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Why do western saddles hurt?

38K views 101 replies 41 participants last post by  DraftyAiresMum 
#1 ·
I've wondered this for years. Every single last western saddle I have ever ridden in hurts me in some way. Usually, I get quarter-sized bruises on my butt where my seat bones are. Other times, my legs or lower back will hurt. I've tried sitting back on my seat pockets and I've tried sitting more forward, like you would in an English saddle. Half the time when I climb down from a western saddle, I can barely stand, much less walk.

The thing is, I've ridden in at least a dozen different western saddles. From my best friend's Circle Y Park and Trail with a ridiculous amount of padding in the seat, to an old slick seat roping saddle that belonged to my old BO.

The closest I've come to a comfortable (for me) western saddle was my friend's ridiculously heavy show saddle. No idea what brand, but I gave pics of me in it (it was too small, though).

Here's the kicker, though. My trail saddle is an Aussie saddle with a slick, non-suspended seat and it is the most comfortable saddle I have ever sat in. I can go for a long trail ride with zero pain and full mobility at the end. The only thing that has come close to my Aussie saddle was the authentic Peruvian saddle I rode my friend's Peruvian paso in.

So, is it me...or the saddle?

I'm going to be showing Aires western this summer, so I need to figure out how to not be dying 5 minutes after climbing into the saddle.
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#3 ·
I wouldn't have believed there were bruises, except when I worked at the Girl Scout horse camp a few years ago, I rode every day. By the end of the first week, I couldn't figure out why it hurt to just sit, even when I wasn't in the saddle. Checked in the mirror and sure enough, there were literally quarter-sized bruises right where my seat bones would hit when I was in the saddle. And every horse at the camp had its own saddle, so it had to have been more than one saddle doing it to me.
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#6 ·
Trust me, I have plenty of padding. Lol. My ex-husband used to tease me that Trace Atkins' song, "Honky-Tonk Badonk-a-donk," was my theme song.

This is the only pic I have of me in a western saddle. Like I said, the saddle was too small.

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#33 ·
Trust me, I have plenty of padding. Lol. My ex-husband used to tease me that Trace Atkins' song, "Honky-Tonk Badonk-a-donk," was my theme song.

This is the only pic I have of me in a western saddle. Like I said, the saddle was too small.

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OMG....that baby has some crazy hair going on up front!! lol :lol:
 
#8 · (Edited)
Have you tried a saddle with a 5" cantle? Unlike the low cantle the high one correctly aligns the pelvis which makes for more rider comfort. Circle Y's High Horse line puts out such a saddle. Not light weight tho.The position you are in put you in the chair seat.Slide your hips forward about 2" and bring your heels back until they are under your hips.That saddle may not be too small, it seems it's because you are sitting too far back. Someone should be able to hold up a straight stick and it will be in line with your shoulder, hip and heel.
 
#10 ·
Have you tried a saddle with a 5" cantle? Unlike the low cantle the high one correctly aligns the pelvis which makes for more rider comfort. Circle Y's High Horse line puts out such a saddle. Not light weight tho.
A high cantle like on a wade? I haven't, that I can recall.

This is the saddle I'm hopefully going to buy. While it wasn't as comfortable as my Aussie, it wasn't exactly uncomfortable, either (I sat on it on the rack).
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#12 ·
That saddle in the pic was a 15". My best friend's Circle Y was a 16". The ones at the horse camp were anywhere from 15-17". I know now that I need a 16.5-17" for it to fit right, but a 16" isn't too cramped. That old roping saddle of my BO's was at least a 18", maybe even a 19", because it was HUGE. I was swimming in it.
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#11 ·
It could be that the saddle seat simply never fit you. I had this happen to me with a black saddle over the summer. I would get bruises on my butt and my butt would swell up in the bruised places like welts. It hurt so bad. I sold it to a woman who felt the saddle was very comfortable and bought a 50lb roping saddle. The other saddle was a black trail\pleasure saddle. I had to have been the seat fit.

It could be the way you sit or the way the saddle makes makes you sit as well as the seat make.

