Steve Katz - Duett Saddles - Quality Saddles for Wide Horses

Why Wide Horses Need Special Saddles

September 7, 2025August 21, 2025 by Steve Katz

If you’ve got a wide horse, or even one that just doesn’t match the “typical” shape, you’ve probably already run into saddle fit problems. It’s not as simple as grabbing whatever your trainer suggests and throwing it on their back.

Some saddles might look fine at first, but if they don’t match your horse’s shape, they can cause all kinds of issues, pinching, sliding, pressure points you can’t see, and worse. And when a horse has a broad back, those problems show up fast.

A proper saddle fit isn’t just about looks or keeping the saddle in place. It’s about comfort. For both you and your horse. It affects how they move, how you ride, and how connected the two of you feel.

So let’s get to the real question: how do you find a saddle that actually fits your wide horse, spreads your weight the right way, and avoids long-term pain or pressure?

Why Saddle Fit Matters More Than You Think

Here’s the thing: saddle fit really matters. Even a small issue, something you might not notice at first, can turn into a big problem if you leave it alone. And honestly? It happens more often than most riders realize.

For example, a saddle that puts too much pressure in 1 or multiple places, the pressure and irritation build up; it makes movement harder, stiffer, less free, and eventually painful. And the longer it goes on, the worse it gets. Pain gets worse, compensatory movements start, or have started, and eventually, bad behavior. What is sad, is this bad behavior often is blamed on a training issue. And it spirals down from there. I have had clients that have spent THOUSANDS of dollars with the vet, and it eventually all came down to a saddle issue. It happens way more than you think. Get a professional independent saddle fitter to help you. INDEPENDENT. Or as least a rep that carries multiple brands and isn’t going to sell you the best thing they have for your horse versus the actual best thing for your horse.

And let’s not forget about you, the rider. A saddle that fits wrong throws you out of balance too. You’ll catch yourself leaning forward too much, or can’t get your leg under you. Your saddle should help your riding and put you in the correct position. You should not be fighting with it. Many people do not realize this until they actually have one that fits them well. Don’t settle. If the seat is too small and it puts you on the cantle, this is bad for the horses back. Be realistic about your seat size.

The truth is, none of that should be happening. Not to you. Not to your horse. You both deserve better.

What a Poor Saddle Fit Looks (and Feels) Like

Let’s break down what poor saddle fit really means. Is the saddle too narrow? You’ll see pressure at the front. You can see “turned hair” and eventually white hairs. Sensitivity and tenderness to grooming and palpating at the wither. It’s too wide? This can cause the back of the saddle to float off the horses back. When it is really too wide, the pommel sits on the horses wither. This is really bad. As I am sitting on my porch writing this, I saw one of these horses today. A very lean thoroughbred. He had rub marks on the top of the wither where the hair was rubbed off. Very raw. When I turned the saddle pad over, there was blood. The owner felt terrible.

This is why saddle fitting is important. He wasn’t acting up yet, but he was going around with his head up and could not relax his back. This was going to end bad, thanks goodness we were able to intervene. There are also other signs…. Bridging, meaning the center of the saddle is not touching the horses back. Or rocking, the saddle is like a rocking chair in the horses back.

Other signs of a saddle that doesn’t fit include:

Dry spots or uneven sweat patterns after a ride
White hairs forming along pressure points
Resistance to saddling, girthing, or mounting
Short or choppy strides
Bucking, rearing, or general behavioral issues

And if the horse flinches when you touch the wither? That’s another red flag. These aren’t just random quirks. They’re pain signals. And often, they’re directly related to saddle fit. Start by having a professional check your saddle before you spent money with the vet.

Wide Horses Aren’t Just Big Horses

Now here’s where things get specific. A wide horse doesn’t just mean “big.” We’re talking about horses with broader backs, flatter spines, or more muscle mass along the topline. Some the widest most difficult horses to fit can be small! Ponies, Haflingers, Morgans and Quarter horses, just to name a few.

90% of these breeds I will guess are wider than a medium tree.

These broad-backed horses need a saddle wide enough to sit across the spine without being perched up, pinching, rocking and all those other things we described. If too narrow, the tree points dig in, and the whole fit becomes unstable. If you've got a short-backed horse that's also wide? Now you need to watch out for pressure at both the front and back of the saddle.

Remember, a saddle that’s too narrow creates too much pressure right where it shouldn't. One that’s too wide can collapse down and touch the withers. Don't forget, it is not just the tree size, it is the shape from front to back. That is why proper saddle fit is a must, not a maybe.

How to Choose the Right Saddle for a Wide Horse

Let’s get into the solution side.

