16/09/2026
I’m loving these real life stories of Poppy’s experiences she is sharing.
Unfortunately many people are fast to point to the saddle as being an issue, when the fact is it can often be an undiagnosed underlying biomechanical issue with the horse. Remember horses are masters of compensation!
I’m also fortunate to work with a fantastic team of equine professionals in my area, which together we have uncovered similar issues as highlighted in this story.
It’s always important to regularly have your saddle and equipment checked for correct fit and equally important to investigate any abnormal signs of lameness or compensation patterns.
In yesterday’s posts about behavioural issues, saddles and pain, I said I’d share a few real-life examples I’ve personally come across over the years.
So. Gather round. It’s Jackanory time.
A few years ago, I had a client with a lovely horse she mainly rode Western.
They were brilliant together. Happy horse, happy rider, absolutely no problems.
Then she decided she fancied having a go at dressage, so she called me to fit a dressage saddle.
She chose and designed a beautiful saddle. I fitted it, delivered it, she loved it, horse went beautifully, everyone was happy. They trotted off into the sunset and I was looking forward to watching their dressage career blossom.
A few weeks later, the phone rang.
There was a problem.
Her horse was sore. And lame.
But only in the dressage saddle.
In the Western saddle? Fine.
Well. Bu**er.
Obviously I went straight back out.
I checked the saddle. And checked it again. I watched the horse. I checked everything I could possibly check.
And I couldn’t find anything wrong with the saddle.
I told her I didn’t think the saddle was causing the problem.
And this is a really important bit of this story:
♥️ She trusted me.♥️
Despite the fairly compelling evidence of:
Western saddle = sound horse.
My shiny new dressage saddle = lame horse.
She didn’t immediately decide I’d sold her a dud saddle. She didn’t demand her money back. She didn’t pop onto Facebook to announce that her saddle fitter had RUINED HER HORSE. And threaten to sue.
She listened when I said, ‘I don’t think this is the saddle. Let’s get the vet.’ Believe me, even though I was sure I was right, even I questioned myself.
And I made damn sure I was there when the vet came, given the symptoms, I knew exactly what the vet was likely to think too.
(It’s the saddle.)
Except I was convinced it wasn’t.
My suspicion was actually kissing spine around the back of the ribs affected by the dressage saddle, but effectively bypassed by the Western saddle.
So the vet listened to me too.
We X-rayed the back.
Clear.
Oh.
Bu**er again.
The vet looked at me and asked:
“How sure are you that it isn’t the saddle?”
100%.
So he carried on looking.
And X-rayed the hocks.
And there it was.
Both hocks were basically rubble.
Which left one fairly massive question.
Why the hell was the horse sound in the Western saddle?
Because over time, the horse had developed a way of loping in his Western work that allowed him to avoid loading those painful hocks in the same way.
Put him into a dressage saddle, change his frame, ask him to bring his hindlegs underneath himself and push differently…
And suddenly the problem became visible.
The dressage saddle hadn’t caused the lameness.
It had exposed it.
And I think about this case a lot.
Because that client could VERY reasonably have blamed the saddle.
The vet could VERY reasonably have blamed the saddle.
On the face of it, the evidence practically had a flashing neon arrow pointing at the saddle.
But bodies are complicated. Horses compensate. They alter movement patterns. They find ways around pain.
And sometimes changing one thing doesn’t create the problem.
It simply makes a problem that was already there impossible to hide.
It’s also why the relationship I have with my clients, and with the vets, physios and other professionals around me, matters so much.
Because sometimes we need to be able to say:
“I know it looks like my bit. But I don’t think it is. Keep looking.”
And for someone to trust us enough to do exactly that.
More Jackanory real-life saddle fitting stories tomorrow.
Pop x
Ps edited to add, I am very lucky and we have excellent forward thinking vets near me but this particular vet was from Tower Equine Veterinary Surgeons so they deserve a shout out! Cos they could easily have dismissed the behaviour as a saddle fitting issue.
