This spring, our local horsemanship club, Equus-n-Us, decided to put on a saddle-fitting clinic. One of our members was having a terrible time finding a saddle to fit her new horse and she was getting a lot of conflicting information. She researched several clinicians in our general area and we decided on one.
The arrangements were discussed, the date set and the lists of things to do written up. The morning arrived and I drove all my things over to the facility where the clinic was taking place. I was the helper so I got there early, helped with set-up and then went to get my horse. I rode him down because my pasture is only ½ mile away and they had stalls for our use.
I heard that the clinician had a computerized pad that shows how the pressure from the saddle and rider are distributed and some kind of a gauge to measure a saddle to your horses back. We were asked to bring all the saddles and pads we own so we can use a wide variety of combinations to see the differences. I was very curious so I wanted to pay very close attention.
Her name is Gavin Wissler and she lives in the Pacific Northwest. We helped her get set up and she got started by explaining why and how the Saddletech System works.
The explanation from the website: ". . . our measurement instruments can calculate the effect of GRAVITY caused by the rider's weight, relative to the horses weight, to determine a new 3D shape that will FIT the MOUNTED horse's back. Using our computer saddle pressure measurement system, we can calibrate and VERIFY THE ACCURACY of this calculation."
This sounds complicated but I will try to clarify by explaining what I saw. We started off by standing the demo horse on a flat surface with all four feet square and used a weight tape to get an estimate of her weight. Then the rider's weight, including her saddle, blanket and everything she wears when riding was taken on the scales. These weights were entered on the "weight correction" page with the formulas. 
Next, the saddle was placed in the position the saddle is actually going to be ridden in, whether it is forward, backward or in-between. Gavin used a marker to mark the position in the front and the back of the saddle on the horse's back. The saddle was removed and the gauge was placed on the horses back evenly spaced between the marks.
Gavin set the gauge on the horse and had us look it over. She instructed us as to how to adjust it and let us do it. It was a team effort and we learned how much contact each wing needs, how to adjust the arcs so that the surface of the wings got maximum contact with the back and at the same time to adjust the face of the wings perpendicular to the ground.
After we got everything adjusted just right, Gavin read off the angle and arc measurements so the person doing the chart could write them in. Then the calculations with the formulas were computed and we had our final numbers to work with. These numbers were used to adjust the gauge so it would compensate for the rider's weight and the horse's weight for a correct measurement to set inside the saddle.
That is when the fun began. We started with the horse's saddle that she had been using. The gauge went in the saddle and Gavin showed us where all the gaps were. No wonder this gal had been having trouble finding a saddle to fit this horse. We tried that gauge in about 25 saddles and found only two that were even close to fitting!!
Next came the computer for the pressure measurement and scans to verify the fit. We moved to the arena and put the pressure sensitive pad that attaches to a computer directly on the horses back. The pad contains an array of 256 pressure sensors that measures 24 inches by 32 inches. We put the saddle on without a blanket and the rider rides the horse around for about 5 minutes to seat the saddle. Then we connected the pressure pad to the computer and Gavin took a scan with the rider in the riding position with the horse standing still. A scan was taken as the horse stepped forward 2 or 3 steps and one as the horse stepped back 2 or 3 steps. Then the scans were analyzed for correct distribution of weight.
After that if the fit looked fairly good we tried putting different blankets between the pad and saddle to see what difference the blankets make. It was very, very interesting.
When it was my turn to fit my saddles we came up with a great combination of a Skito Pad, a folded polyester/nylon blanket and my old western saddle. My english saddle didn't even come close to fitting. It was a very cheap saddle and Gavin advised that I only use if for small children as it would probably not fit any horse comfortably.
This was truly a great experience and I would highly recommend their website for much more detailed information. You can contact them for clinicians in your area if you want to pursue this method of saddle fitting. Saddletech.com
