The Problem with Shimming Saddles

[@jth1195]

Anyone who rides pretty regular worries about saddle fit. But , to be honest, fitting a solid tree saddle to an ever changing piece of flesh , is like us wearing wooden shoes. You can keep changing socks ( shims and pads) But matching wood and flesh is pretty hard to do.

[@tasseyko]

Thank you for this video. It's all an on going process. Knowledge accumulates daily 🤗

[@addieoneil815]

Thanks so much for your honesty! Such a helpful video 👍🏼

[@karenpruett23]

Thank you , Great information 👍 this was awesome I'm going to watch more .

[@the1mrclean74]

Great video Becky...I wondered about the “downside” of shimming...has to show up somewhere I guess?

[@BeckyAmio]

Israel yes, unfortunately. There is also instability in your saddle too. It really sucks trying to rope and drag anything when your saddle is rolling!

[@aluz827]

I'm wondering why she folded a Navajo pad to make the saddle fit properly. Like what was she trying to accomplish? Did she not think that the saddle looked too raised in the font? the seat doesn't even look even in that picture so I am wondering what was going through her mind when she decided she needed to use a Navajo pad as a shim.

[@BeckyAmio]

Ali Woronowicz I was trying to show how much of a shim would be required in order to find the pocket in the saddle.

[@mmarnp1]

Really good video. Id like to know how to measure the BAR ANGLE, apart from whether the bars are semi or full, so that I can more accurately assess remotely whether a saddle would fit my horse before I buy it. I recently bought an older McCall which seems to be just a hair tight over his shoulders. I could have avoided this if I had thought to ask what is the bar angle (He probably need 93 degree bars versus the typical 90 degree).

[@BeckyAmio]

Thank you, unfortunately you cannot measure it, unless you are handling a bare tree. I would encourage you to google “measuring the bar angle on a western saddle tree” and you’ll find more information than you ever wanted to know. Rod Nikkel’s information is widely used.

[@hollybuck9307]

What are your thoughts on correction pads? For example the classic equine biofit. Have you ever used those and if so what are your comments. Thanks! Really enjoying the videos

[@BeckyAmio]

Although some of them can really be beneficial to filling space, the material is usually old technology. There is not much impact protection or movement to wool/felt fiber, so you really aren’t allowing the muscle to develop and come back from atrophy. They are just covering up the problem.

[@petermoritz2452]

Check out the corrector and protector pads from Len Brown. Solves all that!

[@BeckyAmio]

Peter Moritz a good saddle pad will only help if the bar spread is too wide or if shimming is needed to fill in for bridging. In this case with the older Circle Y I am demonstrating with, the bar angle is completely wrong(too flat). No amount of pad or shimming is going to correct that to sit at the same angle as the shoulder.

[@petermoritz2452]

Yes any bar angle greater then 90 under the gulet is junk. Fix that by throwing it on a campfire. Or do a bar conversion if you don't mind spending 1000. But his pads do a way with exessive pressures on the front and rear of the bar by it's shields. Some, so called bridging is needed! That's slows room for the back to come up. Read his webpage for more details.

[@mm25937]

What do you think of these flexible bars? All horses change shape and muscles during a year....

[@BeckyAmio]

The bars are often “flexible” but the cantle and pommel are not. Remember that when the bar “flexes” to form to the horse, it’s also flexing under the weight of the rider. Depending on the material used, it is probably NOT and impact protection material and you stand the chance of putting harmful pressure on your horses back that isn’t supported throughout the entire saddle.

[@angelastevenson1391]

I am wondering if you have any recommendations for a downhill horse. I have a 4 year old reining bred mare that’s about 14.1 in the front and 14.3 in the hip. I am trying to shim to pick up the front of the saddle so that it’s not tipped forward, causing an issue for the rider as well as digging into her shoulder but I am having a really hard time figuring out how to do this without making the shoulder too tight and causing another issue. I have considered a custom saddle and or pad but being that’s she’s only 4 and probably still growing and I am nervous that will even be only a temporary fix.

[@BeckyAmio]

Yeah, I think I’d hold off getting her anything custom until she’s fully mature. I totally understand your pain and frustration since I ride so many colts. If the angle of your saddle is correct to her shoulder, you can get away with shimming for a long time, especially if you are using some high impact material like Thinline or XRD in the Jen X pads.

[@epona9166]

Seems like a round skirted saddle would help with the problems in the loin area. I guess for some disciplines that wouldn't be the right saddle, but for trail riding and at least some other kinds of riding it would be appropriate.

[@BeckyAmio]

It’s not the skirt, but the length of the bar. Average bar length on most saddles is 21”. Shorter seats like a 14” and under can pull off a 20” bar, but I have found a shorter bar will have drawbacks as well.

[@wisepati123]

What about the rock? Bridging?

[@ashtonburney5882]

A way to fix the un even saddle problem is to shim both the front and back just more in the front to even out the pressure

[@wisepati123]

But that may bridge.