The Holistic Saddle Fitter

03/10/2026

Thinking of treating yourself to a new Ghost saddle? Now is the time!! 😊

22/09/2026

Really exciting news to share — I'm now an official UK retailer for Mattes and Werner Christ Lammfelle! 🎉🐴

Mattes saddle pads, girths and cinches aren't the cheapest on the market, but they are among the very highest quality out there. With such a huge range of colours to choose from, you can create something truly unique to you and your horse — a combination that will genuinely stand the test of time.

I also love Christ Lammfelle for their gorgeous Merino lambskin products — ba****ck pads, girths/cinches and saddle pads — and they offer fantastic value for money.

Sheepskin is dense yet breathable, wicks away sweat, stays cool, and offers brilliant shock absorption and pressure distribution. It's also seriously hardwearing, so it's built to last and is the best thing to put against your horse's skin.

I'll have more details up on my website soon, but if you're looking for something in the meantime, just drop me a line — I'd love to help you find the perfect combination for you. 🐎✨

16/09/2026

What a great Monday spent with Steph Bloom Specialist Saddle Fitter, the UK's main Ghost dealer, fitting Ghost Saddles together! Steph doesn't just fit saddles to horses — she's a specialist in fitting saddles to riders too, and that's something close to my heart.

I spent years riding in saddles that were too wide for me, constantly out of balance and honestly feeling like a bit of a failure as a rider. But rider instability affects the horse too, it can lead to compensatory movement and soreness.

Making the rider as stable and as easy to carry as possible is just as important as fitting the horse itself.

This is where Ghost Saddles really shine: a mini soft shim here, a firmer one there, and we can fine-tune the fit for horse AND rider to get the best result for both.

I had a great day and learned so much... and completely forgot to take any decent photos 😂 So you'll have to make do with a poorly lit static rider assessment pic and one very handsome Rocky Mountain horse!

From now on, my Ghost consultations will include a rider assessment alongside the horse assessment (where applicable) — because a saddle should work brilliantly for both of you, not just one.

30/08/2026

I was talking to my OH about homesickness and he wondered if it was a recognised mental health condition. So, of course, we googled it! It isn't a recognised condition but the definition is 'the emotional distress and longing a person feels when they are away from home, family, or familiar surroundings.' And I thought, that's separation anxiety! If we badged it as 'homesickness' perhaps we'd be more empathetic and understanding. ❤ pic of Applejack coz she's pretty!

25/08/2026

I should definitely include in my T&Cs that I'll only fit horses 14.2hh and under 😂Meet Lancelot the 17hh percheron softie! Although he's a big horse he's not super wide, but he is very short backed and his person is tall and long legged so we're designing a saddle that will fit him and allow her legs to hang naturally under her hips with less bulk under her thigh to keep her balanced. I can't wait to see it on him! 🤠

16/08/2026

This is so true, and as we get older it gets even more important. So join that yoga or pilates class, book that physio session and make yourself as easy to carry as possible. Do it for your horse ❤

The Biomechanical Problem Sitting on Your Horse🔥

We spend an extraordinary amount of time trying to improve our horses.

More balanced. Better transitions. More engagement. More relaxed. Better behaviour.

Meanwhile, sitting on top of this entire biomechanical improvement project is 50 to 90+ kilograms of human, listing slightly to left, gripping with one thigh and wondering why the horse is crooked.

Awkward.

So here is today's Collectable Advice:

🚩If you want to improve how your horse moves and behaves under saddle, have a look at the body sitting on top of it.😎

Because your horse doesn't just carry your weight.

➡️Your horse has to manage what your body does while it carries you.💥

Riding position isn't really a position

We tend to teach riding position as though someone might burst into the arena with a protractor.

Shoulder. Hip. Heel.

Excellent. Nobody move.

Unfortunately, the horse has.

Horses don't experience our position as a photograph. They experience us as *mass in motion*.🫣

Every stride, the horse is generating, absorbing and transferring forces through its body. Its back moves. Its limbs load and unload. It accelerates, decelerates, bends and changes direction.