Another thing comes to mind is perhaps you weren't using a properly sized saddle for your butt. Too small of a seat or two large of a seat can cause pressure points on your butt because your butt isn't where it needs to be for a proper fit
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#13 · (Edited)
What you described is EXACTLY what happened to me!

The saddle I'm hopefully buying and sat in today is a 17". It actually felt like it fit me better than any western saddle I've sat in. I can't wait to get it on Aires to see if it fits him and try riding in it. It's a 17" Circle Y cutting saddle.

Thinking about it, the saddle we used for Paleface, our lead horse for trails at the horse camp and the horse I usually ended up riding, was a 17" roping saddle (can't remember the maker) and it wasn't uncomfortable.
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This is the saddle I'm hopefully buying:

 
#14 ·
Like Copperhead said, too big would hurt as well, too small is bruising your butt, so you need something that fits correctly. Or maybe one of those sheepskin saddle covers? Sorry never used one but they sure look comfy. I would go to a saddle shop and sit on all their saddles and see which one they say fits you, sometimes we can't judge ourselves.
 
#79 ·
r maybe one of those sheepskin saddle covers? Sorry never used one but they sure look comfy.
Thats a genius idea. I have a similar issue where I have yet to find a comfortable western saddle. It might be because I've ridden english for so long and not used to western. I love that idea. Appreciate you posting that suggestion. Not something I would have thought for myself.
 
#15 ·
I really hope that saddle works-it is nice looking for sure. Just hope it is comfy for you and Aires.

Only pain issue I have with western saddles is that now that I am used to riding in a saddle with a "narrow twist" it feels like someone is prying my hips apart when I ride on a normal tree.
 
#19 ·
I have the same problem and I've never ridden in one that was "too small", I'd have to go squash into a toddler saddle to do that.

I want to get one of those cushy sheepskin seat savers and see if that helps. Or I could just stick with English saddles, those are comfy.
 
#20 ·
I hated Western saddles for the LONGEST time! I had all the discomfort you're talking about and I always felt like I was straddling the dining room table. I finally got to borrow a lovely Dale Chavez show saddle and try it out. OH YEAH!!!!!! The seat finally fit just right and it had a narrow twist which relieved the pain in my hips. Now I don't want to ride in anything else. If this one doesn't fit your horse or isn't comfortable once you're on, try looking for a good, used Dale Chavez.
 
#21 ·
I rode in saddles for so many years that didn't fit me that I just kind of figured that pain was a part of riding. After I outgrew my kid saddle when I was 10 or 11 (yes, I was a small child), I moved up to one of my Dad's old roping saddles. 16" seat, wide twist, flat seated torture devices is what they were LOL.


I often wonder if that isn't the source of my habit of riding with my weight on my feet. Whenever I would try to ride properly in those old saddles, they would absolutely kill my hips. Even my own roping saddle that I bought about 10 years ago hurts me...and it's got some really thick seat padding. Now, when I got my Association saddle, the difference is like night and day. Where before, all my weight would be directly on the points of my seat bones (which did cause sore and bruised spots), now, the pressure is more spread out to everything around the seat bones as well. It's like a glove down there. The only time I end up with a sore butt now is if I go for months without riding and then spend all day in the saddle. But, I think that's a combination of a hard seat saddle and a bony butt :wink:.

Point is, whether the seat fits you or not plays a big part in how comfortable it is.
 
#23 ·
I'll probably put up a thread with pics to see how everyone thinks it fits. I'm pretty good at saddle fit (had eight saddles on my old gelding in a 6 month span lol), but I'd like an outside opinion.
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#24 ·
The saddle is in my possession and I have until Friday to make my decision! Can't wait to go out to the barn after work and try it on the beastly! Hopefully my BO has a pad I can borrow and I can try riding in it, too...
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#25 ·
I think I'm gonna cry. Tried the saddle on Aires today. He has grown a RIDICULOUS amount. The tree was so incredibly narrow on him that he actually grabbed the sleeve of my hoodie in his teeth when I stuck my hand under the bars in the front to see if there was any space. He has NEVER bitten me like that since that last time before he was gelded and he got my fist to his jaw. He got a hard slap on the face when he bit me, but I don't really blame him. Poor guy. I would have been pissy too if I'd had something that narrow pinching my shoulders.

