Nothing is so exciting as starting a young horse under saddle.
Finally, all the dreams of the breeder, owner and trainer are taking a massive step towards the end result of a happy, confident ridden horse. So much has been invested into these young horses up to this point. Think of the breeder pouring over bloodlines and stallion videos to select what they believe to be the very best match for their mare to produce what they were aiming for in their breeding program. Hours upon hours are spent with many researching everything possible about relatives and closely bred horses that may have been through auctions or performed. And then there is the actual cost of the semen, insemination and foaling down costs and correct nutrition, worming and foot care of the mare and the foal once it is born. The cost is huge! From weaning to starting under saddle obviously all the care costs continue in addition to the time spent handling these youngsters. They will be introduced to rugs, float/truck trained and do groundwork. Some will have been sent to professionals for this. Others will have done a lot of this with their owners who may have bought them as weanlings, yearlings or even older or may have bred them themselves. No matter who has done the work, a lot of time and money is invested at this stage and this is without any accidents or illnesses along the way. Then the horses are started under saddle, either by a professional or by the owner themselves. Around this time people are organising a saddle for the youngster. Many people don't want to send a new saddle to a professional starter with their horse and most professional starters only want to ride in their own saddles. This makes total sense as they need to know they can stay with the horse in balance no matter what happens underneath them. It would be impossible for them to do this in a saddle that may be too small for them or one that may either block them in or not give them enough support where they need it. At least initially and we totally understand that! The ideal situation is to have a fitter check any saddle you may be thinking of using on your youngster before you send the youngster away. Be sensible here and make sure you have worked with your horse so that he/she is relaxed with you placing the saddle on his/her back. You don't need to girth it up at this stage and unless you are experienced with starting horses it is not a great idea for you to be the first to do this. It is just important for the safety of your fitter and so they can assess it properly that your horse stands quietly and is not nervous. Although this will only be a rough check as no saddle can be deemed perfect unless girthed up and assessed with the horse being ridden, it is still very much worth doing. Your fitter will be able to check the width, length and shape of the tree and panels. If any of these are wrong your young horse is being set up to feel pain and discomfort when asked to go forward, bend or canter and you are setting them up for terrible habits to form. Ideally organise your fitter to check the saddle again (or bring out new ones for you to try if you don't have one that looks suitable) the last week your horse is at the starters or if that is not possible then as soon as he/she is home. Some youngsters can be very sensitive to a new feeling on their back so if they have only been ridden in a stock saddle and you go and put on your new dressage saddle they may react. It could be good to have them do this with the professional rider on them, even though as I said before the saddle may not be what they prefer. Most will understand and offer to do this in the handover of the horse. Remember that your horse will change shape dramatically in the time they are at the trainers so a saddle that may have looked good before they left could well do with some tweaking at this point in time. So what saddles are great for youngsters? Any saddle that fits! Hopefully gone are the riders who say "the horse has to earn their own saddle"! The horse's first saddle is possibly the most important saddle they will ever have as if not correctly fitting will set them up for a range of resistances under saddle. We also know that through main and discomfort horses change their way of moving and their posture, both of which set them up for early degenerative disease and a shortened saddle career. Don't be daft! Don't try to save money at this point when you think about what has been invested up until this point with these youngsters and the cost of trying to correct issues when they develop. Young horses are going to develop and change, and how much depends on the breed, workload and age. For most people it is sensible to use a saddle with changeable gullets if the horse is under 5 years of age such as the Discovery saddles. This way the gullet may be changed at any time and over a large range of sizes. They also have generous panels and gussets to allow a lot of adjustments to be made through the flocking by your saddle fitter. After 5-6 years of age, depending on breed and development, many riders choose a custom-made saddle such as a Ryder or Fiona Cork Saddle. These saddles can be pressed in or out 1 size either way but your saddle fitter, 3-4 times throughout the saddle's life, which along with their wool-flocked panels, allows for great adjustability. So good luck with starting your youngster! May it go smoothly and all your dreams come true! Above all have fun and enjoy the journey!!!
