Wide and Really Wide Horses: Finding and Fitting English Saddles Part 1*

If you’re reading this, maybe you have one of those round, wide, table-backed horses—perhaps short coupled, as well—so hard to find saddles for.  All sorts of horses fall into this category—not only draft horses and breeds like Haflingers or Fjords, but warmbloods, Morgans, Friesians, certain Arabians, pony breeds, cobs, and all kinds of grade horses too!   This article, first in a series,  will help you understand what you need to look for in English style saddles so that both you and your horse will be comfortable. The  goal, for you and your equine partner, is to find a saddle which unobtrusively does its job, allowing both of you to perform without discomfort or distraction.

If you are the owner of such a horse, you have probably experienced some or all of these problems—the saddle perches on top of the horse’s back, it is pommel high and tips backwards, it presses on your horse’s loins,  you can’t maintain your position, the saddle slides forward during your ride, it rolls towards you when you mount, it is unstable on your horse, you see white hairs from saddle and pads rubbing your horse’s coat—!!  So, what should you look for when saddle shopping for a wide horse with a broad back?  Read on.

To understand the way a saddle needs to fit on a flat backed equine, it’s necessary to understand how a saddle is built and what parts of its construction really affect the horse.  A saddle consists of a tree, which is sometimes solid plastic but often made of wood (a hoop with webbing across it—the “spring tree”), with metal-reinforced “arms” extending down from the pommel on either side of the horse.  These arms are the “points” of the saddle tree, and their angle is important—they establish the width of the tree (that centimeter measurement you hear so much about) and must parallel the angle of the horse’s body.  Getting that width correct is critical not only for the horse but also for the rider’s comfort and balance (more about that later).   Keep in mind that the points of the tree are not usually very long and below them the saddle is just leather and wool—totally flexible.  Nothing below the points can squeeze or interfere with your horse.

So…the angle of the points, the centimeter measurement, is one critical aspect of fitting your horse.  Most Fjords—though perhaps not the newer, leaner ones—are very broad at the shoulder, and they need exceptionally wide trees.  With only one exception, every saddle I’ve personally sold to a Fjord owner has had a 38 cm tree.  As a point of reference, this is wider than  the white, extra wide Wintec gullet plate.

But wait!  Getting adequate width along the shoulders is only part of the story. Another aspect is the width of the pommel arch, what is called the “head of the tree.” This is where so many saddles fail.  No matter how wide the tree is, if the pommel arch is narrow, that saddle won’t fit properly. Most wide and extra wide saddles are made for horses that are broad-shouldered but not broad-backed; these saddles, lacking the necessary width at the head of the tree, won’t be able to settle down properly and will perch on the backs of horses with drafty builds.  So, buying that saddle with the extra wide tree or the 37 cm measurement isn’t enough to ensure that the saddle will suit your table backed equine partner

*Nancy Temple is the owner of Duett Saddles for Wide Horses

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