Laura Peters Equestrian - Master Saddle Fitting Consultant

30/03/2026

When a routine saddle check of a new horse and saddle isn’t just a simple check and why it is important to get your saddle checked when buying a new horse that comes with tack.

Initial inspection of this saddle and it looked like a nice very expensive saddle but all was not as it should have been, a small crease across the seat which looked a bit suspicious followed by a creaking noise coming from inside the saddle when testing the tree. After dropping the panels of the saddle we discovered not 1 but 2 breaks in the tree, luckily the new owner hadn’t ridden in the saddle and her previous saddle fitted the new horse after a few alterations!!

05/12/2025

Lovely morning yesterday with a slight flocking adjustment to Vegas’s current saddle. Vegas is a new horse who came with his saddle so his owner just wanted to check it was fitting correctly before they start doing more ridden work. Luckily the saddle was a good fit it just needed a slight rebalancing of the flocking and good to go 🐴

🌟 A pleasure as always to have Laura Peters Equestrian - Master Saddle Fitting Consultant sorting Vegas’s saddle and fitting him a new bridle 🌟

04/06/2025

I am back from my holiday and have replied to everyone’s messages, if you are waiting for a reply and haven’t received one just send your message over again as I haven’t received some whilst I was away.

I am booked up until the start of July, there is the odd available space towards the end of June depending on location.

Thank you everyone for keeping me so busy and being patient whilst I was away 🙏

26/05/2025

Just a reminder that I am still away in South Africa until the 3rd June 🦒🐆🦓
My phone isn’t receiving text messages so if you have messaged and I haven’t replied either send me a WhatsApp or Facebook message 😊

25/04/2025

Lovely yard visit yesterday, Ben is as big as he looks in the photos it’s not just me that is small. He was having a saddle check to make sure he is comfortable for a summer of hacking and can enjoy his retirement at the age of 23🐴

26/03/2025

✨Featured✨ Listed Equine Fitter

Laura’s passion for horses started with a riding lesson as a birthday present. Since then she has owned horses, worked and taught in a riding school, before going to Myerscough College and graduating in 2018 with a 1st class BSc (Hons) Equine Science degree, closely followed by a Masters Degree in Equine Science.

Laura worked at Saddles Direct until early 2023, when she set up Laura Peters Equestrian, where she aims to offer a warm, friendly and helpful approach for both horse and rider to saddle fitting.

She aims to ensure that horse welfare and horse and rider comfort is always paramount, providing the best possible service. Laura is a qualified Master Saddle Fitting Consultant (MSFC) Saddle Fitter covering the North West including Lancashire, Greater Manchester, Merseyside & Cheshire.

She can source and fit a wide range of new and used branded saddles.

Further details on Laura here: https://www.equinefittersdirectory.org/directory/laura-peters/

08/03/2025

Looking for Thorowgood T8 Compact GP 16.5” black
Customer waiting if anyone is selling one

04/03/2025

📣𝗛𝗢𝗥𝗦𝗘 𝗢𝗪𝗡𝗘𝗥𝗦 - 𝗪𝗘 𝗡𝗘𝗘𝗗 𝗬𝗢𝗨𝗥 𝗛𝗘𝗟𝗣📣

𝗪𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝘁𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗵𝗼𝗿𝘀𝗲…

Despite this being an important area related to equine welfare and performance, little is known about choices horse owners make regarding tack and the reasons for these choices.

This survey should take no longer than 10 minutes to complete and is completely anonymous.

𝗦𝘂𝗿𝘃𝗲𝘆 𝗟𝗶𝗻𝗸: https://app.onlinesurveys.jisc.ac.uk/s/uchartpury/understanding-how-horse-owners-manage-tack

By participating you are contributing to an essential piece of research helping to improve our understanding of horse owner behaviours in relation to saddlery and to improving standards of saddlery fit for horse and rider.

𝗣𝗟𝗘𝗔𝗦𝗘 𝗦𝗛𝗔𝗥𝗘 🙏

04/02/2025

So lucky to have been invited to the launch of the Equine Fitters Directory in the amazing Saddlers Hall in London and to receive recognition as a listed Equine Fitter which is so important for the for the industry and to be presented with my MSFC diploma from William Fox-Pitt 🤩

27/01/2025

Last week I had a really interesting visit on the Connect Equine Ltd saddle fitter training day.

The whole concept and design of the saddles is amazing and seeing how freely the horses move in them and how they benefit the riders position is very interesting and really helps you to understand why they have taken so many years too develop. If anyone is interested and wants to know more about the Connect Equine saddles let me know 😊

23/01/2025

Lynette.... Why are you placing my saddle so far back? I may as well be on their butt!

But seriously, where should your saddle be positioned? How do you know it's right?

We come from a nation of saddles on top of shoulders. Taught to set the saddle above the wither and the panel legs over the shoulder. We warm up and saddle has "slipped back", jump off put it back on top of their ears, sorry shoulders., and still we don't realise the saddle doesn't actually belong there.

The SMS teach a saddle should be 5cm behind the scapula. The IASF teach you to place the point of the saddle behind the shoulder rotation. You will see me lift a leg and check how far the scapula rotates. Most often 2.5" (so SMS guidance) but sometimes it's just an inch, or 3inches. This determines where I place your saddle. Then the final panel contact must not be past T18. This is how I determine what length of saddle (which alters by brand and model) will sit nicely on your horses weight bearing area.

The scapula is lined with soft cartilage, your horse should be able to move the scapula freely without contacting the tree points.

Once placed correctly your girth straps should hang naturally inline with your horses girth grove, hence why we have shaped girths. But that's a whole other post!

This post was a client request... Keep letting me know what interests you and I'll do my best to deliver 😍☺️
❤️

Excellent illustration borrowed from Natural Horseman Saddles.com Natural Horseman Saddles

10/01/2025

𝔽𝕦𝕟 𝔽𝕒𝕔𝕥 𝔽𝕣𝕚𝕕𝕒𝕪
Did you know that D to D measurements is a totally useless way of measuring saddle width? Cos the D rings can be placed anywhere on the saddle.
Pictured are two saddles - one is XW and the other is MW. They both have the same D to D measurement.