Harribo's Saddle Fit
As I mentioned in my previous post another thing I knew I needed to check was the fit of Harribo's saddle.
Saddle fit in young horses is a challenge and in ponies it seems more as the varety of saddles made to that size is so limited, in the past whilst I've been waiting for thw rite moment to get a saddle fitted I've used childrens pads for the ponies, but Harribo really didn't like this, they are have such a close contact feel his overstimulated brain at the time couldn't cope with the intensity of feel of movement created by the rider and for him the pads were a real trigger point of tension.
So we found a little saddle that "would do" until his shape chnaged enough to fit a saddel to, but also more importantly I had a clearer yes and no.
What do I mean by this?
When Harribo came his yes's and no's weren't as clear as I'd like, when the saddle fitter came we couldn't be sure if his no was just to her presence in the barn, or to the saddle, he was early days in being ridden and again the yes's and no's were mixed up in everything being right or not so and you couldn't say if it was clear what was what.
So we fitted the saddle to the best of our ability with the saddle fitter making adjustments to be most comfortable but also with the knowledge that we couldn't fully tell if he was 100% happy with the saddle. This is really important to understand, a horse may have a saddle that "fits" but they also have a saddle that "fits and they like", just like you having two pairs of shoes both fit, both are the right size but theres one pair that just fit that extra bit more, that you can wear all day without any discomfort that just feel like the shoe. Saddles are similar and with sensitive horses this can be the thing that changes their whole experience of being ridden, a saddle that "fits and will do" to a saddle that is just right, that places the rider in the best position on them and that supports them in all the places they need.
To get a yes for this you need a clear understanding of what your horses yes's and no's are so you can decipher their reactions and so earlier on this year I didnt have them.
But now we do, so my lovely saddle fitter came out and has found the most adjustable and perfectly balanced saddle for him, she then came out again when Olive was here and adjusted it for the both of them, getting the best for him when she is on his back. It's always facsinating how a horse carrys themselvs differently with a rider than without and how this immediately affects the saddle fit.
What we had noticed witht he older saddle is how it placed Olive who has grown so much recently to the back, again 4 months ago her leg wasn't that long so she sat more centralised but now she was at the back and couldn't find her centre of balance easily, thjis was thorwioing the balacne of the saddle too. The new saddle allowed her to find a deeper more central seat and supports her enough to get more length in her leg. The support is removable so as she builds strength we can reduce and change it.
What I didn't appreciate is how more confident she feels, now she is in balance she feels safer, more secure and able to ride him with more ease.
We will now continue to get this checked every 3 months whilst they both grow and change shape, and I am fully under the realisation that I may have to buy a new saddle again in a year, as sometimes the horse changes so much underneath the new saddle in a good way that we just have to rethink again.
I'm hoping though that this saddle has so much adjustability in it that we can keep it for a while and they can both grow with it. Check out the pictures below of the old and new...
Old Saddle
New Saddle
