When Hoof Balance Changes, Could Saddle Fit Change Too?
Part 3 of a six-part series exploring hoof balance, saddle fit, and the whole-horse, whole-rider approach.
You've had your saddle professionally fitted, your horse is comfortable, and everything seems to be working beautifully. Then, several months later, something changes. Perhaps the saddle begins slipping, the rider feels increasingly crooked, or the horse becomes uncomfortable under saddle.
Naturally, you wonder whether the saddle needs adjusting. But before changing the saddle, shouldn't we investigate what might have changed in the horse?
A saddle doesn't function independently of the body beneath it. Changes in movement, posture, muscular development, or physical restrictions can influence how a saddle contacts and distributes pressure across the horse's back. And because hoof mechanics can influence locomotion, they're one of the factors worth examining.
What Can Saddle Slip Tell Us?
One particularly interesting study by Greve and Dyson (2013) investigated the relationship between saddle slip and lameness in 128 horses. Of the 71 horses with hindlimb lameness, 38 experienced saddle slip, compared with none of the 11 sound horses.
Here's the fascinating part. When diagnostic analgesia temporarily eliminated the hindlimb lameness, saddle slip also disappeared in 37 of those 38 horses.
Think about the implications. The saddle hadn't been altered, yet changing the horse's movement by eliminating pain temporarily changed how the saddle behaved.
This doesn't mean that every slipping saddle indicates lameness, or that saddle fit itself is unimportant. It demonstrates something that deserves our attention: an apparent saddle-fitting problem can originate elsewhere in the horse.
Persistent saddle slip, particularly when accompanied by movement asymmetry, therefore warrants veterinary investigation rather than repeated saddle adjustments alone.
What Happens When Hoof Mechanics Change?
We know from research that hoof trimming and hoof conformation can influence aspects of limb loading and movement. But could changes in those mechanics also alter how a saddle functions?
It's certainly a possibility worth investigating.
If changes in hoof mechanics affect how a horse moves, and that movement influences the back beneath the saddle, then the forces acting between horse and saddle may also change.
However, we don't yet have sufficient direct research demonstrating that correcting a particular hoof imbalance will predictably improve saddle fit. The biomechanical relationships are plausible, but we need to be careful about claiming more than the evidence establishes.
What interests me is the practical implication. If a saddle begins behaving differently, why would we examine only the saddle when the horse's movement may have changed?
Body Restrictions and Muscular Development
Of course, hoof balance isn't the only consideration. Restrictions through the horse's back, shoulders, or pelvis can influence posture and movement, as can pain, training, injury, and changes in muscular development. These factors may affect saddle contact and stability independently of the hooves.
Addressing those restrictions through appropriate bodywork, rehabilitation, or veterinary treatment may be essential. But if altered hoof mechanics are contributing to the horse's compensatory movement, the same mechanical demands may continue after the restrictions have been released. Equally, improving hoof function doesn't automatically resolve established muscular restrictions.
This is why I consider hoof care, bodywork, rehabilitation, and saddle fitting complementary rather than competing approaches.
There's also the question of muscular development. A horse returning to work after rehabilitation, changing its movement patterns, or developing greater strength may change shape through its back. A saddle that accommodated the horse previously may need reassessment as those changes occur.
And We Can't Forget the Rider
Research by Gunst and colleagues (2019), involving 80 horse-rider pairs, demonstrated that both horse and rider asymmetries influenced saddle force distribution. A rider leaning to one side increased pressure on that side, while collapsing through one hip increased pressure on the opposite side.
So an uneven pressure pattern doesn't necessarily tell us that the saddle is incorrectly fitted. The horse's movement, the rider's physical asymmetries, and the saddle itself may all be contributing.
This is particularly important when a rider consistently feels crooked. Before repeatedly correcting their position, I want to understand whether they're compensating for something happening beneath them.
What Should We Be Looking For?
When a saddle that previously fitted well begins behaving differently, I want to understand what's changed. Has the horse's movement become asymmetrical? Have restrictions developed or returned? Has the horse gained or lost muscle? Have there been changes in hoof balance, trimming, shoeing, workload, or the rider's physical condition?
These observations don't necessarily identify the cause, but they help us determine what deserves further investigation.
My whole-horse, whole-rider approach isn't about assuming that every saddle problem originates in the hooves. It's about recognizing that saddle fit is influenced by the horse and rider as they are functioning today, not simply by how they looked when the saddle was last fitted.
A saddle may genuinely need adjustment. But before making that adjustment, I believe we should understand why its fit or behavior has changed.
Otherwise, we may be modifying the saddle to accommodate a compensation rather than addressing what's contributing to it.
And that could mean overlooking the very thing that needs our attention.
Research and References
1. Greve, L., & Dyson, S. (2013). An investigation of the relationship between hindlimb lameness and saddle slip. Equine Veterinary Journal, 45(5), 570–577.
2. Gunst, S., et al. (2019). Influence of Functional Rider and Horse Asymmetries on Saddle Force Distribution During Stance and in Sitting Trot. Journal of Equine Veterinary Science, 78, 20–28.
3. Faramarzi, B., Nguyen, A., & Dong, F. (2018). Changes in hoof kinetics and kinematics at walk in response to hoof trimming: pressure plate assessment. Journal of Veterinary Science, 19(4), 557–562.
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