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Tutorial for Saddling a Horse

Seven Tips for Success!

Check out Jay's guide to help you with saddling your horse for the first time.

Western Saddle

  1. Always brush and groom your horse before saddling
    • You want to make sure there is no dirt, burrs, hay or particles of any kind between the horse and saddle pad
    • You want to make sure that the grains of the hair have no ruffles especially in the cinch or girth area of the horse

  2. Always use a clean, dry saddle pad that has a bigger surface area than that of your saddle
    • You want to use a saddle pad that is not too thick as this will lift the saddle too far off the horse and cause you to list from side to side
    • Thick saddle pads also offer less feel as to how the horse is moving

  3. Always use a saddle that fits the horse
    • Saddles that do not fit a horse properly will cause discomfort and pain
    • Discomfort and pain will cause your horse to be resistant, irritable and in many cases they will start bucking, rearing and prancing around

  4. Always place the saddle pad about 3 inches onto the withers
    • The grains of the hair on a horse always lays from front to back and as the horse walks forwards the shoulder action will cause the pad and saddle to shift backwards off of the withers without ruffling the hair
    • This practice eliminates the guessing game as to exactly where the “sweet spot’ is for the saddle to fit properly on the horses back
    • Every horses back and the bars of every saddle are shaped differently – we need to allow the saddle and pad to “naturally” find the perfect spot to rest on the horses back

  5. Always place the saddle gently onto the pad making sure you have extra saddle pad exposed in front of, and behind the saddle to prevent “rubbing”
    • To avoid bumping and grinding, hook the far side stirrup onto the saddle horn and lay the cinch across the saddle seat
    • Also have your latigo strap neatly folded up and attached to the saddle’s D-ring so you are not tripping over it and your horse isn’t standing on it

  6. Always walk around to the far side of your horse to unhook the stirrup from the saddle horn, let the cinch down off the seat and finally check to see if the pad is placed neatly under the saddle.
    • You don’t want any wrinkles in the pad or any leather saddle strings under the saddle

  7. Always tighten the cinch slowly
    • You never want to gut a horse with one super big tightening pull of the latigo strap
    • Start with just snugging the cinch, then walk your horse forward so that the saddle and pad have a chance to work there way to that “sweet spot”
    • Horses live in the moment, staying focused on one thing for an extended period of time is not going to happen, so walk your horse a couple of strides so he forgets about the cinch before tightening again
    • Always tighten the cinch progressively

I hope the little hints in this tutorial will help you as you saddle your horse! For more quick tips related to natural horsemanship, go to my How To section.