My BO's husband has a really nice custom saddle that he's going to let us try next time we're out there. It's a 17" and I think he said it was FQHB (he's from Italy and has only been in the States for a few years, so his accent is a little difficult to understand sometimes). Hopefully that'll fit. I need to measure the gullet on the Circle Y so I know how wide it is so I can look for something wider. I think I'm also going to make a withers tracing to take with me when I go saddle hunting.
 
#28 ·
I'm not sure that the Circle Y wasn't actually FQHB. The gentleman who helped me on Wednesday said he thought it looked like what is considered semi-QH bars, but when I picked it up yesterday, the assistant manager who helped me said it was FQHB. She was considering buying it for herself.
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#45 ·
I'm not sure that the Circle Y wasn't actually FQHB. The gentleman who helped me on Wednesday said he thought it looked like what is considered semi-QH bars, but when I picked it up yesterday, the assistant manager who helped me said it was FQHB. She was considering buying it for herself.
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This is the problem I've found with Circle Y's....especially older ones; the majority of them are SQH bars.
 
#29 ·
I have a similar problem with western saddles being uncomfortable. For me, it feels like my seat bones are teetering on the edges of a block of wood. My seat bones REALLY hurt after riding in a western saddle, and I've ridden in probably around 10 different ones. Honestly I think it might have to do with the shape of the tree. None of my friends have this problem, but I have very wide hips, and was wondering if my seat bones were just wider set than the average person? It's the only thing I can come up with. I never get that feeling in english saddles, and the only western saddle I've never experienced this in was one that was much too small for me (I think it was a 14 inch, and I was over flowing out with back :P).
 
#32 ·
Welllll... my first thought was "They hurt because you have not gone out shopping at a saddle shop with every brand under the sun and not stopped until you sat in the right one!"

I'm in your boat, too. I don't ride western myself (unless someone threatens teeth pulling :p)... and, as such, have never had a need to go saddle shopping for one. I suspect my bruised seat bones from every Western saddle I've sat in is because they weren't bought to fit my body!
 
#36 ·
Western style seats of the correct size for the rider are among the most comfortable (otherwise we could never have spent so much time in the saddle working cattle). To small and they're a pain. When they're larger than needed it hasn't bothered me, but after 3+ hours in one that's too small you're lucky if you only have one area that hurts. If you do a lot of riding you'll want a large enough and a relative flat seat so you can adjust your postion to what's most comfortable. If you're ride is long enough you'll likely find that you'll change your position in the saddle at times. That's one of the reason a smaller seat creates aches and pains. You can't adjust your position for your comfort.
The real problem with Western style saddles is they have a horn (something not needed unless you're roping) and they weigh a ton (something the horse really doesn't need), but if well fitted they displace weight pretty well.
With the exception of the child saddle my granddaughters use (with no horn) I haven't owned a western style saddle in almost 20 years.
If a full quater horse bar fits your horse you're lucky. Be glad you don't have one that's to big for that and to small for a draft saddle. It's tough to even find someone who will custom make a saddle for a horse that one of the standard sized trees won't fit. Thank goodness for Universal Pattern and Troopers.
 
#38 ·
If you do a lot of riding you'll want a large enough and a relative flat seat so you can adjust your postion to what's most comfortable.
Well, this depends on your preference and your body. The reason that Roper trees are so uncomfortable for me is the flat seat. If you look at almost every ranch saddle made, they have a relatively narrow twist unless you request it wider, and they have a deep seat pocket that sort of cups your seat with the part of the seat closest to the pommel being built up a bit (how much it's built up also is a personal preference).

Like this. Looks like it should be really comfortable, right?

Nope. 3 hours and I am aching everywhere from my stomach down.

However, I can ride in this for 10+ hours and get off feeling just as refreshed as I felt when I got on that morning. This is an old picture, but it really shows the seat pocket better than any of my newer pictures.
 
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