Saddle Fitting with Peter Horobin

Recently we were chatting on Facebook about saddle fitting. There were lots of questions and lots of confusion so when I was offered the chance to go to a saddle fitting appointment a friend had made with Peter Horobin, I jumped at the chance.

Peter Horobin is a saddle maker who first started his leather apprenticeship at Passier & Son in Germany when he was 15 years old. Moving to Australia in 1985 he started his own saddlery business manufacturing race saddles and exercise saddles which has been built up today into a thriving business. Peter has worked with many hugely successful equestrians including the likes of Brett Parbury and Heike Kemmer.

The first thing that strikes you about Peter and his wife, Julie is how down to earth they are. They are incredibly warm people. The kind of people you feel like you have known for years on first meeting. In short you feel very comfortable with them.



My friend, Ruth had brought her horse, Charlie, along for a saddle fit. She brought two rather worn old saddles with her to be checked, neither of which were Horobin made saddles, but refreshingly, that did not concern Peter at all. He went about the task of checking the fit of the saddles with the same care and attention to detail that he had given to the previous client with her custom made Horobin saddle.

(Her saddle had needed some adjusting and Peter was fully equipped to do it on the spot with all the tools he needed and wool stuffing).

Next it was Charlies' turn. In Peters' words Charlie is a difficult horse to fit. He has a very high wither and a very long wither and also a prominent backbone.

Peter explained in detail how a saddle was meant to fit. The details of which came as a surprise to all of us. We had had saddle fits done before where only the wither had been measured for gullet size and that was all we expected. However, Peter had a gauge with him that measured the entire fit of the saddle from the gullet right through to the back of the saddle. When you see it , it makes total sense. How could a saddle be deemed to fit from only a wither measurement? There's a lot more involved in a horses back than just the withers. Peter also carefully explained the movement of a horses shoulder and how that contributes to how the saddle sits and fits. Too tight and it will pinch, too loose and it will slump down putting pressure on the top of the wither.

The saddles Ruth brought along for Charlie both appeared to sit in a balanced way, but on closer inspection both had their problems.

One of the saddles, although it appeared to sit perfectly balanced was bridging as can be seen in the image below.

The second saddle, again appeared well balanced but was sitting too low on the wither. Of the two it was decided that it was the better fit but would need a reasonably thick saddle blanket to lift it. That brought an interesting question about saddle blankets up which was, if a saddle fits would a thick saddle blanket underneath it interfere with the fit? And the answer was an emphatic 'yes'. As it turns out saddle blankets were invented to protect the saddle from the horse, but somehow over time we have become accustomed to using them to try to improve the fit of an ill fitting saddle. Peter believes that if the saddle fits properly all you should really need under it is a thin, absorbent saddle blanket.

We discovered quite a few other interesting pieces of information too. Charlies' saddles were both stuffed with rubber! This was a material used some time ago in quite a number of saddles (including Bates) and it is not really possible to restuff them. Another thing was that a saddle fit for an off the rack saddle will usually only measure for gullet size. This can really only give an approximation of the fit. So in essence you could very well have a saddle off the rack that has been fitted to your horse which doesn't fit at all! They just cant make enough sizes for all the different shapes and sizes of horse.

Probably the most worrying thing we discovered was that many saddles cannot be altered. Even some very expensive, very beautiful saddles, due to their construction can't have gullets changed, or be restuffed. It's worrying because people often shop for saddles online now and get them shipped in from overseas. Imagine how distressed you would be if your new European saddle turned out not to fit and you found out you couldn't do anything about it!

The main thing I think we all came away with though was that saddle fitting is not something you could just pick up in a weekend course as many try to do. It is highly technical and requires a great deal of knowledge. And given that, it seems pretty silly to have a saddle fit done by someone who is not a saddle maker. If an off the rack saddle doesn't fit your horse, you'll either need to have it altered or get a custom saddle made, so you're better off just starting with a saddle maker in the first place.

The following video shows a little of what you can expect from a saddle fitting with Peter. It is by no means comprehensive and I urge you all if you get the chance take your horse along to him for a fitting. You wont regret it. He is a true professional in every sense of the word.

 

Peter Horobin regularly travels throughout Australia and internationally and can be engaged for lectures and demonstrations. More information can be found on his website :http://www.horobin.com.au/