29/10/2025
Should your saddle move around on your horseās back?
This saddle in the pic? It moved a lot. It was too wide, sat low at the front, pinged up at the back and loaded pressure through the points. Basically a seesaw on legs = š« not ok. Itās going to make that horse sore, and the rider feel like theyāre being slapped on the bottom on every rise (not to mention crunching their more delicate area on the pommel).
Butā¦ saddles canāt be expected to be completely still. Cos, horsesā backs move. Whilst the part of the back the saddle is on (the thoracic part) has less movement than the rest of the spine, there is still some movement there. Theyāre not planks of wood.
The saddle? Itās a fixed entity, it canāt mirror every rise and fall, every squiggle and wiggle. So some movement between horse and saddle is perfectly normal.
What I look for when I watch a rider:
ā”ļø From behind: a soft swing leftācentreārightācentre as the ribs move.
ā”ļø From the side: a correct amount of stillness but will accept a bit of movement at the back, especially in trot. Depending on the horse/rider.
When does it tip into ātoo muchā? Thatās where it gets spicy. Nervous/novice riders gripping with their knees can yoink the saddle up, some horses fling their back legs in a way that flicks the saddle up at the backā¦ whilst others are so still youād think they were carved out of wood.
And then thereās jumping ā if a saddle glued itself to the horse in the bascule, itād bridge for all the other work.
So yeah, itās not black and white. Itās why Saddle Fitters train for years to develop that āeyeā for whatās acceptable and whatās not.
But if I had to give you the short version?
A little bit of movement can be normal. Slapping and clip-clapping is not.
Concerned about your saddle? Get your fitter out and let them talk you through it.
āš½
###
