This is Dr. Joanna Robson demonstrating correct saddle fit on a western saddle. Montana will be our model for a brief discussion on evaluating the angle of the saddle tree.

Montana’s owners had some concerns about her saddle fit and when we placed the saddle on top of her back, setting it back behind her shoulder, what we noticed (which you can see in the video) the little pressure over the horn (the top part of the saddle up here) and the front part of the tree pinches down on top of her shoulder blades. If I bring my hand in at the top, I can’t even get it between the top of the tree and the side of her shoulder blade. This has a potential to do a number of things: It can shorten her stride by literally blocking her range of motion, it also has the potential to damage the cartilage cap at the top of her scapula, and the other thing that we worry about is putting pressure over the nerve (cranial nerve 11 and the accessory spinal nerve which innervates the trapezius muscle).

So in laypersons terms, what we want to have is the angle of the horse’s shoulder blade matching the angle of the saddle tree. In Montana’s case her shoulder blade sits like this (as shown in video) and the angle of the tree and the saddle sits like that, so all of the pressure sits down at the top part which can create damage, performance problems and even behavioral issues like bucking and rearing under saddle. So now lets look at a saddle that has a better angle through the tree.

So now we have placed another saddle on top of Montana’s back and you can see almost right away how much more open this saddle is at the top. Even with weight on top of the horn I can bring my hand in up at the top and fairly easily slide it down. There is no pinch over the nerve, it’s open over the top of the cartilage on the top of her shoulder blade and it really isn’t creating any restriction to her range of motion as her forelimb extends and flexes. So what we would say is on this tree, the angle is a better match for the horse’s shoulder blade. Then of course with a proper pad underneath, preferably one with contouring, she is going to be ready to go for long hours of riding down the trail.

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Dr. Joanna Robson saddle fit saddle fitting western saddle