Minster Saddlery

Used and AbusedRiders are becoming increasingly persuaded that it is essential to have a saddle professionally fitted and very few reputable saddleries are happy to sell a saddle off the peg without ensuring that it is properly fitted. There are inevitably exceptions involving saddles sold on the Internet and in sales. I have a young customer who queues up all night outside one of our larger saddlery competitors to purchase saddles at half price. Of course when she gets home they don't fit. Because she has more front than Buckingham Palace she asks me to modify them to fit and for the past three years I have agreed to do this (am I a mug or what?). The fact is the yard where she works are good customers and the owner is a very nice lady.
The problem mainly arises with used saddles, since very many of these are purchased from other people in the yard who have saddles to sell cheaply. Most of these are simply plonked on the poor horse's back and the purchaser very often has no idea whether or not it fits. Consequently very many horse backs are being abused by ill-fitting saddles. Sometimes the horses gets so fed up with the discomfort that they decide to tell the owner what they think about the abuse they are being forced to endure. This can take the form of trying to bite or kick the person who is putting on the saddle. Sometimes they run into the corner of the stable as soon as they see the saddle; at the very least they object as soon as the girth is tightened. This behaviour is often explained as the horse being cold backed, which is of course nonsense. Eventually the owner will get the message and only then will they call in professional help. The fact is that all saddles need to be professionally fitted whether new or used.
I believe that we are quite unique in our method of selling used saddles since we always make a template of the horse the saddle is intended for. Our saddler then takes out the panel, removes all the old flocking and re-stuffs the panel with pure white lambswool. He makes a template of the actual tree which he compares to the template of the horse. In the event of any discrepancy between the two then the tree will be modified to fit the template we have taken of the horse. Any defective girth straps are replaced and any other necessary repairs are carried out. The saddle is then cleaned, re-dyed and treated with hide food and when the saddle is finally fitted we are confidant it will fit perfectly. It is vitally important that the flocking is changed when a used saddle has bedded into and taken up the shape of another horse's back, since it will never satisfactorily bed onto a new horse's back without causing some discomfort. This is similar to wearing some second-hand boots. I recall that when I was in the army (many years ago) new boots took some time to break in and blisters had to be suffered in the meantime. Later when I was farming I would buy second hand Army Surplus boots and these took even longer and caused even more blisters until they eventually moulded to my feet and a similar situation arises with the existing flocking in a used saddle unless it is changed.
When we deliver the reconditioned saddle the customer will ride in it and if they are happy the sale is concluded. There may of course be others that adopt a similar procedure but if there are, I don't know who they are. At least when we sell a used saddle we are confident it will fit and that the horse will be happy and any evasive habits it may have previously exhibited will soon be abandoned.
We are constantly being asked to check the fit of saddles as we travel round to the various yards in our area. Almost without exception they are of a poor fit and this is confirmed when we compare the template of the horse to the template of the tree. Of course we modify the template of the tree to fit the template of the horse and re-stuff the saddle while the panel is out and when the saddle is returned and fitted I swear that the horse smiles his or her thanks.
However I never cease to be amazed when a horse is purchased for a considerable sum of money and then a saddle is purchased often as cheaply as possible, and then not professionally fitted. Fortunately most riders are now coming to realise the false economy of this practice. More and more I find that people realise that the comfort of their horse must be the foremost consideration and that abuse of the back must never be tolerated. A horse will never be a willing partner while suffering discomfort.
Before the internal combustion engine the horse was an indispensable part of man's existence. They pulled carts, carriages, ploughs and went to war. They were not pets as they are today, but existed to serve man's every need and they were largely treated as expendable and ill treatment and neglect was not uncommon. During the Napoleonic Wars of the nineteenth century care of the many thousands of horses employed by both the British and the French armies was appallingly low. During the Boer War the British lost over 300,000 horses out of the 500,000 they had in theatre and very few of these were killed as a result of enemy action. The French if anything were worse. Napoleon lost 30,000 horses in his abortive attempt to capture Moscow and it was well known by British units that it was possible to smell French cavalry at great distances because of the stench from suppurating sores caused by ill fitting saddles and other equipment; huge wastage was accepted as a fact of life. Even during the 1914-18 Great War French and German cavalry could only field about one third of their strength at any given time. During one campaign a British Cavalry unit was ordered to ride its horses to death if necessary in order to reach its objective on time. Fortunately the British army eventually learned better and from the start of the twentieth century maintained most excellent standards. It was Captain Louis Nolan, an excellent professional cavalry officer who believed that it was possible to get more out of a horse through kindness and consideration that through force. He was hugely influential along with a few like-minded colleagues in bringing about this change of policy. Unfortunately his career was brought to an untimely end because he was one of the first to be killed during the "Charge of the Light Brigade". These days most horses are owned by lady riders who love their horses dearly and wouldn't cause them discomfort for anything. Regrettably many of their much loved friends suffer discomfort due to ill-fitting saddles because their owners are unaware that this is happening.
Therefore if there is any question as to the fit of a saddle, get it checked by a professionally qualified and experienced saddle fitter without delay. Quite apart from the comfort of the horse you will save the fees of the vet and/or the "back person".