Thanks for your interest in saddle fitting. I think it's most important of all. If your saddle doesn't fit correctly, your horse will tell about it in his body language, i.e. move unnatural, pen the ears, crow hop, and maybe even buck you off. So, let's think about a few things.
First of all, there are several types of horse's backs, and not very many saddle tree options. For children and generally people under 100 lbs, you shouldn't worry too much. A good clean pad will do the trick. For folks over 100 lbs that ride long and hard, we need to get the best fit possible. Let's start with the saddle trees.
Most saddle companies make certain saddle models in a narrow tree semi Quarter Horse and certain saddle models in a full Quarter Horse wide tree with a few in Arab and Mule trees. One is determined from the other by the gullet width and the angle of the saddle bars that run along the horse's back. Gullet width is measured from the the top of the bars in the front of the saddle where it attaches to the swell. This measurement will give you the width, either 6 1/4", 6 1/2", 7". Most all 6 1/4" widths will be semi quarter bars, 6 1/2" and 7" being on Quarter Horse bars. The bars on the Quarter Horse tree will flare out more for the wider shouldered horse. Let's talk about a narrow shoulder or wide shoulder. That's where we seem to have the most problems.
When fitting a horse you need to take a good look at the horse's back. If your horse has a high wither and a slightly narrow shoulder, you will most likely need a 6 1/4" gullet semi Quarter Horse tree in your saddle. If your horse has a wither and a wider shoulder, your horse may need a 6 1/2" quarter horse tree. If your horse has very little to none wither and even an under shoulder, you may need a 7" quarter horse bar in your saddle. But don't be fooled when your horse is overweight and out of shape, always fit saddles when your horse is in fairly good shape.
Once you have the basics, let's move on to sitting the saddle over the horse's back and what that should look like. First of all, set the saddle on your horse's back without any pads. It should look level and balanced. Then look at the front of the saddle and make sure the saddle doesn't sit down on the horse's wither. You should have two or three finger height.
Next look at how the bars sit on your horse's shoulders, they should sit flat and even with the shoulder. To check this slide your fingers under the front of the saddle. You can feel the bars through the skirts and liner. Make sure there is even pressure the full width of the bars. Also look on top of the skirt or the saddle where the tree sits on the skirt. You can visually see if the tree is going to sit properly. You want the top of the bars to sit evenly with the same pressure on top as the bottom.
Now let's talk about the middle of the horse's back. If your horse has a normal sway to his back these saddles mentioned will have a normal rocker to them to fit a normal sway. Some horses have a lot of sway or are higher in the hip than shoulder. Our goal is to level the saddle and give even pressure on the back. So, if you have a horse that's high in the hip you will need to add height to the pad in front with inserts to the pad. If your horse has a lot of sway to the back, you will need to add padding to the sway by way of inserts to keep even pressure. If you don't, you will cause what's called a bridge and most likely sore your horse's back in the kidney area and most likely the shoulders.
I mentioned the Arab tree and Mule tree. These trees are important. If you have such an animal the Arab tree has a wide gullet for flatter shoulders and less of a rocker in the bars. The Mule tree is recommended because of its flatter bars that mules also need.
Lastly when choosing a pad, please purchase a natural fiber like wool, cotton, horse hair, or a proven pad and always keep it clean. I hope this information will help you in your selection. p.s. If you really enjoy your saddle and it fits you well and your horse well, should you decide to buy other horses, when you're looking at them for soundness, also look at their backs so that your saddle will fit them too.
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