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Saddle and pad sliding forward

5K views 6 replies 4 participants last post by  horselovinguy 
#1 ·
I recently bought a new saddle with a wider, 7in gullet for my growing 3 year old. It sweat her good and fit well the first month of use, but recently when I ride, 5min in of forward movement and the pad is on her neck and my legs are hanging nearly at her shoulder. This is the same pad I've always used on her. Thinking maybe she is going through a growth spurt right now and the butt highness is shoving it forward despite a properly tightened front and back cinch. Anybody have experience with this with a youngster? Hoping it's just temporary while her front end catches up to her hind end and not a saddle fit problem. Would a pad that's too long and hitting hips a little possibly push everything forward? I've attached the only "saddle fit" photo I currently have on my phone, saddle and pad from a far and a recent photo showing downhillness. Thanks in advance for any insight.
 

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#2 ·
Just throwing this out there....

Do you need that much pad under a saddle that is fitting??? :-?

How long have you had this saddle and how much work has changed since you bought this saddle, forget the growing spurt you make mention of....
I couldn't tell you one way or the other about this fitting well or not from the pictures but.....
:-? :-? :-?...
:runninghorse2:.....
 
#3 ·
I agree that is a very thick pad, so I can't tell if the saddle fits or not. Some good pictures from the front, side and back with no pad on would be helpful. It is difficult to say from just that angle, but it looks like the saddle might fit better and sit down on the horse with a pad about half that thick.

If the pad has wool felt on the bottom, that type can be more slippery than some other types of pads. It also appears like the horse has low withers, a straight shoulder, forward girth groove, round barrel and currently a downhill conformation, all of which make it more difficult to get the saddle sitting down and around the horse in the proper position.
 
#4 ·
It is my understanding that a properly fitting saddle on level riding will stay where it's needs to be without any cinch attached at all.

One member on this forum finished around 38 miles (as I remember) of a 100 mile endurance event without a cinch at all.

A thick pad will narrow the gullet width and can cause contact with the withers. Contact with the withers is very bad for the horse and will cause atrophy of the important neck muscles. A too narrow gullet can also cause the saddle to move forward along with a too long saddle sitting too far back.

The saddle should span the withers and rest on the lattissimus muscle just behind the shoulder blade. The bars of the saddle tree fan out to each side before coming to rest in this area below the withers. If fitting in that manner, the saddle should not be sliding forward.

Here is a picture of the wither muscles, trapezius, that must never support any weight of the saddle.

You can feel under in that area to see if you have clearance. Checking while sitting in the saddle is better as the saddle sinks some then.

Some pads have a V cut out of the front to relieve the withers area. That can be a good temporary fix perhaps until a better fitting saddle is obtained.

Using a wire to make a wither tracing just behind the scapula and tracing onto cardboard and then cutting it out is one way to check the saddle in the gullet area.


Horse Vertebrate Mammal Mane Stallion
 
#5 ·
My pad is a 1 inch Classic Equine pad. I will try riding with a thinner pad. I've had the saddle for a little over 2 months. The first month was snowy and I didn't have access to an arena so only rode in it a few times in the pasture. The second month, the first 2-3 weeks of riding (4-5x a week arena work) went fine. No slippage and even sweat marks. This past week is when the slippage started. A difference that may be a factor is that this week is it has been unusually warm and she has been sweating a lot with her winter coat.

I may have went overboard with the saddle fit pictures, but want you all to be able to get a good idea of how it is sitting. Some angles it looks good to me, but others it looks like it's sitting really downhill and popping up in the back. What do you all think? Really hoping not to
 

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#7 ·
Don't sweat the pictures..so we turn our computers.


First off I think your saddle placement is to far back.
It needs to be placed front of the saddle {I use the fork as my mark} in line and following the line of the shoulder upward, pulled farther forward then slid into the sweet spot that can lock it in naturally.
My next thought is from the first picture...beside to far back, to wide a fit and sitting down to much...
Sitting, tipping down would lift the saddle in the rear... {I think}

Not sure about that though....
I look forward to the saddle gurus making comments and advise how to go about "fixing" this....
:runninghorse2:...
 
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