz knowledge either. I have had internships that thought they could learn in a couple of weeks how to fit a saddle.
I am a saddle maker since 1994 and I am still learning. I am still making mistakes because I generalize and think that it worked for that other horse so it should work here too. I have worked in the US, France, Austria, Belgium, Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden and all of Germany for more than 25 years and the thing I learned is mainly that the saddle fitters, chiropractors, veterinariens or manufacturers rarely seam to know the meaning of the saddle. Nobody is interested in why the saddles are built the way they are or the purpes of use. Nobody is interested in helping the horse! Everybody is just trying to make another dollar, pound or euro and it all happens on the expence of the horse.
It is difficult to fit a saddle properly and it requires lots of training and knowledge which just a few are eager enough to obtain. I meet (mainly) girls and young ladies who finished chiropractic school after two or three years of evening or weekend school knowing everything about saddles and saddle fitting. On a weekly basis I meet riding teachers and professionals who have been riding all their lifes thinking they are experts on saddles and saddle fitting. None of them should give any advice!
My motto is that there is a saddle for every horse and there are no bad saddles only badly fited saddles. A cheap saddle that fits is by far better than an expencive that doesn’t! Not even the two brands you talk about are better or worse than any other brand even thaugh you favor them. They are nothing but two brands in a djungle of brands trying to earn as much money as they possibly can.
And lets be honest. If the shops for horse tack would be interested in the good of the horse the shelfs would be half empty. But on the other side if the people could learn how to ride they would not need any of the garbage the shops are telling them that it would help them to be better riders. People who know how to ride don’t need all that fancy rubbish. They don’ ride to look good but to have fun with their best friend and team mate!
“The fear for knowledge is greater than the respect for the horse!”
Joscelyn Reid
Claus Pohl.
This is the most reasonable summary on saddle fitting I heave ever read, and spot on on my opinion.
I am not a saddle fitter but it never ceases to amaze me that one can think that by adjusting the gullet on a saddle ensures a sadfle fits correctly, yet adjusting the gullet does not guarantee a change that may be required to the channel along the horses spine.
Adjustable gullet saddles such as DP saddles are indeed great promotion for sales and the fight for the market dollar..
And with repeated gullet adjustments of the same saddle it must eventually weaken the saddle overall.
I purchased a DP bridle and the screws that hold the bit on the leather bit piece fell off after only using the bridle 3 times, and horse was ridden with soft feel contact only, so no way would I trust their adjustable gullets.
CLAUS POHL
Well Joscelyn! I can assure you that the gullet will hold for several changes and many years. I don’t want to make the company bad in any way. I just question the good of every rider to change the gullit width without the knowledge of what they will cause. This does not just concern DP but Wintec, Thorowgood and several other brands too.
Speaking of adjusting the gullit. In about 3 out of 4 gullit widths I change I have to refit the fluffing too. Seldom anyone works on the fluffing when changing the width. Very bad decission!
Silzer Andrea
I have a mutton withered quarter horse that I’m looking for a good saddle to fit. I was looking at the DP Rhonda.
My horse is very hard to fit. Does anyone have any suggestions on saddles?
Sonja
Hi there,
Any recommendations where I could get a DP saddle in Ireland? I was looking everywhere but can’t find one. And how can I get a good saddle fitter out to my horse?
Mike
Written from an English rider’s viewpoint, which is fine as far as it goes. However her comment that western saddles are too long is incorrect. The western saddle, used for a different purpose than the English saddle, needs to cover more of the horse’s back to provide a more substantial basis for roping, which is necessary on cow operations as well as in rodeo events and also when packing and riding in mountainous country. A back cinch is necessary to keep the saddle from shifting and tipping forward. The vaquero saddles listed are all “single centerfire” rigged, with only one cinch and have a tendency to slide forward or backward based on the horse’s physiology. Very few current day ropers are capable of using these saddles correctly, although the early Californios and vaqueros were magicians with their 60 foot grass or rawhide reatas on these saddles.
Point is, western saddles must be longer and more stout than English saddles for their intended purpose. There is much excellent, well crafted western saddle and saddletree building going on. A well built properly fitted saddle will no more sore a horse than a properly fitted English saddle.