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Discussion on Saddle sweat marks | |
Author | Message |
New Member: Dove2 |
Posted on Sunday, Jun 5, 2005 - 1:53 pm: I'm having a very hard time figuring out if my saddle fits my horse properly. First of all, he's a three year old Paint; fairly slight, a tad short-backed, a little bit of withers, not very wide, but (most importantly) I think his hips are higher right now than his withers. Both saddles that I own seem to leave the same sweat marks on him: mostly on his shoulders and right behind his shoulders, but not much sweat elsewhere. The pad shows dirty at the front and back, and a touch in the middle, but not much. Should I place much credence in the excess amount of sweat at his shoulders? I've tried a built up pad, but I think it may make the saddle bridge even more in the middle. What is the best way to test for a western saddle fit? The last thing I want is a sore backed horse. |
Member: Qh4me |
Posted on Monday, Jul 11, 2005 - 5:14 pm: Alla,I think alot of people have a hard time properly fitting a saddle. I know I had. I read a really good article in my AQHA journal. I will find it and post the useful information for you. I take it it's a western saddle? |
New Member: Dove2 |
Posted on Monday, Jul 11, 2005 - 5:50 pm: Yes, I have a western saddle that I'm currently riding in. It's a TexTan barrel racing saddle. The one I'm going to put on ebay is a BigHorn suede/cordura (17 lb) barrel racing saddle. It's suppose to be quarter horse bars, but I've found that can mean lots of different sizes depending upon the manufacturer and saddle style. The BigHorn seems to dig into my horse's shoulders, yet he's not at all wide. On the contrary, he's quite slim. I've since bought an "Impression Pad" made by Port Lewis Saddle Fitting System. The putty inside shows where the saddle pinches and where it might bridge. So far, I've tested using my TexTan saddle pad and saddle. There's a small amount of displacement at the shoulders, but nothing serious enough to call pinching. The other one is so jabbed into my horse that I haven't been able to salvage it with any kind of pad. Could it be that the super light cordura saddles just don't distribute the weight the same way the heavier western saddles do? |
Member: Chohler |
Posted on Tuesday, Jul 12, 2005 - 2:36 pm: Dove I have noticed that cordura saddles seem to fit a little smaller. I have bighorns and I like them but I have noticed that a draft bighorn seems to fit larger QH types better than one with QH Bars. My bighorn with QH bars fits my arabian and smaller mustang better than my QH. I have noticed when I use the bighorn with QH bars on my 16hand 1100 pound mustang that there is displacement at the shoulders but there is none with the draft bighorn. I just make sure that if I use the saddle with the QH bars that I make sure I use a well padded orthopedic pad. |
Member: mleeb |
Posted on Friday, Feb 23, 2007 - 8:21 pm: I have the Port Lewis saddle pad and have used it for 3 years now. I'm going to invest in the impression pad this spring, because I now have a lot more horses to fit. If you're really worried about the saddle fits, this impression pad will show you on any horse with any saddle. You put the pad under your saddle and ride, remove the saddle and see where all the gel has been pushed away. Those are the points where your saddle makes the most contact. Thick spots are getting zero contact. Anyway, the pad itself is great because the saddle makes contact everywhere that it's supposed to, instead of riding on the four corners the way it was before I had the pad. It like the difference between walking in the snow in high heels, or snow shoes. The weight is displaced over a greater area, and the horse is comfy, the saddle fits. Before this pad, I couldn't even keep my saddle on my horse, and I kept falling forward. I couldn't even sit up properly before.Buy the wider saddle if you can, that's my opinion. Padding can fill in the space to fit a narrower horse, but padding can't make a big horse fit into a narrow saddle. I always buy the full QH bars. Just my 2 cents... |
Member: dove2 |
Posted on Friday, Feb 23, 2007 - 8:50 pm: Michelle,Want to buy my Impression Pad? I don't have a lot of faith in it showing me the real fit of the saddle. Sure, it'll show where there's horrendous pinching, but I want to refine it more than that. Email me if you would like to buy an almost-new Impression Pad. |