Frequently Asked Questions With Joanne

• Q  I understand Joanne Forster is also a qualified riding instructor and complementary therapist, what made her choose to research saddles and 'saddle fitting'?

• A  Yes Joanne is a qualified BHSAI instructor and a Centered Riding Instructor and it was due to her own horses that she first started to question saddle 'fit' and design.  When Joanne first met Carol Brett who has been researching saddles for over 20 years quite a few lightbulbs came on and many things began to make sense but on a much deeper level than she had understood previously.  The other areas of her work from a training point of view compliment the work that she does with saddles.

• Q  My horse is crooked and is better on one rein than the other but I don't school him very often, I just hack him and jump him, I have had a string of saddles from different saddle fitters and they have all slipped to the right, will one of your saddles stop this happening? 

• A  Your horse is crooked and it is more likely that it is his crooked movement that is making him sore and not the saddles themselves.  The fact that all saddles go to the right on him is a clear indication that he's not straight in his movement, for your horse gentle gymnastic schooling is the best option to help him become straighter and more supple, lateral work will really help him too as unless you address the real cause of the problem you will find that you will always have saddling problems and back pain.  It would also be beneficial to work alongside a physiotherapist, osteopath or chiropractor.
    

• Q  I understand that sometimes you fit pads underneath saddles, I have always been told that if a saddle fits it shouldn't need a pad, can you explain?

• A. If a horse is suffering from muscle wastage he quite simply doesn't have the muscle to support a saddle that is the correct width for him, therefore you must use remedial pads to artificially replace the missing muscle until such time that he can develop the muscle to support the saddle.  The amount of padding depends upon how much muscle damage your horse has, it's simple really, less damage = less padding.

• Q  So why can't you just put him into a saddle that fits him at his current shape without any pads and then as he develops put him into a wider saddle?

• A.  This approach is sometimes used but this causes the horse an element of discomfort throughout the whole process and also slows his development down, to follow this approach the saddle will be fitted too narrow and will not allow the horse to move correctly therefore healthy muscle mass cannot develop and this in turn will probably cause compensatory patterns in his movement causing him to over use and over develop other muscles in his body.

• Q  So what about using flocking in the saddles panels to replace the missing muscle instead of pads?

• A  Using flocking to replace missing muscle causes the muscle density to contract further and the horse will lose more muscle as oppossed to gain it as this approach makes the saddle tighter.

• Q  So you are saying that as the horse develops muscle mass you then reduce the amount of padding under the saddle?

• A  Yes, horses change dramatically once given the chance, many clients who begin with maximum padding under their saddles generally find that within a year they have reduced their padding arrangement at least twice as their horses backs have recovered.

• Q  My horse has been fitted into a narrow/medium saddle to give him wither clearance, I notice that he has hollows at the wither and the saddle is tight around his shoulder, can I use a remedial pad to lift it?

• A  I wouldn't advise this as your saddle is obviously already too tightly fitting, to add a remedial pad underneath it would lift the saddle but it will also make it even tighter for him.  You need a wider saddle if you are going to add remedial pads.

• Q  A friend of mine bought a saddle from you and when I was tacking her horse up for her yesterday I didn't understand the remedial padding system and proceeded to just tack him up with a normal numnah, I commented that I thought her saddle didn't fit and was too wide for her horse, then she explained the remedial system and I could see what she meant but can you explain why the saddle needs to be slightly wider before you add pads?

• A  Yes, you cannot use remedial padding under a saddle that is already the width 'deemed to fit' the shape of a damaged back and you must use a wider saddle in order to use a pad system underneath it otherwise you will just make the saddle tighter.  Many people don't understand the science behind specialised remedial fitting until it is explained to them and it is often a revelation to those who then begin to recognise what is going on with their own horse.

• Q  Is using a wider saddle not detrimental to the horse, will it not sit on it's withers?

• A  No, the saddle must clear the horse's wither, remedial saddling must only be carried out by a trained professional with experience in this area.  The remedial pads that I use have been specially designed to be used in this way.  A badly muscle wasted horse may start in a saddle slightly wider with remedial padding and may need to have his saddle progressively widened during the course of his recovery.  You cannot just go out and find the widest saddle available and put it on your horse with a load of pads, the correct remedial width still needs to be deemed as suitable for your horse for the stage where he currently is.

• Q  How long before I start to see an improvement in my horse's muscle?

• A  Some horse's begin to show a change within 2 weeks, but most I would expect to see improvement between 6 - 8 weeks, if I don't see an improvement it generally indicates that there is something else going on with the horse which needs addressing ie; not being ridden correctly, crookedness, underweight etc etc

• Q  I event to intermediate level, my horse has muscle wastage and I like the sound of your approach but I'm a bit wary about the security of my saddle over a large fence if it has pads under, how do you address this? 

• A  I have many people who event, sj and hunt in my jump/event saddles however it is a case of using the minimum amount of padding to give the horse room to develop but keeping the security of the saddle and widening the saddle gradually over a period of visits as the horse's muscle mass recovers.

• Q  So your saddles have adjustable trees, how many times can it be adjusted and from what widths and does the saddle have to go away to be adjusted?

• A  No the saddle can be adjusted by myself on site with a specialist machine which I carry in my vehicle.  The tree carries a full 10 year guarantee and it is injection moulded so won't warp, bend or twist, it can be adjusted as many times as needed and can be taken from a medium/wide to an xxxx wide.  The adjustment of the tree means that along with the adjustments I can make with the padding system, many alterations can be made as your horse develops which saves you having to buy another new saddle.