how many fingers or inches between template and horse?

I photographedll the narrow/normal angle and the wide angle templates on my mare today and am wondering how many fingers you should have in between the template and the horse. Both looked like the angles matched so would the way to be sure is go by inches in between horse and template. I will try to get pictures tomorrow.

This one and the above is of my gelding..will get the mares downloaded off camara tomorrow. Thank you for any help.

Im assuming this is for a saddle...? can you put the actual saddle/s on the horse ? My saddle fitter told me you want 4 fingers when the saddle gets put on and a minimum of 2 fingers when you are in the saddle.

Thank you Gypsy..no I was wondering how many in between the template itself and the horse.. So I guess which template looks like a better fit? I need to trace the templates on another cardboard I know, they are pretty beat up and bending.

There should be two fingers. With room to move them up and down, just a little

To mee the normal/narrow looks like it has better wither clearance.

GB,

When using the templates from HSS, the clearance between the template and the horse is a guide, it is just the way they are made.

What you want is to check the angles, the 1st one looks like a better fit, the 2nd one looks like something is crooked when the two halves were joined and it has ripples in it, kinda hard to put into words, just looks wrong



.

Thank you..i know the templates are beat up, this weekend I will transfer them to another piece of cardboard then try it again..

Keep in mind, also, that the type of saddle tree makes a difference too. A Wade saddle will fit closer to the horse then an A fork saddle.

I am going to try to borrow a normal/regular bars saddle to see how that works. This saddle fitting is killing me..I am learning so much realizing there is so much to learn!! Btw a little lower you can see the pictures of both horses with and without the wide tree saddle: there are 2 separate posts..one for each horse. Thank you all

Ps. I wish I was an expert on the subject of saddlefitting. It certainly can;t be as hard as I am making it!