RiverWind Saddle & Tack - Saddling Tips

SADDLING TIPS
Saddle your horse without a pad and mount. You should have 2 inches of clearance between the saddle and the spine of the horse. When saddling, always pull your blanket or pad up into the gullet of the saddle to avoid binding or pressure on your horse's spine. When you are cinched up and mounted, you should be able to get two fingers between the pad or blanket and your horse's spine. When saddled, raise your horse's front leg up and forward; the 3-4 inches of shoulder movement should be free of interference by the saddle. When saddled, there should be 3 inches clearance from the point of the hip to allow for rotation with no interference by the saddle or pad. To determine proper girth length; your cinched up girth should be no more than 6 inches away from the D ring of the saddle on either side. After mounting, have someone check your girth; if they can easily pull it away from the horse's body more than an inch, it's too loose. If you use a rear flank cinch; when saddled and mounted, your rear cinch should hang down no more than 1 inch away from your horse. When traveling up or downhill, if your saddle slips forward or back more than 2 inches, you need a crupper or breast collar. When using a breast collar, it should be adjusted so that you can pull it away from your horse's shoulder to allow freedom of movement. When using a crupper, you should be able to raise it 3-4 inches off your horse's rump.

Physical signs that your saddle doesn't fit your horse are:
patches of white hair dry spots in the sweat pattern raised spots or bumps where equipment touches loin rubbing

Behavioral signs that your saddle doesn't fit your horse are:
resistance to being saddled such as kicking at belly swinging head at or biting at person saddling refusing to stand still while being saddled or after being mounted "cold-backed" tail wringing bucking.