17/01/2025
An excellent post. As my degree is in Maths and I did Physics, Maths and Further Maths at A level (and Art, to throw in a curve ball!) I feel well placed to see it all at work in how our saddles behave. It was David’s brilliant design in the Wow and how he worked with the laws of physics, rather than fighting them, in so many of the unique elements of the Wow and plethora of alterations we can make that appealed to me so much 20 years ago, when I first came across them!
From the much overlooked girthing (not girths, I’m talking girthing arrangement on the saddles) which has an enormous impact on how a saddle behaves by dramatically changing where forces are being applied to it to the flair system in our panels. A flair panel can mould around the horse as it moves (aided too by our flexible tree moving with the shoulders) and in ‘moulding’ it increases the surface area in contact with the horse thus increasing our interface area with the horse. The pressure that we and the saddle apply to horse is therefore much reduced by the simple fact pressure = force/area! I love it!
It’s all about physics… Your saddle (or saddle fitter) is not a miracle worker. If your horse is a barrel, and there is a bit of wonkiness somewhere (you or the horse) and your saddle slips to the side… your saddle isn’t necessarily to blame. Instead, get it checked and if it’s ok, work on making the horse less of a barrel shape… and straightening them (and yourself!) up so there is less unevenness.
If your horse has big wide ribs and an itty bitty shoulder… or a girth groove that’s inches in front of the girth line… maybe your saddle slips forward. That’s physics. Your girth will always pull into the narrowest place. Sometimes changing your girth or the girthing on the saddle can help.
If your horse has massive shoulders, and hoiks them up into the air when they jump… those massive shoulders can push the saddle back. That’s physics. Again sometimes girths and girthing can help. But saddles can’t defy the laws of physics.
If you or your horse is uneven then yes we can pad/flock/shim saddles to help. But… working on evening them up is much more beneficial.
Sometimes, in an attempt to hold a saddle still, to fight against the laws of physics (and often to keep the rider happy), we can end up clamping a saddle too much. Personally I would rather see a saddle shunt forward/to the side/backwards a little bit if the alternative is to clamp it too much the other way.
What do you think?
Fitting, demos and retail of WOW Saddles across Southern Scotland and Northern England. Sally Talbot-Smith 07702 683850 WOW is the worlds first modular saddle.
