Now I would like to talk about the wither clearance, a very misunderstood concept. What we all learned in Pony Club, was that our saddles should have 2-3 finger clearance, which was always measured right here (shown in video) on the withers. Nobody told me that it had to be measured on the side as well.
We want to put our hands just above where the stuffing starts and go all the way around. I get 2 fingers on the side, 3 in the middle, and 2 again on the other side. Best fit is usually 2-3 fingers. However, sometimes I have horses with mutton withers and they sometimes need 4-5 fingers. Sometimes I just need 1-2 finger clearance, which is critical because we have to put a saddle pad underneath. We have to remember that the shoulder blade, which goes upwards and backwards towards the opening, has to have room, especially on the side, so the horse will have free range of his shoulders.
Here in the video you see a saddle that has nice wither clearance. Very often people don’t pay enough attention, I would rather see a little more space than not enough. People want to sit close to the horse, and they make the mistake of getting too close saying “I got the 2 finger clearance” but they don’t check far deep back in here (as shown in video), and they need to understand that there needs to be room in there as well. A very good horse to show you here, this particular horse has some previous sores. Withers were pinched by the saddle because the saddle clearance was not long enough, deep enough or high enough.