| |  Saddle Too Tight?
| | We often get letters from our customers asking us about horse health, behavior, skin problems that may be related to saddles and tack. Because such issues are so common we'll address them here and share the discussion with our site visitors in this, the newest section of our site. | Letter of the month - March, 2005 | Posted: 02/02/2008 |  Hi CJ,
"My horse is starting to get a few white hairs right behind the shoulder blade on the left side only, does this mean that the saddle is too tight on that side?"Joy C.
Sedalia, CO Whenever we hear about a problem which is asymmetrical (on one side only) there can be a number of possible problems. The first thing we check is to see that the stirrup leathers are the same length. If one side has stretched more than the other, the shorter one tends to pull the saddle off center to that side which put pressure on the opposite side. In this case, the right leather would be the short one and as the stirrups seek to level out, it pulls the saddle into the left side of the ribcage right behind the shoulder blade. We have also had several of our customers have this type of problem and then after a few questions we find out that they have one leg that is shorter than the other. The fix is to put a thicker pad in the stirrup for the short leg so that it balances out the rider.
Another potential cause is a saddle tree that is twisted on a diagonal. You'll see this quite a bit in cheaper imported saddles from overseas or Mexico. In order to keep the cost down, the manufacturers use cheap production methods for building their saddle trees Unfortunately, it's the horses who have to wear these saddles that end up paying the price for such cost-cutting methods.
Another possible cause can be the way we train our horses. I'm using the Natural Horsemanship definition of training here meaning anytime we are in the presence of our horse we are teaching them something, for better or for worse. Even though quite a few of us are 'just trail riders', it is still our responsibility to balance our horse's body. If we always post on the same diagonal or we always let the horse decide what lead to pick up at the canter, their bodies start to develop asymmetrically. I was once told by a novice barrel racer that barrel horses always have one side developed more than the other because they always make 2 turns one way and only 1 the other. This past weekend at the Equine Affaire horse expo I had the chance to talk to one of the regional directors for the American Barrel Racing Association and she let me know that that claim was completely false. Riders who compete at the highest levels of barrel racing are fanatics about balancing their horse's bodies. Sometimes they set up 4 barrels, sometimes they run them backwards. Many are starting to take Dressage lessons in order to better prepare their horses for their sport.
Even if we are 'just trail riders' we need to post as much on the left diagonal as we do on the right. We need to ask our horses to pick up the left lead as well as the right lead. When we ride unconsciously and leave the decision up to the horse, they will pick the one they're more comfortable with. Just like right handed or left handed humans, so our horses are as well.The last cause can be our own lateral (side to side) balance. Because all of us are built differently, depending on what kind of jobs we've held or injuries we might have sustained over time, we develop asymmetrically. That can also cause a problem because we then sit off-center on the saddle. This problem is almost impossible to correct without taking some lessons from a qualified riding instructor. because we are so accustomed to the way we sit that being off-center feels normal to us. A good riding instructor can give you an outside pair of eyes to help retrain your mind so that normal riding is centered - not off to one side. Donna Snyder-Smith's new book "The All Around Horse and Rider", devotes an entire chapter to this discussion. Ride Safely!  CJ Di Pietra
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