And perched on top is you.😬

You with your dodgy left hip, a collapsing ribcage and that might not have done anything resembling cardiovascular exercise since 2017.🫠

The horse must now incorporate you into the movement.

This is riding.

Our job is essentially to manage our own body well enough that the horse doesn't have to manage it for us.❤

That requires:

1️⃣Enough stability to contain our own body.

And:

2️⃣Enough mobility to allow the horse to move underneath us.

When we can't?

If your trunk collapses every stride, the horse accommodates it.

If you consistently dump your weight onto one side, the horse accommodates that.

If an old injury means one hip doesn't move properly, the horse feels it.

And if you brace every available muscle in an attempt to “sit deep”, congratulations.

You have transformed yourself into a 70 kg backpack containing several bricks.

The horse still has to carry it.😕

And horses respond.

They may shorten their stride, rush, hollow, drift, fall through a shoulder, struggle with one rein or become tense when you sit....or just become spooky and scared of the world‼️

This doesn't mean *everything is the rider's fault*. Horses come with their own asymmetries, weaknesses, discomfort, training problems and occasionally strong opinions about wheelie bins.

But horse and rider are a *moving system*.

Change one body and you change what the other body has to manage.

Which gives us something surprisingly useful to work on😃

Ourselves.

Improve your fitness.

Develop enough muscular integrity to stop various parts of you departing independently at the trot.

Work on mobility.

Manage your injuries.

Notice your asymmetries.

Develop balance, coordination and body awareness.

Not because you need to look fabulous in beige breeches.

Because every improvement in your ability to manage *your own body* potentially changes what your horse has to manage underneath you.

There is also the minor matter of survival - you improve your chances of remaining in the saddle if s**t happens!

Which is generally preferable.

So here is something you can start asking yourself..

*“Am I making myself easy for my horse to carry?”*

Because good riding isn't about arranging yourself beautifully on a horse.

It's about having enough control of your own body that you can move *with* another one.

And before we spend another six months trying to straighten the horse, perhaps we should take a quick look at the slightly asymmetrical cripple primate sitting on top.🤪

Collectable Advice 271/365.

Please SHARE if you made it to the end of this without being offended 😆

11/08/2026

🐴 Saddle check success with the gorgeous Popsy! 🐴

Had a lovely visit to see Popsy and her person Helen at the weekend for a saddle check. Popsy is a stunning 13.3hh cob who's had her custom-made Equiflex saddle for almost a year now.

When I fitted the saddle at age 4, we anticipated some filling out, so we built in extra space across the shoulder and wither, using shims in her Mattes Rio Pecos sheepskin-lined pad to balance the saddle in the meantime. Taking the shims out at this visit confirmed it — Popsy has filled out beautifully, just as expected! 📸

Helen mentioned the saddle sometimes slips slightly to the right, and that Popsy can struggle to pick up right canter lead. Watching Helen ride, I noticed her right shoulder was slightly dropped and rotated inward, causing her to collapse a little through the ribcage and sit more on her right seat bone. The moment she brought awareness to that shoulder position, she felt more balanced across her seat bones — and Popsy popped straight up into right lead canter! 🙌

It's a great reminder that saddle fit is only one part of the puzzle — the rider's own posture and balance can make a difference too. I've suggested Helen works with a rider physio or Pilates instructor, and to keep me posted if the saddle slipping continues.

Here's a video of them practising rein back circles below! 🎥👇

07/08/2026

Wow, here's a warning to fact check everything you see!! Thank you Clare MacLeod MSc RNutr Independent Equine Nutritionist for highlighting this. Look at that anatomy!! A weird 'rib' down the cheek and lord knows what's going on in that horse's neck - looks like a human arm 😳 and that's before you even look at the jaw...... 😠I know this is AI generated but if the business is happy to put this out then you have to question what they know about about horse anatomy and what that says about their product. Question everything.......