If you have ever witnessed horses in a pasture or in a group standing at ease, how do they stand? A horse with its head up is alert and keeping track of its surroundings because it has seen or heard something that concerned it. Horses are flight animals, and are ready to run in an instant. A horse which is grazing or simply standing without fear or stress stands with its head down (and usually one leg – the left! – but that’s another story) forward. It is in a relaxed ‘state of mind’.

When we talk about people being depressed and hanging our heads when we are sad, this cannot be anthropomorphically translated to equine behaviour. But for people who may not know much about horse behaviour, this may be perceived as ‘horses being depressed’. Anyone who spends much time riding or being with horses understands that if you give the horse enough confidence in training to be ridden with its head down, this is the best sign that the horse trusts you.

My point? Simply that this perception is one of many that underlines how what is seen is not necessarily representative of the truth. Why some of what I do as a saddle fitter is often misunderstood – not only by the general public, but what is more of an issue – also by the general riding public! For example, one of the things I have trained our saddle fitters to do is to be able to fit a saddle ‘dynamically’ – so that it works with the horse when it is in motion, not just when it’s standing still and in the crossties. However, since many saddle fitters out there a) don’t understand the logic and reasoning behind what they may find when the open up our saddles (for example, asymmetrically bent gullet plates) and b) often are not able to fit along these lines – they instead simply parlay their ‘not-knowing’ into incorrect comments and perpetuate the misperception of what was done and why it was done. I will address this in a future blog in which I discuss Dynamic vs. Static fit in more detail.

If you have questions about something your saddle fitter is doing with your saddle, don’t be afraid to ask. Sometimes things are not what they seem; just as a horse with its head down is not depressed (although humans may be!) – saddles that seem ‘bent out of shape’ may not really be – or may be that way for a reason!

Jochen Schleese, CMS, CSFT, CEE

www.schleese.com

www.saddlesforwomen.com