(upbeat music)
- Welcome back to the second part of this video
on horse riding equipment for our horse.
I'm going to be talking today
about your saddle, your saddle pad,
your stirrups, your girth.
I left the link down below of the first video,
if you haven't seen it,
you can check it out there.
Let's get started on our first topic,
which is talking about our saddle pad.
The purpose of your saddle pad
is to wick away the sweat and the dirt,
and put a protective barrier
between your saddle and your horse's back.
There's a few things that I think about
when it comes to choosing a saddle pad.
The first one is the shape of that pad,
so here we've got a very straight Western pad,
and here I've got a built-up dressage pad.
I prefer to buy a pad
that is a little bit built up,
or has some wither relief,
whether it's Western or English,
and this is because I found that pads that are straight
tend to put more pressure
down on the wither over time
when you're riding,
and can create some discomfort during your ride,
so a saddle pad that's built up,
gives the wither nice room there
and helps to prevent any pressure from occurring.
Here I have a shimmable pad,
and we shimmable pads,
we have pads where we have shims we can set on top,
or we have ones
where we can insert the shims inside like this.
I always prefer one where you can insert the shims in,
I find it gives me more stability
and keeps those shims in place.
Now, if you are using a shimmable pad,
you always wanna consult
with a professional saddle fitter
and make sure that you're shimming correctly
and not creating any pressure points
when using pads like these.
The next thing we're gonna talk about is our saddle.
There's a few things that I think about
when I'm choosing a saddle.
First off,
let's talk about the purpose of our saddle.
Your saddle is distributing the weight of the rider
over a larger surface area
and protecting the spine and the ligaments
that run along the spine.
A good fitting saddle can also give the rider
more endurance over long distances
and support the curvatures in our spine.
When it comes to picking out a saddle,
there's a few things that I think about.
The first one is,
"Am I riding in a saddle with a tree or without a tree?"
I'll show you a picture of a couple of trees up here.
The tree is kind of the skeleton of the saddle,
and it's what allows us
to be able to distribute the weight of the rider
over a larger surface area.
Saddles that don't have a tree in them
are going to concentrate the pressure in a smaller area,
so it's similar to riding bareback.
Now, there are people that prefer riding
in a treeless saddle,
because they feel it fits whatever horse
that you're gonna ride,
but it is important to consider
that it is putting that pressure in a smaller area,
so always think about how long you're riding your horse
or how much work you're doing
if you are riding in a treeless saddle.
The next thing to consider
when it comes to saddles that have a tree,
is you can ride an adjustable saddle,
such as this dressage saddle here,
or non-adjustable,
such as this Western saddle.
There are adjustable saddles
in both Western and English,
and I always prefer to purchase an adjustable saddle,
and there's a couple of reasons for that.
First off,
I find that an adjustable saddle
is gonna save me money in the long run,
and that's because your horse
is gonna fluctuate in weight and in muscle
as they go through life,
so even if you have a horse that's older and matured,
they can change in their saddle fit,
so having an adjustable saddle
allows you to have one saddle for the life of that horse,
and really will save you some money in the long run.
The other reason that I love adjustable saddles
is they help to prevent any pain
from arising in the horse.
If we have a saddle that doesn't fit our horse well,
it can create some pain
and that can lead to behavioral problems
later on down the road.
Another important element of your saddle is your stirrups.
The purpose of a stirrup
is to offer the rider more stability
and give them more endurance in their riding.
When we look at stirrups,
there's a ton out there on the market.
Usually, you're gonna get a pair
of this discipline specific,
so if you're riding Western,
you're gonna get a pair of Western stirrups,
here's a pair of traditional Western stirrups,
or if you're riding English,
you're gonna get a pair of English stirrups.
Here's some traditional irons,
these are breakaway irons,
and I always recommend having a pair of breakaway,
they come in Western and in English,
and these are really nice
if you're trail riding, riding a young horse,
or just looking to be safer,
they're gonna breakaway and release your foot
if you fall off your horse,
and this prevents you from getting dragged.
The final piece of equipment we have is our girth,
this secures our saddle onto our horse,
and without it,
we could fall off more easily.
When we look at our girths,
we've got girths that are straight like this,
and we have girths that have a curve in them.
I prefer girths that have a curve like this,
because they give the horse
a little bit more freedom of movement
and distribute the pressure
over a wider surface area on the breastbone,
whereas a straight girth like this
can create some pressure points on the side.
You can get curved girths like this
in both Western and in English styles.
There's a lot more we could talk about
when it comes to horse equipment,
there's so much out there,
but in this video,
I wanted to just cover some of the basics,
hopefully, this gave you some insight
into some of my thoughts
and maybe some useful tools
for you choosing your own equipment.
I hope you have a wonderful week,
and I will see you in the next video.
(upbeat music)