The Right Saddle for Short Horses

Looking for a saddle for a short, broad horse can feel like searching for the proverbial needle in a haystack. When it comes to saddles, a short back and little wither are a bit like shoe size 4 in extra-wide: many manufacturers simply don't have these proportions on their radar.
 
Our Iberosattel® team includes (and rides) experts for this type of horse – when developing our saddles, we pay particular attention to the saddle needs of horses with baroque proportions.

Saddles proportioned for „typical“ horses are either too long or too narrow for short, broad horses (and in the worst case, both): a saddle with the correct length will be too narrow for a baroque-proportioned horse. If the width fits, on the other hand, the saddle is too long.
 
This brings with it a whole list of specific individual problems:
 

• A saddle positioned too far forward restricts the horse's shoulder freedom of movement.

• A saddle that extends too far back can also be pushed towards the shoulder with every step due to movements of the lumbar spine, restricting the shoulders as well.

• A saddle that extends too far back presses on the kidneys, spleen and intestines and pinches the lumbar nerves.

• A saddle with too narrow a spinal channel presses against the side of the spine when the horse bends.

• A generally too-narrow saddle only uses part of the potential bearing surface in the saddle area, resulting in unnecessarily high saddle pressure: risk of pressure sores!

• Short horses with round ribs and little wither also often have a saddle-slipping problem: the saddle finds no grip on the horse's back.

Incorrect loading caused by an ill-fitting saddle causes the horse pain. Depending on its character, it will try to counter the pain with faulty posture, such as tensing the back or moving stiffly, or it will become actively resistant through unwillingness, bucking or kicking. That's not what relaxed riding looks like.
 
And that's not all: over the long term, an ill-fitting saddle can cause real harm to the horse. Pressure sores, inflammation, tension, and later atrophy of the shoulder and back muscles, wear on joints and cartilage: these typical consequences of unsuitable saddles together make up the clinical picture known as carrying exhaustion.

Extra gel pads under the saddle or additional padding don't really address the root of the problem. They also worsen the contact between rider and horse, which is essential for gentle riding with fine aids.

• What short, broad horses need is a saddle with a suitably dimensioned, short bearing surface that leaves the lumbar region completely free.

• The saddle must not restrict shoulder freedom, and it should sit as broadly as possible. A broad bearing surface not only reduces saddle pressure but also increases grip, meaning the saddle won't slip around even on a horse with round ribs and little wither.

• The bearing surface must offer sufficient spinal clearance in the centre and follow the curve of the horse's back lengthwise.

Short, broad horses aren't as rare as you might think: Andalusians, Arabians, Tinkers and quite a few others, plus small horses and ponies, share a back that's short relative to its width and round ribs – across a wide range of sizes.
 
With exactly these horses in mind, Iberosattel® has developed its own saddle padding. Compared to conventional saddle pads at the same saddle length, our Comfort Pad has more than twice the contact area with the horse. This results in significantly reduced pressure on the horse's back and improves the saddle's grip – both are especially important with short saddles.

Our saddle models with a broad Comfort Pad are particularly well suited to short horses. This patented saddle padding variant, developed in-house, was nominated for the Equitana Innovation Award for good reason: it's a genuinely sensible alternative to the widely used wedge pads. The Comfort Pad doesn't restrict the horse's movement and maximises the saddle's bearing surface on the back – which is naturally very useful for a rather short saddle that can't spread the rider's weight over a long back section.
 
It was also important to us that, while this pad cushions impact well and generally fulfils its role as saddle padding, it still allows good contact with the horse: we make every Comfort Pad as thick as necessary and as thin as possible – especially over the leg area.

As a maker of made-to-measure baroque- and dressage saddles, "one size fits all" is of course not our philosophy for the Comfort Pad either: starting from a careful measurement of the horse's back, every Comfort Pad is individually fitted. The curve of the pad can be adjusted, as can the width of the spinal channel.
 
For the very shortest horses, we developed our Comfort Compact Pad. It has all the advantages of the Comfort Pad but can be made as short as 44 cm. This means even the shortest saddles can be made optimally back-friendly.

Our saddles don't just fit for the moment! Not only can our saddle trees be re-adjusted again and again thanks to an adjustable gullet width whenever your horse has built up or lost muscle due to training or health reasons. Subsequent re-fitting of the Comfort Pad is no problem either. Because our saddle padding is suspended freely under the saddle tree, the width of the spinal channel, for example, can be changed in next to no time.

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