The Right Saddle for Gaited Horses

Do the four- and five-gaited horses need a special gaited-horse saddle? We believe: gaited horses need a saddle that fits properly, just like any other horse. A saddle with a flat seat that allows the rider's weight to shift can be a sensible choice. And if the shoulder can also slide completely unhindered under the saddle, clean tölt becomes easy too.

Iberosattel® makes made-to-measure, adjustable saddles that can be especially well fitted to short, broad horses of the most varied breeds and sizes. Our solutions for shoulder, wither and spine freedom are just as proven as our innovative saddle padding with extra-broad bearing surface. Our saddles are ideally suited for gaited horses, since tölters are predominantly square-built too.

The idea that gaited horses must be ridden in a special saddle is widespread. Only the magic of a tölt saddle, so the thinking goes, allows for relaxed, clean tölt. But what is actually special about a tölt saddle?
 
Interestingly, the classic tölt or Icelandic saddle essentially comes down to a saddle that tends to be too long, with a relatively flat seat, whose lowest point is often positioned so far back that equine physiotherapists practically gasp at the sight of a horse saddled that way.
 
The rearward-shifted centre of gravity of the saddle is owed to the idea that, to ride a good tölt, you should apparently shift your weight backward. Certainly not every riding instructor would sign off on that, but even if it were true: surely nobody would claim that walk and trot, gaits that gaited horses also have, likewise require such a shift of the rider's weight toward the hindquarters. In other words: this saddle would be unsuited to walk and trot, and thus to a good half of all riding activities, even for gaited-horse owners.

What Icelandic horses, tölting Trotters, Aegidienbergers, Paso Peruanos and the other tölters need is a saddle that fits well all round. Any saddle that offers sufficient freedom of movement (and, by the way, has its centre of gravity where it belongs, namely just behind the wither) is a perfect saddle for a gaited horse. Full stop.
 
Besides their special gaits, many tölters have one thing in common: they're square-built. That a well-fitting saddle for a gaited horse is often not so easy to find has nothing to do with tölt or paso llano, but with these horses' conformation.

Gaited horses come in different sizes, but a relatively short saddle position, a round back and powerful shoulders are just as characteristic of the Icelandic pony as of the Paso Peruano or the Aegidienberger. Off-the-shelf saddles that fit well in the shoulder are therefore usually too long for tölters.

We fit each of our saddle models to the individual horse being saddled: gullet width, spinal channel width and padding are individually adjusted. Our saddle trees were also developed specifically for Baroque horses and other square-built horses.
 

• All Iberosattel® saddles have an adjustable gullet width that can be regulated across a wide range. 

• A number of our saddles are padded with our Comfort Pad. This saddle padding has a considerably broader bearing surface than conventional wedge- or banana-shaped panels, so it distributes the weight of saddle and rider more widely across the horse's back and thereby reduces saddle pressure. Every horse benefits from this; it's especially recommended for the innovative saddle padding on short horses and for small horses with rather heavier riders. Also for horses with a sensitive back, such as Trotters.

• For the most compact of the short horses, we've developed the Comfort Compact Pad, a version of our extra-broad padding that can be shortened down to 44 cm. 

• The broad Comfort Pad helps prevent the saddle from slipping on round horse backs quite effectively.

• Even with our shortest saddles, we can still offer seat sizes up to 18 inches. 

• Many of our models are available with a flat or semi-flat seat as standard or on request.

• We pay particular attention to ensuring the horse's shoulder can slide unhindered under the saddle during movement. For especially broad-shouldered horses, our EWF saddle tree with integrated head plate is an option.

Over the course of training, virtually every horse changes quite significantly, and gaited horses are no exception. It often takes until age 6 or 8 for a young horse to "grow into" its final shape. For late developers, this phase can take even longer. Changes to the saddle position are also common in Trotters: when a retired racing Trotter comes to its new owner, it first needs to build back muscle to be able to carry a rider healthily.
 
Nevertheless, young horses, just like Trotters being retrained, should of course always be ridden with a well-fitting saddle from the very start. So is there really no way around buying a new saddle again and again?
 
An economically sensible and practical solution is a saddle that can be easily readjusted, both in gullet width and in padding.

At Iberosattel®, that's no problem: our saddle trees have an adjustable or exchangeable head plate, and the Comfort Pad, freely suspended under the saddle, can be easily removed and changed as needed. Just give us a call: we and our partner saddlers are always there for you.
 
This way, you always ride your gaited horse with a perfectly fitting saddle, for your horse's whole life.

• the El Primero
• the Vaquero Breitschaft
• and the Ibero Amazona Comfort 

• the Dressage Andaluz
• and the Amazona Dressage Comfort 

• the Alpha Vaquero
• the Ibero Classic Plus 

• El Piccolino