16/02/2022
📣📢 ANNOUNCEMENT! The purpose of this post isn't to say close contact jump saddles are bad- it's to cause you to question if it's the right type of saddle for YOUR horse 📣📢
🤤😍 We all love a saddle that lays across our horse and makes us feel close to him- but one must ask themself- does the horse love this also?
🗣 When talking to riders, one of the things they look for in a saddle is that feeling of “sitting close” to the horse. I would dare say this is the most important thing for them…
👀 But in this post I want to quickly list the different parts of the saddle that contribute to this “close contact” feeling that the saddle gives you.
1️⃣ Headplate: A 'V' shaped headplate sits low and close to the horse’s withers
2️⃣ Panel Placement: Panels that are attached high and directly to the headplate allow for the gullet to sit low and close to the horse. These saddles are designed to sit onto the trapezius muscle in order to achieve that “close” feeling
3️⃣ Tree Point Length: putting short tree points that sit onto the trapezius muscle is another way that brands achieve this feeling of sitting close to the horse
4️⃣ Panel Thickness: Dense Foam, instead of wool, panels allow brands to use thinner panels, thus keeping that close contact feel
5️⃣ Panel Shape: Some brands will dip or curve the part of the panel that sits under the riders leg which allows the rider to feel his leg closer to the horse
6️⃣ Leather: Brands will choose very thin, soft cuts of leather so you don’t feel the “bulk” of the saddle between you and the horse. Plus, the finished look is an EXTREMELY low profile saddle “draping” across the horse.
👂🏼Again, to reiterate! Close contact saddles are not bad- but not every brand/type of saddle fits every horses body type. It's our job as equestrians to determine what makes our horses comfortable and healthy.
🆒 Just like you don’t choose a bit because it looks cool, we shouldn’t be choosing our saddles this way either.
⏭ Next post will a comparison of these type of extremely low profile saddles and with Stubben saddles, which are made to respect the horse’s withers, trapezius muscle and back.
