saddle fitting
Tack Rack Ltd are importers of a substantial range of saddlery lines. Generally, the most expensive item after your horse that will invest in will be your saddle. This is why saddle fitting has become so important in today's equestrian world. A well fitted saddle can improve your horse’s performance.
Our saddle fitting service is available at our premises or a visit can be arranged- charges apply. Our saddle fitting will be carried out by Sharon Ashley who is a UK qualified Society of Master Saddlers fitter.
“Prior to institution of the Society of Master Saddlers’ saddle fitting qualifications, a formalized measuring stick of the saddle fitter’s knowledge and ability did not exist anywhere in the world. Today the Society’s assessment remains the only non-commercially linked, assiduously monitored, professional qualification."
It took many months of intensive research to develop the structure of the course leading to the qualification. The horse’s welfare was necessarily the most important consideration and every aspect of the fitting process was taken into account. At the same time, riders’ needs in all the various disciplines and equestrian sports had to be considered in order to encourage individual horse and rider combinations to achieve optimum comfort and performance.
Every horse owner is aware that horses are better structured to pull loads than to carry them!
The horse's back is a rigid structure from which all the major organs are suspended. It extends from the last of the bones in the neck to the last of the rib bones. The Saddle Fitter needs to accommodate the saddle behind the scapula and not beyond the last rib bone.
Horses work from behind. Anything that inhibits this movement will prevent the horse working correctly. This includes a pinching, ill-fitting saddle, use of schooling aids that shorten the neck and pull in the head, an unbalanced rider and so on.
The Society of Master Saddlers is proud of the skilled craftsmanship exhibited by its manufacturing members. At the same time, it is emphasized that the best-crafted saddle produced to an excellent design cannot satisfactorily fulfill its function if it is not correctly fitted. The answer lies in using the services of a Society of Master Saddlers’ qualified Saddle Fitter and allowing him or her to guide and advise.”
PLEASE REMEMBER THAT GENERALLY YOUR SADDLE IS THE SECOND MOST EXPENSIVE ITEM AFTER YOUR HORSE!