More Fun With Saddle Fitting

Dawn and I tried out my creatively butchered front riser pad today to see if it would help at all with the fit of my Rodrigo saddle. Dawn didn't mince words - the answer was a very definite no, with some ugly expressions and bared teeth thrown in for good measure in case I'd missed the point - which she clearly thought I had. Fortunately our chiropractor is coming next week, as she's showing some soreness to pressure in her sternum area and where her neck joins the shoulder on the right - these have been areas that have given her some trouble in the past. As I was feeling around under the saddle, it was also clear that the right side of her withers was bothering her - she carries more muscle there than on the left side, and the heavily muscled area just in front of her withers over the shoulder is also more developed on the right side.

I tried the Rodrigo without the pad but she still didn't think much of it and it was tending to tilt forward as well - she's a bit narrower in the withers than Maisie. I think the Rodrigo with the riser pad did fit her pretty well when we started our work, but now that her shape's changing and she's muscled up more than she was, the pad was starting to pinch, particularly on the right side at the front edge. I've found that many close contact hunter/jumper saddles don't fit many horses all that well in the shoulder area, due to the forward flap and the way the stirrup bars are set.

So, just for fun, I brought out my old Kieffer Lech Profi dressage saddle, which I used to ride Noble in and which also fit Lily. I hadn't tried it on Dawn before because she's not as wide as either of them. When I first put it on, it sat pretty well:

I still got a few protests when putting it on and girthing, but a lot less than with the Rodrigo. Dawn and I tried it out while riding, and as I expected it started to come down a bit in front, so that didn't work. We went back into the barn and I added a fairly thin riser pad that's uniform in thickness from front to back. That did the trick - the saddle stayed in the correct position since the effect of the pad was to mimic a slightly narrower tree. Dawn seemed pretty pleased with that; we'll see what she thinks about it tomorrow.

Both Dawn and I will have to get used to the feel and position of the dressage saddle. I've certainly ridden in this saddle quite a bit, but it was a while ago. I'm riding 4 holes longer in the stirrups than when I was using the close contact saddle, and my hips need to relax a little more and then I'll be at least a hole longer, I expect. I do like the way my legs drape in this saddle, although I think Dawn found my new leg length and leg position a bit odd. The saddle also changes my posture for the better - I'm less likely to get into the tilt forward/hunch thing which should help her way of going. The other lovely thing is that I can now dismount and mount Dawn from the ground pretty easily because of the longer stirrup length, although I'll still mostly use a mounting block since it's easier on the saddle and Dawn's back.

I'm sure Dawn will tell me exactly what she thinks!