SMUK

Why is that? If we compare girthing a horse to tying a leather belt around our own chest tightly, where would you put it for the least discomfort? I bet you would put it right under your arm pits, or just an inch below, for maximum comfort. If you put it further down, you restrict your breathing and start to bruise or even crack your ribs. The same goes for a horse, though there is a little more room for error. If the horse has a little condition, the girth will slide naturally into the so- called girth channel. If the saddle is designd to sit just behind the shoulder, and the rigging doesn't fall to meet the girth groove, the straps will likely be pulled forward at an angle to sit there, or the horse will be uncomfortable and the saddle unstable if the girth sits too far back. If the horse is very fit and has no belly, the girth will slide further back, but then it is in danger of also sliding too far back. That is where the breast plate comes in. Where a good tree should always stay in the right position, adding weight of rider and movements of the horse, by the laws of physics a rigid tree will move, if the girth is not holding it in the right position. Just my theory on all this

To me the saddle looks too far forward on Whoodie also, sitting right on top of the shoulders, but the girth is sitting in the right place for a Spanish Mustang. If it is moved back to sit behind the shoulder blades to allow the free movement we all want, then the girth would sit too far back. I think that has been Susan's and my point all along. A lot of these horses need full rigging position, or at least adjustable, ie Sam Stag. But then if the saddle is moved back behind the shoulder, would they end up sitting too far back on the horse, and not in the "sweet spot"?? I took tracings of my horse yesterday and a couple of side-on shots. You can see where the shoulder ends, and his girth grove is pretty much straight down from the end of the shoulder, so the rigging position should be right under the fork in my opinion... Here also a picture from behind, illustrating the shape of the horse from above

Ok, I am a Newbie here, living in the UK and have some of the few Spanish Mustangs in Europe. I initiallly got around the saddle-fit problem by going treeless. Now my stallion is 5 and I have started doing endurance and putting some serious miles on him. His shape has changed and the treeless has started slipping back too far, due to his musceling up in the shoulders, so my quest for the perfect saddle has started...it is like :deadhorse: (love these smilies!!! ) I went to the expence to buy 3 Steele fit forms, and low and behold 2 of them were a passable fit... The first was the modified QH bar The second is the PW tree which is made for a walking horse I went and had a saddle made on a PW equi-flex tree, but it only came in a 16" (too big for me, I had more than a hands width in front of me and felt I was sitting too far back on my horse). The rigging was 3 way (no other options other than enduru balanced), but 7/8 was the "smallest setting" Jim needs full rigging position to keep the girth in the girth grove, which is pretty much right beneath the end of his shoulder blade. So if I had the girth in the right place, the saddle was too far forward and didn't sit right. The other thing I should have done was to have the seat ground down and the stirrups set back...an expensive mistake... being in the Uk I unfortuanetly don't have the option to have saddles sent to try out. Right now I am looking at the GEN II Tucker trail... would be interested to hear what the experts think of the fit of the fit forms... many thanks martine