Is it time to adjust saddle design?

newforest

newforest

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Mar 15, 2008
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Just pondering.
If we sit further forward without it, because our legs slot into a groove, why are we designing a saddle to put us further back away from it? The girth groove.

This is horse dependant, but in the summer in a saddle, mine can be too wide to ride.
She's not as big as last spring, different set up this year.
But I did hop on bareback and she's slimmer in feel (largely because I sat more forward)

I found an old photo I can share of me riding incorrectly. I was trying to sit where the saddle goes without the saddle, top half and my legs wanted to be in the groove.
So I just pondered, why are we being put back in a saddle?
Is this why some horses are harder to fit.
 
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If you try to fit a saddle that far forward the girth and saddle flaps will interfere with the shoulders and they in turn will move the saddle around. A saddle shouldn't be sitting you miles back though, if it is then there's a problem with the fit. We ride and sit differently with a saddle compared to without one, as long as the horse is happy then is that a problem?

If she's too wide to ride comfortably in a saddle in the summer than there are many options for saddles nowadays. Single flap may work better, or close contact, or a half panel - any or a combination of those would reduce the bulk between you and her.
 
I don’t know much about saddle construction, but I do know that someone from the 17th century would instantly recognise one of our saddles and be able to use it. There are so many new materials available I’m surprised someone hasn’t redesigned the saddle from the ground up, so to speak. Look at how bikes have changed over the last 20 years. Perhaps horse people are just very traditional?
 
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@Jane&Ziggy if you look at some modern saddles I think you'll find there have been a lot of changes even if the first look impression hasn't changed much. Look at Wow, Stride Free, Erreplus all spring to mind but then look at how many are synthetics, changeable headplates, fibreglass or synthetic trees. Panel shapes have changed too, and fitting is a completely different world - gone are the days of a quick look and as long as it wasn't touching the wither or on the loins it was fine.
 
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Our horses have got bigger like us, so I wonder if the changes were necessary.
A lot of old saddles were narrow.

I am using a close contact, it's better than the previous one.
 
Bareback riding position is way different from the upright position in which one is held by a dressage saddle such as e.g. Jessica.

Charles Harris pointed out that saddle designs (via the military) were suited to the male pelvis and not so good for the female. I have never really understood his diagrams to explain this but I do know that the best saddle I rode in (on my old share) was the Podhajsky training saddle which is very open. It isnt a jump saddle though and most RSs like an old fashioned GP saddle.
 
Skib said:
Bareback riding position is way different from the upright position in which one is held by a dressage saddle such as e.g. Jessica.

Charles Harris pointed out that saddle designs (via the military) were suited to the male pelvis and not so good for the female. I have never really understood his diagrams to explain this but I do know that the best saddle I rode in (on my old share) was the Podhajsky training saddle which is very open. It isnt a jump saddle though and most RSs like an old fashioned GP saddle.
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Our pelvis is different he's correct with that.
Years gone by we would have ridden side saddle
 
newforest said:
Our pelvis is different he's correct with that.
Years gone by we would have ridden side saddle
Click to expand...
I think women only rode side saddle in cultures that thought it improper for them to ride astride, rather than it suiting our physique. Most cultures where women were horse soldiers or trainers - the Amazons, Scythians, Macedonians, Bedu, some native Americans - women rode (and ride) astride.
 
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Jane&Ziggy said:
I think women only rode side saddle in cultures that thought it improper for them to ride astride, rather than it suiting our physique. Most cultures where women were horse soldiers or trainers - the Amazons, Scythians, Macedonians, Bedu, some native Americans - women rode (and ride) astride.
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That's true.
But the saddle is predominantly designed to sit a male pelvis as oppose to a female.
I know some companies have introduced a seat designed for how we sit.
 
@newforest I was just going to say this is something that's being looked into now, and indeed not just as men compared to women but also how women of different nationalities tend to have different shapes and proportions which alter how they sit in a saddle.
 
The saddles I rode in as a child were very different to now. No knee rolls or thigh blocks and the seats were hard, flatter and slippy. I think a lot of the changes between those and now are primarily to do with rider comfort and security.

I don't ride Raf truly bareback but if I did I'm sure I wouldn't sit further forward - his withers would make it very uncomfortable 😅 Even in the bareback pad I sit in the hollow of his back and I feel more comfortable than I do in a saddle. If only someone could invent a bareback pad that was OK to use with stirrups. And not one of those total contact things, I love the idea in principle but all the pics I've seen show the rider in a chair position and sitting far too back on the horses spine.
 

Saddle Fit for Women

holistichorse.com holistichorse.com

I found this website a little while ago.

I love the look of the gaucho saddles, but didn't go further than that because they simply won't fit us as a combo.
There has to be some truth in how saddles are designed differently around the world, because they are being designed to fit what's in front of them.

I am out of touch with treed saddles, but treeless do make seats that have a narrower twist, which was sold to accommodate wide horse, but I think they discovered that wide twist isn't much good on any horse for the female.
 
Bodshi said:
The saddles I rode in as a child were very different to now. No knee rolls or thigh blocks and the seats were hard, flatter and slippy. I think a lot of the changes between those and now are primarily to do with rider comfort and security.

I don't ride Raf truly bareback but if I did I'm sure I wouldn't sit further forward - his withers would make it very uncomfortable 😅 Even in the bareback pad I sit in the hollow of his back and I feel more comfortable than I do in a saddle. If only someone could invent a bareback pad that was OK to use with stirrups. And not one of those total contact things, I love the idea in principle but all the pics I've seen show the rider in a chair position and sitting far too back on the horses spine.
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I started the thread because I have been playing around with bareback.
I do have the best friend pad, but it is true what the author of the book said, my focus did go to the pad and away from my seat.
I believe the nearest pad you might find that you could add stirrups to is the Christ because they've brought out something called a Cloud.
Years ago I did ride my old tb in a fleece Zilco with a beanbag to protect my delicates 😂
 
This is my favourite saddle but it costs something like £1700
idealsaddle.com

Podhajsky Dressage - idealsaddle

This saddle was designed and built with Colonel Alois Podhajsky, then Director of the Spanish Riding School, to address the need for a sound, comfortable saddle which facilitates a deep seat without a restricted 'locked seat'. RRP: from £P.O.A Available from leading retailers nationwide.
idealsaddle.com idealsaddle.com

It is very different from my current GP saddle which cups my seat. But I never felt unsafe in it.
 
@Skib that looks more like some of the old dressage saddles - enough there to support the rider but none of the heavy blocking that fixes a rider in place. I used to like those style saddles to ride in. £1,700 isn't bad for a decent leather saddle nowadays!
 
You are right. Podhajsky was director of the Spanish school. It is pointless for me to buy one for Ella as her tatty plasric gp fits both her and me.
 
Bodshi said:
The saddles I rode in as a child were very different to now. No knee rolls or thigh blocks and the seats were hard, flatter and slippy. I think a lot of the changes between those and now are primarily to do with rider comfort and security.
Click to expand...
Apart from the hard seat, I will still always choose a saddle with no blocking and an open seat as I’m not a fan of high cantles in English saddles.

I wonder if the design of the saddle (generically) does still transfer your weight down into that pocket, even though it sits you back a bit further. My saddler is here next week and she designs and makes her own range of saddles, I’ll have to ask her.
 
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@Jessey that's something my saddler has said many of the better makes do. She doesn't particularly like the saddle Luka has on him but had to admit it does the job of staying in place - not easy on him - and that he's far happier in it than the correctly fitted saddle. That was when she mentioned that it's designed to keep the rider's weight in a specific area that is at or close to that pocket - I'd forgotten until you said.
 
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