A few days ago we posted some photos on our Facebook page – http://on.fb.me/u0aDd7 – of a Detente saddle designed for wide-backed horses.  A rider who saw those photos asked about saddle for narrower off-the-track Thoroughbreds.  We posted the following response on Facebook – http://on.fb.me/sZl7BM – and thought we might include it here as well.  As always, we welcome your questions.

The short answer is yes. I have three Thoroughbreds, one of whom is the classic high-withered type, so I have a certain amount of personal experience with the challenges of fitting this type of horse.

In effect, you need to think about Thoroughbred body types in terms of how the back’s bearing structure carries weight. It is essentially the rib cage that supports the weight of the rider rather than the soft tissue, so the key to getting a good fit is to assess whether the saddle’s bearing structure — which is the tree — is a decent match in overall shape for the bearing structure of the horse it is going on. The tricky part with Thoroughbred types is that the withers are not weight-bearing bones, and the rib cage, which is what carries the rider’s weight, lies a good vertical drop down from the top of the withers.

Leaving aside every other aspect of tree shape, the length of the tree points makes a difference with these horses. The standard close contact tree has relatively short tree points, so it is almost impossible to keep the front up once the saddle is loaded with a rider’s weight. Of course it would help a great deal if you actually got to see the shape of the tree, and I wish that this were something riders were more insistent about, since the tree is crucial to getting an even weight distribution. Good panels can enhance the fit of a good tree but can never adequately compensate for a tree that is a fundamental mismatch for the horse in shape. Here I will go out on a limb and say that almost any horse with a long vertical drop from top of wither bones to top of rib cage beneath them will benefit from having more anti-concussive padding than the wool in the panel can provide on its own.

Bottom line: We have several good options for this body type. One that is affordable to a wide range of rides and has many excellent fit features is the Kent and Masters in the high-wither fit.

Hope this is helpful!