First, always start with the horse. Not the rider, not the brand, not the trendy saddle you saw on Instagram. Not what the trainer has. It may work for her warmblood but not for your draft cross! You’re fitting the saddle to the horse, then finding something that works for the rider within that framework.

You want a saddle that:

Has a wide enough gullet to clear the spine without pressure
Matches the horse’s conformation (especially around the wither and shoulder)
Distributes the rider’s weight evenly over the horse’s back
Allows freedom of movement in the shoulder and lumbar area
Doesn’t rock front to back

If it’s a dressage saddle or a jumping saddle, the rules are the same, fit the horse first. That means checking the top of the saddle, the front of the saddle, and the back of the saddle, making sure it all sits in balance.

The right saddle should sit level, stay centered through movement, and not require a dozen pads to “make it work.” Because if you're piling on pads just to make a saddle fit, you're not fixing the problem, you're just covering it up. I tell my clients that if the saddle representative is trying to sell you a pad to make the saddle fit, don’t buy the saddle. There are a few exceptions, and those are usually very lean horses with boney top lines.

What a Professional Saddle Fitter Can Do

Honestly, from years of experience, I can tell you that one of the best moves you can make as a rider is working with a good professional saddle fitter.

They’ll assess saddle fit based on your specific horse's back shape, muscle tone, and conformation. A professional fitter can make adjustments, suggest better models, or even recommend an adjustable tree to give you more flexibility across seasons or different horses.

They’ll check things like:

Tree points alignment
Gullet clearance
Balance front to back
Pressure points
How the saddle interacts with the rider's weight in motion

A saddle fitter can make a world of difference, especially with performance horses or when you’re investing in a new saddle.

And don’t forget: just because a saddle fit two years ago doesn’t mean it still fits now. Horses change. So you should get your tack fit yearly at a minimum.

Don’t Rely on the Girth to Hold Everything Together

You’ve probably heard this one: “Just pull the girth tighter.” But if the saddle does not fit? No amount of cinching will fix it. In fact, this can become the root of pain by forcing the saddle into the wither or spine and locking up the horse’s movement.

The girth is there to hold the saddle in place, yes, but only if the saddle is already sitting in the right spot. It shouldn’t be fighting against poor saddle fit.

I will be doing a blog soon about girths!

Signs Your Horse Might Be Telling You the Saddle Doesn’t Fit

If you ride regularly, you’ve probably noticed little signs. Maybe your horse pins its ears during tacking, or maybe it used to stretch its back and move freely, and now it seems stiff or reluctant.

Sometimes the horse may act up under the saddle, buck after a transition, or even refuse to go forward. These aren’t bad behaviors but signs of discomfort.

A comfortable saddle gives the horse the chance to move correctly. On the flip side a poorly fitted saddle can cause pain, tension, and eventually resentment, and once that builds up, the relationship between horse and rider starts to suffer.

If the fit of the saddle isn’t right, everything else falls apart.I have seen this dozens of times. A bad saddle leads to not moving correctly. Compensatory movements cause lameness somewhere else in the body.

Choose Comfort Over Trend

At the end of the day, your goal isn’t just to have a good-looking tack setup or the trendiest brand. You want a well-fitted saddle that supports the comfort and performance of the horse and the rider.

Whether you’re riding a quarter horse, a sport horse, or a short-backed pony, you have to find a saddle to fit that horse, not just a horse.

So ditch the idea of “one-size-fits-all” and listen to what your horse is telling you. Fit properly. Adjust when needed, and don’t forget to always prioritize freedom of movement, proper weight distribution, and connection. The right saddle, for the right horse, changes everything.

Do you have a question about our saddles?

How to Properly Position a Saddle on Your Horse

September 4, 2025July 31, 2025 by Steve Katz

I want to start by talking about where your saddle actually belongs. The short version? Most folks put it too far forward. Once you understand why that’s a problem, and how your horse feels about it, you’ll want to get it right every time.

Finding the Scapula

First, let’s find the scapula — the shoulder blade. In the photo below, you’ll see a curved black line marking its general location. That may not be exactly where it is, but close enough to make the point. What you need to do is feel for the back of the scapula. Not just the curve where it starts to swing back, but deeper — if you palpate with your fingers, you’ll find the real back edge of the bone is about a half-inch farther back than it first seems.

This can be tricky on a wider or more muscular horse. But finding it matters. That bone moves in several directions as the horse works. If the rigid parts of the saddle are pressing on it, the scapula can’t move freely — and now your horse is stuck figuring out how to compensate. It’s uncomfortable, it’s restrictive, and it’s just not fair to ask them to work through it.