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At the VH Saddlery WA Pony Club State Dressage Championships last year I met many absolutely gorgeous young riders, one of whom was Hannah who along with her family attended many of the talks I presented over the weekend. I came to learn that Hannah was struggling to find a saddle that suited both her and her pony, due to the length of her leg and his saddle platform area. When they finished competing for the weekend I sat quite a few saddles on her pony to see which trees would work best for him and which saddles would give Hannah enough room without extending too far back on her pony's back. In the end we decided the Fiona Cork saddles would be the way to go and the next step was to organise their saddlefitter, Brad Travers to measure her pony. This photo shows Brad taking some measurements of Hannah's pony. He uses a special flexi-ruler which he molds to the pony's back and then carefully lifts it off and traces the shape onto specially marked paper. At the time the photo was taken Brad was taking the profile of the pony's spine. This helps the saddle makers know how flat or curvey to make the tree. Brad also templates across the back at each of the points marked on the flexirule. These measurements indicate how wide to make the tree and the angle and length of the rails of the tree. The measurements are taken several times, often reminding the horse to engage its core if it is one of those horses that stands in a totally different posture to when it is ridden. Several specific photos are also taken of the pony as well as the rider and sometimes even some video footage. The more information we can gather the better so that everyone involved in designing and making the saddle knows as much as possible about the horse and rider combination. I work with the rider to ensure the saddle is perfect for them in the way of their position. There are so many options available that riders would not even have thought about to ensure their legs hang correctly, in the right angles and without tension. Some options are obvious such as knee roll height, length, position and angle, seat width, depth and length and changes to flap lengths. Other options such as changes to stirrup bar placement and twist width are required less often but are so profound when made for the right reasons. Once all the measuring is finished, the fun part begins! Riders get to choose the leather types and colours for all the different parts of the saddle as well as any bling they may wish to add. Fiona Cork is great and sends through photos at each stage, including samples of the leather when they are cutting out fancy prints and embossed leather. She is so particular about absolutely everything that it is an absolute delight working with her. Some riders go crazy at this point and sometimes I have to remind them what is and isn't allowed in their particular discipline! Hannah wasn't like that at all and chose a particularly classy floral print for the infill on the cantle on her new saddle. I think we went through five different prints with Fiona's help before deciding on this one and it was absolutely worth the effort! Most Fiona Cork Saddles "fit like a glove" from the day they arrive but like with any wool flocked saddles they need to be checked by your saddle fitter after 20 hours of riding, or earlier if they need to be balanced. After 20 hours the wool packs down and the fitters can tweak it to ensure the perfect fit. Hannah says "I am extremely satisfied with our custom-made Fiona Cork saddle which we ordered through VH Saddlery and was fitted by BT saddlefit. It is a surprisingly low cost for a high-quality custom-made saddle fitted to both horse and rider. It allows my horse to move more freely, is very comfortable and looks exquisite. I have had many comments about the beautiful inlay patterns.
I highly recommend VH Saddlery if you are looking for a custom-made saddle for comfort, fit, quality and value for money." We absolutely loved working with Hannah and her family and wish them all the very best with their equestrian pursuits in the future! My family have been breeding Welsh Cobs for the last 20 years at Kings Town Welsh Cobs in WA. My sister and I breed, train, and compete our home bred Welsh Cobs in breed, dressage and jumping shows. We grew up breeding and riding Welsh Cobs from a very young age and have found them to be such a diverse breed for all disciplines and they really shine in the competition arena. We have had a lot of success in the competitive pony dressage arena with many state championship titles and receiving wonderful feedback on our ponies. One thing we have always struggled with through the years has been finding a saddle that works for the Cob shape as well as complimenting us as riders for that close contact feel. Welsh Cobs have such a broad strong back pony with generally a lot of power in their hindquarter and a forward girth groove that every saddle we tried over the years would either not sit in the right place, bounce quite a lot in the back or just not have the right tree/gullet/panels, especially as they became stronger in their work and moved up the levels. I searched high and low for many years trying everything that came along in the end I just had to find something that 75% worked for the pony not necessarily myself as a rider. As a consequence, I started researching saddles overseas and I contacted many riders who had competed Welsh Cobs to a high level of dressage to find out what they were riding in and what they loved about the saddles they were using. Finally, after many years of research and searching I came across Fiona Cork saddles. I was initially interested in them because they had such a classic design and I had seen so many Welsh ponies competing in them in various disciplines at low level and higher levels overseas. Interested but not brave enough to take the punt in bringing one downunder, lucky for me I found out that Victoria Hamilton had brought some into Western Australia. I quickly jumped at the opportunity to try them on my ponies and my saddle fitter and I were amazed! It was the first saddle that we had sat on my ponies that had just worked with no need to change anything at all. It was stable, especially on my round pony who has no wither who I had always had trouble with saddles slipping and sliding but not this one. The pony was so much more confident under my seat, there was no bouncing in the back of the saddle and no sliding forward due to the fact that there were so many girth point options. The ponies were finally happy and comfortable and the 1 Saddle fits both of my ponies and not only did it fit them I had such a close contact to the pony and the knee rolls on this Fiona Cork saddle are so soft and sit in the right spot not making me feel like I’m jammed in on constricted at all it was a definitely a winner for myself and the ponies. I highly recommend these saddles, there are so many varieties and I really feel Fiona Cork really understand the broad back and the type of ponies and what we need as riders. I’m very eager to kick start 2024 with my ponies and their new saddle! |
AuthorDr Victoria Hamilton is an icon in the Western Australian Equestrian Community, with a wealth of experience as a veterinarian, coach, breeder and international dressage competitor. As one of Australia’s top dressage riders, her love of horses is contagious and apparent in everything she does. Archives
February 2024
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