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EQUI-Mapping Saddle Fitting

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Let's begin by saying "EQUI-Mapping saddle fit evaluation is NOT intended to sell you a new saddle!" We have an 85% success rate helping to identify and correct ill fitting saddles allowing riders to keep the saddles they already own. There are those too narrow or saddles that sit on the spine that are often difficult cases to help fit, but we try hard to find solutions to your fit needs.

EQUI-Mapping saddle fitting evaluation by pressure mapping can help all types of saddles, not just english or flocked saddles. In fact treed saddles that are not flocked are often the most difficult to not only see, but change because the tree is buried inside layers of fleece or felt. How would anyone know what to look for, and how to change the fit, and how do I know I've done what I thought I was suppose to do? We've helped hundreds of western, endurance, pleasure, aussi, flex panel and other styles of saddle with great success. Read on.....

What is good saddle fit anyway? Its no different than how the shoe fits the foot: the shoe supports the weight of your body on a broad and cushioned surface. The idea is to disperse the weight to avoid concentrations or pressure points. Hopefully the insole follows the contours of your foot. You'll know a "good pair of shoes, your favorite" mainly because they do not hurt you! If shoes do not fit well, then we either toss the shoes (after wearing them painfully) or purchase a set of "orthodics" for our shoes that basically "fills the voids" where the insole does not match the shape of our foot. Luckily the soles of our feet do not change much unless we gain or loose a lot of weight. However on the horses back, the spine is girded with huge muscle and soft tissue that changes with fitness and age throughout it's entire life.

Saddle fit is exactly the same thing: the tree or panels should follow every contour of the back on either side of the spine, leaving the spine open and not compressed by the tree or weight either in a downward or side to side motion. The bony spine was never intended to support weight or take repeated concussion, thus the invention of the treed saddle. While not perfect in every way, it does disperse the weight and avoid the concussion to the spinous processes.

In a perfect world all our horses would be the same, however not true even from month to month, breed to breed. The "one size fits all" or "built for "X" breed" is simply not a possibility. The result of poor fit in a tree is exactly the same as poor fit in a shoe for us. However the horse cannot actually speak to use verbally nor can they "toss" their saddles but they can toss us off! They also let us know in other ways such as in health issues, sore backs, open sores from pressure points, white hairs, bad attitudes, refusal, being cinchy, tail swishing, bucking, unable to move laterally or take a certain lead, constant and repeated need for chiro and/or massage, mystery lameness...and left unattended it can become chronic or referred pain that travels into the hips, shoulders and eventually into the feet. Then your farrier is trimming your horse according to it's" new way of going" that is actually compensating for the pain it is feeling with each step. It's a domino affect and does not correct itself, rather gets worse with time.

Time-honored techniques such as using carpenters' chalk against a pad, a kitchen spatula to check bridging, running your hand under, wonderful saddle fitting tools that measure and cast the shape of the static horse, etc. have been the ways we have made determinations as to proper saddle fit. These are useful techniques that we use. The dynamic horse is quite a different back, as is the ridden horse even more so. A riders posture greatly changes fit of a saddle. Asymmetry in a horse and/or rider style can actually change the shape of a saddle over time.

Including the noted techniques, Double Diamond Equine uses EQUI-Mapping, a system that utilizes forced sensor array technology FSA (pressure mapping) to measure pressure and contact of the saddle and rider . We can scan the ridden moving animal as well as look at the still animal. The trick is to determine is it the rider, or the saddle, the horse, or the combination?

The EQUI Mapping FSA (Forced Sensor Array) system measures the entire area and includes sensors over the spine, a very important part of saddle fit evaluation! Our system can also include cam recording of the ridden animal as well as the scan results able to be seen on the same screen. A very useful tool for evaluation from the farriers, trainers, and saddle fit experts' point of view.

The technician can read the contact in color gradients, the lack of contact, and the psi (pounds per square inch), averages, comparisons and more. It is not a "static picture" but rather a live moving reading that you, the rider, can see for yourself when mounted. PSI over 3.0 or yellow in color indicates the beginnings of too much pressure. Too much pressure results in a lack of blood flow and oxygen to the cells directly under that "pressure point". Often this is indicated by white hairs on the horse from repeated pressure in a concentrated place. Pressure points can be very painful to horses, yet at the same time do not always "show themselves", especially if the problem has been going on for a while and the pain has moved to a different part of the horses' body. Often we hear "my horse never complains and is never sore!

The opposite of a pressure point is the distribution of weight over a larger surface thus eliminating concentrations. Pressure points can result in long term health related problems as our horses change their way of walking, gaiting, and posture to alleviate the pain.

Vista Medical's Pressure mapping is widely used in hospital settings for bed-ridden patients and those who spend considerable time in a stationary posture such as a wheelchair to avoid ulcers, which are the same thing as a saddle sore. Mattress manufacturers are now using pressure mapping for customers to determine the best firmness for their shape and weight for comfort. You are probably acquainted with the displays in drug stores that offer a platform to stand on that measures your bare foot? That is a pressure map system for the foot to then build you a set of orthotics from.

What can be done about ill fitting saddles? We offer solutions such as sending your scan to a saddle reflocker, or in the case of saddles that are built on a tree or english riders who prefer other methods besides reflocking, we use other methods of correction. We suggest a follow up appointment according to the horses level of fitness and the amount of riding being done at minimum once a year as your horse changes.

Please feel free to consult with your equine professional first. We are happy to work along side your vet, farrier, whomever.

Consider saddle fitting "measuring for orthotics for the horses back".

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