Saddle roll

Question
Hi,

I have a young (2.5 year old) Belgian mare. When I first brought her home she was able to be ridden in an English saddle with full QH bars. That lasted all of 3 weeks. I then purchased a cordura saddle, unsure of bar size, but gullet is about 8 inches. This saddle fit nicely to her when used with a built-up pad. I haven't been riding much due to her age and training her on the ground(Parelli).

I attemted to ride har a few weeks ago and the saddle rolled when attempting to mount. Readjusting did not help. The saddle rolls badly, but only to the left. I've had many people put weight in the right stirrup to make it roll right, but nothing happens past centering the saddle. I've been told that either the saddle doesn't fit or that the horse is lop-sided. Could it simply be that the built up pad and saddle don't "work" together? What do you suggest?

I've looked into treeless saddles, but they are more expensive than my horse! LOL  

Answer
Jennifer,

Well, first off she's too young to ride.  Period.  She's still a baby!  Deb Bennett did a study and discovered that horses' skeletons don't fully ossify until they are 8 yrs. old.  I, personally, won't get on a horse until they are over 3.5 yrs. old and then only for short periods.  I have such issues with people that want to rush horses, especially draft and draft crosses!  They should not be trained to ride until they are 4, at least not if you want a horse that will be useful for 20 yrs. after that with no arthritic issues etc.  A 3 yr. old horse is only equivalent to an 18 yr. old human, your filly is the equivalent of a 15 yr. old kid right now.  Think about it.  

As far as the saddle issue she's going to be hard to fit.  She's going to grow and change shape a whole lot in the next years.  So back off!  Concentrate on her ground work for a year.  Yeah, I know it's boring.  Too bad you don't drive.  I teach all my youngsters to drive first because I can do a lot with them without putting much weight on their backs -put a mouth on them, set their gaits, teach them manners and introduce them to lots of things on the trails.  Without that just concentrate on working with her on the ground,stay off her back!  When you are ready for a saddle check some of the stores you can look at on-line, Jeffers, Chick's, etc.  I've seen saddles for draft horses in their catalogs and they aren't prohibitively expensive.  A lot is going to depend upon how she matures as to what you need.  If you get a chance to stand up on something tall enough right behind her look at her shoulders.  See if they are even side to side.  Foals that are born without assistance will be even, every one I've seen that did get some help wind up with one shoulder higher than the other, generally the left being higher than the right.  Most people are right-handed so they pull harder on the left front leg, no matter how they try not to.  Those problems require some special work either to stuff the saddle,if it's an English type, or pad modifications for western-type saddles.  

Just please dont' rush with your little girl!  She needs to grow and mature before she's asked to do the work of an adult!  

Let me know how this goes.
Lyn