{"id":34,"date":"2010-10-27T11:25:21","date_gmt":"2010-10-27T15:25:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dana.nekstep.com\/?p=34"},"modified":"2010-10-28T11:31:50","modified_gmt":"2010-10-28T15:31:50","slug":"tips-from-the-saddle-fitter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dana247.com\/?p=34","title":{"rendered":"Tips from the Saddle Fitter"},"content":{"rendered":"

A visit with Ann Forrest (owner, Equestrian Imports<\/a>). \u00a0I really liked her. \u00a0She is straightforward, no-nonsense and efficient. \u00a0Best of all, she really places her focus on what’s best for you, your horse and<\/em> your financial situation. \u00a0Never once was there any hint of: “Well, you & your horse can’t possibly function with the tack you have. \u00a0You absolutely must<\/em> buy this better saddle and a whole new ream of specialty pads and, oh, by the way – this fabulous girth.”\u00a0\u00a0 She just made some suggestions and said when I was ready to go shopping, she’d be happy to help me. \u00a0So Ann did some reflocking on my old Kieffer Rhein AT (which I love). \u00a0I should note that while Ann’s preference is to see the saddle on the horse and then the rider in the saddle (which I think is great), the situation was such that Emma & I didn’t do the riding phase. \u00a0I am not crushed by this, mostly because I use this saddle on several different horses and I don’t necessarily want it Fitted Perfect For Emma.<\/p>\n

I won’t try to make this a complete saddle fitting discussion, but I am listing a few small tidbits that may be of use. Just as a point of interest, her shopping suggestions were as follows:<\/p>\n

\"Kieffer
Kieffer Rhein AT<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

1) Some more modern saddles have a wider gullet. The extra width keeps the cantle end of the side panel from pushing into the horse’s spine when they bend laterally. \u00a0While the Rhein works for Emma because of the conformation of her back and spine, greater gullet width would be a plus in a future saddle.<\/p>\n

2) Probably a larger seat for me. \u00a0I guess maybe someone 6′ tall should not be riding in a 17″ \u00a0dressage saddle… \u00a0hmmm. \u00a0She noted that I probably get away with it because the saddle is not terribly deep and the thigh roll is minimal. \u00a0I failed to ask at the time, but it seems like it would make sense that the saddle seat size is a function of thigh length. \u00a0I was once told by a boot maker that if I were a horse, she wouldn’t buy me because my cannon bones are too long. Perhaps my thigh bones are short for my height, because I’ve never had a problem with my knee coming out the front of this saddle, and even the most opinionated of my more respectable dressage friends have not yet mentioned that my saddle is too small. \u00a0They have, however, said that if I ever want to sell it, I should talk to them first.<\/p>\n

3) I have the “right” saddle pad! Ann expressed a preference for the Mattes Correction Pad with the rear fleece trim. This helps hold the pad in place. However, size is important. Be sure the fleece trim fits around the saddle – the panels should not sit on the trim. Of course, this is assuming you need a correction pad in the first place. This pad has 4 pockets that will hold felt inserts to “shim” your saddle as needed.<\/p>\n

\"Mattes
Mattes Correction Pad without rear trim<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Mattes
Preferred: Correction Pad (rear trim)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

4) A helpful service: If I have trouble with the saddle fit as Emma gets stronger and changes (hopefully) in her back, Ann directed me to her website where I can find directions for taking pictures in order to get advice online.<\/p>\n

5) A tip about girths: \u00a0if you have trouble with your saddle sliding forward, don’t use a girth with elastic in it.<\/p>\n

All in all an interesting session with Ann Forrest. I learned some things and once again got a feel for how much more there is to learn. I look forward to spending a little more time checking out her website. A quick browse shows some interesting resources and available services.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A visit with Ann Forrest (owner, Equestrian Imports). \u00a0I really liked her. \u00a0She is straightforward, no-nonsense and efficient. \u00a0Best of all, she really places her focus on what’s best for you, your horse and your financial situation. \u00a0Never once was there any hint of: “Well, you & your horse can’t possibly function with the tack … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-emma","category-equipment"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dana247.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dana247.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dana247.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dana247.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dana247.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=34"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.dana247.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40,"href":"https:\/\/www.dana247.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34\/revisions\/40"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dana247.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=34"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dana247.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=34"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dana247.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=34"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}