I just returned (well, three weeks ago) from a trip south to do a saddle fitting clinic and teaching seminar. While there, I spent a couple of days with one of our long-time clients, a professional rider who is an international-level competitor and trainer. She was having some training issues with a very talented (and ridiculously charming) young horse who was . . . ah . . . resisting the...
read moreA reader, Firedrake, has posted a story of intense frustration with finding a saddle that will work for both her horse and her. This is not an uncommon situation, and riders often kiss a great many saddle frogs without managing to find a prince. But there are reasons to be optimistic – patient and optimistic. This saddle was custom-made for this horse. The other saddle was off the rack...
read more“Not everything that counts can be measured. Not everything that can be measured counts.” - Albert Einstein Although centimeter measurements are a common means of comparing one saddle to another, in reality this means of describing the fit of a saddle is about as useful and as accurate as describing the fit of the saddle by saying, “It’s brown.” A schematic is helpful in...
read moreMaggie and Fergus addressing the issues of logic, fact, and gardening. “Logic and fact keep interfering with the easy flow of conversation.” - Mason Cooley Before I was a saddle fitter, I was a career Foreign Service Officer, trained in international economics. Since almost nothing ever works as it theoretically should in economics, and since no one seriously expects that it will,...
read more“Any color – so long as it’s black.” - Henry Ford The key is the tree; it's the part you can't see This blog is about saddle fitting, or at least my experience of saddle fitting. It is the product of time in the field and in the factory, seeking, testing, gritting teeth, frothing with excitement, sucking it up in the face of failure, using foul language, getting...
read more“Good judgment comes from experience, and often experience comes from bad judgment.” - Rita Mae Brown When the saddle fitter calls I had a chat this afternoon with one of our clients in another part of the country about the impending visit of a saddle fitter to her barn. She is pondering whether she should sign up for an evaluation of her saddle. “Do you think they can make an objective...
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