Now lets talk about saddle straightness. Put the saddle onto the horse’s shoulder and slide it back into position. Then step carefully behind your horse and make sure he doesn’t bow out to the left or right. What you should see is the horse’s spine aligning with the center of the saddle. So the saddle should not sit on the horse’s spine!
What could cause the saddle to either slip to the right or left? Why do saddles sometimes tip? Horses don’t have collar bones like humans. Out of a 24 hour period, horses stand for 17 hours with the left leg forward when resting. Sometimes to the right, but the majority of horses stand with the left leg forward. Horses are by nature uneven, and we as riders have to train and balance our horses to make them more even.
The rider could be uneven as well. You could have scoliosis in your back or you could have a higher or lower hip. So the padding and the bottom of the saddle could compress more on one side than the other. In motion, to adapt to the horse’s and my shape, the saddle will fall to the left or to the right and the back panel will sit on the horse’s bone which then causes excessive pressure.
As you can see in the video, he dips away from the pressure of my hand pressing on the spine. The horse will immediately have a lot of sector area joint problems. So make sure your horse’s saddle sits nice and straight before you ride. Also, have someone ride behind you while your riding to see if your saddle is straight. If your saddle is not straight, fix it!