Where the Tree Belongs

In the images, you’ll see an oval black mark — that’s where the point of the tree should go. You’ll also see this clearly in the skeleton photo. For those who haven’t seen a saddle stripped down, the tree is the core of your saddle — the foundation everything else is built on. You’ll notice the stirrup bar, and just under it, the point of the tree. That rigid point is the part we’re talking about.

It should never be sitting on or up against the scapula. Yes, there’s padding under the finished saddle, but once it’s girthed up and you’re riding, that padding only does so much. Repeated pressure in the wrong place adds up fast — and your horse will let you know, one way or another.

Picture of a horse showing position a saddle

This is a picture of a saddle tree.

light pink line represents back of scapula

How to Find the Tree Point on Your Saddle

In many saddles, you can find the tree point by lifting the flap. It’s often stitched into a little triangular pocket. When the saddle is on the horse, lift that flap and check where the point is landing. It shouldn’t be anywhere near the scapula.

Some Visual Examples

Too far forward:
The saddle tips downhill to the back. This throws the rider into the cantle - a “back seat” position that’s tough on balance. More importantly, the tree point ends up right over the scapula.

That’s a hard no.

Correctly placed:
The saddle sits level and even. You can tell it’s working with the horse, not against them.

The Girth Isn’t a Target

Let’s talk girths for a minute. A lot of riders were taught to line up the girth with the horse’s elbow — pull it straight up and call that your saddle placement. But more often than not, that places the saddle too far forward. Instead, start by putting the saddle where the tree belongs — behind the scapula — and let the girth fall where it may.

Sometimes it’ll end up right behind the elbow. Sometimes it’ll be an inch or two farther back. That’s why there are so many different girth shapes — to accommodate that variation. We'll get deeper into girths in a future post.

“My Saddle Always Slips Back”

I hear this all the time: “Well, I put it forward, but it always ends up back there anyway.” Yes. That’s exactly the point. The horse is pushing the saddle away from the scapula — back to where it wants to be. So instead of fighting that, just start there. Let the saddle go where it naturally wants to land.

Ditch the Riser Pad

Another thing I see a lot: saddles placed too far forward, tipping back, and people adding a riser pad to “fix” it. Just slide the saddle back. That’s usually all it takes. When it’s in the right spot, it’ll sit level and balanced — no pads needed.

Coming Up Next…

Next time, I’ll walk through how to choose and use different types of pads and girths to support good saddle fit — not compensate for a bad one.

Thoughts from an Equine Chiropractor

July 31, 2025April 24, 2025 by Steve Katz

My name is Dr. Steve Katz. I’ve been a chiropractor for 40 years. I received my certification for animals and started doing chiropractic work on horses over 30 years ago. I had a mixed practice of humans and horses for about 17 years, but I gave up my human practice and have been working exclusively with horses now for the past 15 years.

My interest in saddle fitting came early in my equine chiropractic career. Early on, it became apparent that saddle issues were a contributing factor to the back discomfort and performance in horses. In the early 90s, there was little access to trained saddle fitters. It was frustrating to me from a chiropractic standpoint because when I knew that the saddles were causing the issues I was seeing, I wasn’t able to correct them. I could make the horse more comfortable, but I couldn’t correct the problem long-term.

I made the decision to learn how to properly fit saddles. At that time, there were no schools in the United States that taught saddle fitting. There are now, thank goodness. So, in the beginning when I was living in South Florida, I shadowed a few saddle fitters that came from the Northeast for the winter. The horses that had saddle fittings regularly seemed to have fewer issues. So, I decided to go to saddle school in the UK which I did sometime around 2001. I went to the Cumbria School of Saddlery and I also took courses by the Society of Master Saddlers.

I was an independent saddle fitter for many, many years before my wife and I purchased Duett Saddlery in 2017. Over the last 30 years of working with horses I’ve fit thousands upon thousands of saddles. I have guided people in selecting proper saddles for their horses, for both English and Western disciplines. I have also been to Walsall, England and have seen all aspects of saddle manufacturing from the making of the trees, cutting the patterns, flocking and assembling the saddles.

I have wanted to do some type of blog or education for a long time, and I’m finally at a point in my career where I have some time to sit down and share the things I’ve learned as a chiropractor, working with horses suffering from back pain and how saddle fitting fits into this whole picture. I could literally write a book.

I’m going to do a series of blog posts, and I’m going to start from the beginning and answer questions like:

How do I know if my saddle actually fits my horse properly?
What are the signs of a poor saddle fit?
Is there a way to check saddle fit myself without hiring a professional?
What’s the best way to measure gullet width for a wide horse?
Can a poorly fitted saddle cause back problems in horses?

Then, I will discuss how to help a horse recover from back issues from a chiropractic standpoint and how I have helped many horses rehab successfully by working with vets and other practitioners.