While some may identify fourth-generation horsewoman Wendy Winn as a saddle fitter, she prefers the title “equine biomechanist,” using information from the body of the horse and rider to identify movement patterns and applying it to how saddles fit horses.
In part one of Winn’s saddle fitting series, the focus is balance. You can have a well-fitting saddle, but if one of the four main points of balance is off in your horse or in you, the system won’t work correctly, and the saddle can end up taking the blame for an incorrect fit.
That’s why, when you’re faced with a saddle fit issue, you should always look at the horse and rider first. You need a balanced foot, a balanced horse, a balanced rider, and a balanced saddle. If any one of those four things goes out of balance at any point, you go out of balance too.
Wendy Winn is an international clinician, teaching everywhere from Europe to New Zealand. She has years of experience working as a top-level executive in a Western saddle company, and is now an independent consultant working with companies like Circle Y to develop new trees. She’s also created an online community for biomechanics enthusiasts, which includes videos of equine anatomy and cadaver dissections.
No. 1 Balance in Hooves
One of the first places you should look when assessing your horse for balance is his feet. You want a foot to load and land correctly, going heel-to-toe the way it should. That’s what allows all the joints, all the way up into the shoulder, to hit correctly and swing correctly. A lot of people assume a hot spot under a saddle comes from the saddle not fitting right, but the saddle is secondary. What matters first is how that foot is hitting the ground.
Considerations for balanced hooves:
- Trim Frequency – Are the hooves getting too long?
- Is one foot high or low? Does that imbalance show up in the shoulders?
- Is the frog symmetrical?
- Is the coronet band symmetrical?
An unbalanced foot or an old, healed injury doesn’t automatically make it the culprit in a saddle fit issue. But it’s good to have that context when you’re looking at how a saddle sits on your horse. It potentially explains muscle imbalances and unequal strides.
No. 2 Balance in the Horse’s Body
Imbalances in your horse’s hooves can show up in his body, since horses are adaptable and will compensate to stay comfortable; they’ll shift weight and change the way muscles fire to work around whatever is off underneath them. That compensation is exactly what you’re looking for when you check balance through the body.
Considerations for balance in the body:
- Are the shoulders symmetrical, or does one sit higher or more developed than the other?
- Is the muscling even throughout the back, or are there dips and bulges on one side?
- Does one side of the topline feel different to the touch than the other?
- Is there any asymmetry in how the horse stands square, without you positioning him that way?
These patterns don’t automatically point to the saddle either. They can be the body’s way of adapting to something that started at the feet, and they’re worth noting before you start looking at the saddle itself.
Equine anatomy fact: Sternal (True) Ribs are the first 8 pairs that connect directly to the sternum via sternocostal joints. These ribs are shorter, thicker, and highly rigid. They anchor the forelimb attachment via the serratus ventralis muscle, forming a “muscular sling” that suspends the thorax between the front legs.
No. 3 Balance in the Rider’s Body
If you’re out of balance, it can affect your saddle fit, motion, and mobility. Riding in alignment matters, with your shoulder, hip, and heel in a straight line. No matter what you’re doing in the saddle, you need to make sure your center of gravity stays over your horse’s center of mass.
The shape of your saddle’s seat can help or hinder this balancing act. The deepest part of the seat should put you in a neutral, functional position rather than tipping you forward or backward.
Read more about riding position here.
No. 4 Balance in the Saddle
Balance is determined in a saddle when there’s no more or less pressure under the saddle from front to back. With the saddle resting on your horse’s back without a pad, you should be able to slide your hand up under the conchos in the front and back of the saddle with relative ease, and the same goes for under the stirrup fender in the middle of the saddle.
The lowest part of your saddle’s seat should rest between thoracic vertebrae 12 and 14, which is your horse’s center of mass. T8 is where the spine transitions from the true ribs to the false ribs. A saddle seat too far back on your horse puts weight and pressure on a less stable part of the spine. A seat too far forward can mean the bars of the saddle impinge on the scapula as it moves backward with each step your horse takes.
Several of these balancing factors being off at once can cause issues fast.
Picture this: you’re riding forward in the saddle, your horse’s feet are long, and his shoulders are out of balance as a result. When the shoulders open up during that step forward, and you’re forward too, friction and heat build up under the saddle. That’s when you get too much pressure, and muscles, joints, and ligaments can change quickly under those conditions.
Read part two of Wendy Winn’s saddle fitting series right here.