how many fingers are you.....

[Anro]

ment to fit between the horse and saddle?
ie. whats the minimum

[welshymad]

I have always been told its 4 fingers when girthed up (at pommel) and when a rider is sat down approx 3 fingers (at pommel) but if unsure on anything ask a saddle fitter as the clearence along the spine (along gullet) is important and also it is important that the gullet is the same width all the way along to prevent pinching the vertebrae, also you need to make sure that it isnt too tight around the shoulders as something may look fine eg plenty of height clearence but only because it is pinching and is perched. Also depends on the saddle as some saddles such as show saddles like the fylde show saddles fit much closer. :)

[Wally]

Four is far , far too many!

There is no hard and fast rule, The ruddy BHS has a lot to answer for putting silly notions like this into their books.

If there is clearance at the withers on a very wide, flat backed horse of a finer and a half, and the saddle fits well, then that's all the clearance you are going to get.

The saddle must not touch the horses spine, even with shock loading , say landing over a jump.

There is a lot more to a saddle fitting a horse than how many fingers you can fit under the pommel.

[Anro]

welli was just wandering if its too low i can squeeze in 2 fingers when im sitting on the saddle

[Wally]

If I swung a baseball bat at your head, and I missed with the breadth of two fingers to spare, it is going to do the same amount of damage to your head that your saddle will do at the pommel!! ;) ;) ;) :D

Does the rest of the saddle fit though?

[Anro]

Does the rest of the saddle fit though?

yep

[Wally]

How do you know?