AT HOME SADDLE-FITTING WORKSHOP WITH PATTY MERLI: PART 1 As riders, horsemen, and competitors, we are all looking to maximize our horses’ performance, and we approach our horses as high-performance athletes now more than ever. USEA Editors Leslie relkeld and Caroline Culbertson met with professional saddle fitter Patty Merli to discuss the basics of saddle fitting, as properly-fitted equipment is one of many pieces of the puzzle of keeping your horse sound, happy, and willing to do his job. It was quickly apparent that this complex topic is much like riding in that the more you learn, the more you realize you don’t know. Imagine running a marathon in a pair of shoes that don’t fit. Unlike us, the horse does not get to go to the store, try on the shoes, and verbalize an opinion. Horses often begin to express their discomfort in the forms of fussiness, unwillingness, or other forms of decreased performance. In this way, a saddle fit issue may sometimes manifest as a training or behavioral issue. e best, most comprehensive way to fit your saddle to you and your horse is to consult a professional saddle fitter. As Merli explains, many of saddle fitting issues are counter-intuitive, but there are some basics that you can assess on your horse before calling a pro. Here are some simple but important factors to checking the fit of your saddle: the placement of saddle on the horse, tree width and clearance, tree shape, overall length of the saddle on the horse’s back, balance of the saddle, contact, and overall stability. In this two-part series, we will go over each of these factors. SADDLE PLACEMENT Begin by checking the placement of the saddle, since an incorrectly placed saddle will affect all other aspects of the fit. A common placement error is setting the saddle too far forward on the withers. If it’s too far forward, it will restrict the shoulder’s freedom. Follow these steps to ensure that the tree points are behind the horse’s scapula: First, locate the back of your horse’s shoulder, then locate the tree points of the saddle. Lift the top flap of your saddle (if it is a dual flap) and look at the sweat flap underneath. You will see a pocket that the tree sits in. The points of the tree need to be behind the back of the scapula, not necessarily the flap itself. If your saddle has a forward flap, the flap will appear to be on the shoulder but the tree itself may be adequately behind the scapula. If you cannot locate the tree pockets, look to see where the breast plate rings and nails heads are, as they are attached to the tree. ose markers must be far enough back that the shoulder has room to move. It may seem that if the billets and the girth do not line up with the horse’s girth groove, Placing a saddle too far forward is a common mistake. Compare the saddle placement in the image above to the image on the opposite page. Locate the point of the tree, as indicated by the white circle on this particular saddle. e point of the tree should be behind the horse’s scapula for proper placement. Use the point of the tree to determine proper placement, not the position of the saddle flap.