By Terry Wagner
Four parts to saddle fit are the mule, the pad, the saddle, and the rider INTRODUCTION
omeone once said that the easiest owners are so possessed over the subject add a mix of blind belief in saddle fitting way to get your saddle to fit a mule they no longer have fun with their mules; voodoo, and the not so perfect art of saddle Sis to keep trading mules till you find instead they spend their time worrying over fitting becomes one great big three ring cir - one that fits your saddle. saddle fit. cus. Standing quietly on the sidelines, are a For the last twenty years, without ques - Adding to this problem are untold number few knowledgeable people, who it seems at tion, the hottest topic in the equine world of saddle fitting gurus, telling the mule rid - times, are being out shouted by the self-pro - has been saddle fit. Mule owners are com - ing public that if their saddle doesn’t per - claimed all knowing. pletely wrapped around the axle over the fectly fit their mule partner, untold damage There are an untold number of people subject. Owners have gone over the edge on will be done to the mule and if they just buy making a living out of teaching others how the topic, buying saddle after saddle trying their whiz bang mule saddle fitting widget, to fit a saddle to an equine. These saddle fit to find the “perfect fit.” If they find one little all of their saddle fit problems will be gurus are an interesting lot. First there is the dry spot on their mule’s back, they immedi - solved and they can go down the trail bask - Starched Shirt Saddle Fit Guru . He always ately jump to the conclusion that their sad - ing forever in perfect saddle fitting fairy has a new expensive felt hat and a perfectly dle doesn’t fit and head to the local tack dust. creased, solid color shirt with a logo of shop to buy old long ears a new saddle. From what I see, saddle fitting today has some kind embroidered on the front. Armed Many times they irritate the mule by drag - evolved into an incredible boiling pot of with a big bag of trick looking tack he ging him along to insure that “perfect fit.” conflicting information. It is being fed by a claims is needed for a proper fitting saddle, Then a few months later they have another number of people who don’t know a cantle and if purchased at his clinic, is alleged to dry spot on the mules back after a ride and from a seat jockey, some alleged trainers be a true bargain. can’t understand why. They have a new sad - blame every bad habit a mule develops on Next is the Beautiful Young Reining dle, and it was deemed a perfect fit at the poor saddle fit, a number of unknowing, Queen , Saddle Fit Guru . Mandatory is a big time it was purchased! Most of these people misleading or misinformed, saddle makers silver trophy buckle, blond curls, and find it hard to move in their tack rooms as and dealers promising perfect saddle fit, pri - starched jeans, demonstrating saddle fit on it is cluttered with at least one of every sad - vate owners who base their very vocal opin - a big bloomy quarter horse that has never dle pad sold in the free world. A lot of mule ions on one magazine article they have read; been out of the arena. Then we have the Saddle or Tree Com - in Blue Jay California in the San Bernardino ten-year-old son can go, but because the fa - pany Rep Saddle Fit Guru. He is usually Mountains, where Don and Scotty Mauk ther weighs 350 pounds, he couldn’t go. partnered with a known trainer who is en - ran over a hundred head of dude horses. However, this provided the enterprising dorsing the saddle or tree of the reps em - Scotty employed four wranglers and each young wranglers the opportunity to jump ployer, it’s called paid to say nice things wrangler had his personal horse to ride. I right in and let the parent know that we about the product. Based on the trainer’s en - took my paint mare Penny with me, and a would take good care of the boy, or girl, and dorsement you are to believe that perfect guide rode anywhere from four to six hours see to it they had a good time. Of course the saddle fit can be obtained by just believing a day, on the same horse, six days a week, possibility of five dollar tip was a big moti - his message, smilingly approved by the fac - with his personal saddle. I never saw any of vator to a young wrangler. tory rep. the wrangler’s horses with sores on them. Horses and mules that are ridden on a reg - One of the most interesting is the Old It was there at the Blue Jay Stables that I ular basis, with properly adjusted tack, re - Waddy Saddle Fit Guru, who presents him - got my first real introduction to saddle fit - sult in a conditioning of their muscles, and self with a mouth full of chaw, a slough hat, ting and it has been one of my major inter - skin, and are less likely to get saddle sores. watery eyes, and some wore out tack. He ests ever since. Wayne Cozart was a farrier If you are a weekend rider and are going to spins a yarn or two about what has always who shod all the horses at the stable. Wayne ride only on weekends, saddle maker Tom worked for him in all his years riding the was a first class farrier, displaced from Pritchard pretty much ties the knot in the range, and if you do the same you can’t go Arkansas, who was quite a hand. He not problem with his advice that, to avoid sad - wrong, and “here is my long time secret to only shod horses, he was good at handling dle fit issues, “It takes three ten mile rides perfect saddle fit you can buy with confi - all livestock, both saddle animals and har - in a week to condition your mule for a thirty dence.” ness animals, floating teeth, and seeing to it mile ride on the weekends.” A real puzzler is the Mysterious Saddle that the horses on the dude string weren’t The quality of your tack goes a long way Fit Guru who just kind of appears out of the neglected. He was frequently at the stable to keeping your mules back in good shape. mist. His western duds are new and don’t and he was not bashful about letting the I had a man show up at my house a couple quite fit, and he starts out telling you his wranglers know when something wasn’t years back to look at a mule I had for sale. personal story how he worked for years as right. And, when it wasn’t right, Wayne had He was driving a new diesel truck and a 30- a resident crash dummy for a bowling ball a simple rule…..stop and fix it. Scotty foot long living quarter’s trailer. He was company and this naturally lead to his in - Mauk believed in Wayne’s wisdom and looking at the mule for a price of over terest in mules and saddle fitting…..???? when he said it, it was the rule from then till $2,000.00. He opened up his rear tack room Lastly, is The Young Clean Cut Cowboy the end of time. and I saw two cheap nylon western saddles Saddle Fit Guru . He is immaculately The only saddle sores I saw were the big and a cheap Asian made Australian saddle. dressed in high heeled boots, chinks, flow - gentle horses that carried the smallest riders. I knew from that moment on that if he ered western shirt, silk scarf, slightly worn, They had pony saddles on them and these bought the mule, it would not be a match five-inch brim, palm straw hat, and a five were tough on those big horses. It was be - made in heaven. A top hand cowboy friend o’clock shadow beard, and they always cause of this problem, that Wayne taught all of mine, Dale Newman, commented years have a name like Rocky, or Dusty, or the wranglers how to use “rocker pads.” I ago, “You can tell a lot about a man by just Rowdy. He will tell us all about his vast sad - wrote about rocker pads in the August 2012 looking at his outfit.” dle fit knowledge gleaned from packing issue of Western Mule Magazine . We didn’t If you read old books about equine his - mules for thousands of miles in the rugged have all the high tech equine accessories we tory, fictional or factual, you find little ref - mountains of Colorado, punching thousands have today, so a saddle sore got immediate erence to saddle fitting issues. In the old of head of cattle in the Texas panhandle, rid - attention before it took the horse out of the days, if you want to call it that, a man would ing thousands of bucking horses, roping string. often times, only own one saddle that he thousands of head of cattle, and riding thou - All the adult saddles had high cantles on would use his entire life. However, he might sands of miles of lonely trails in all kinds of them to keep the dude riders from sliding own many horses or mules. In the early weather, and in the process, riding thou - out the back on a hill and to prevent them days of our country, there were riding sands of equines of all kinds, type and color. from sitting too far back on the saddle, as a horses and mules and there were harness This guy is among the most interesting, be - lower cantle would allow. Every effort was horses and mules. Horses and mules were cause he is only 30 years old and hasn’t made to spare a horse having to carry over - more or less divided into these categories lived long enough to do even a small part of weight riders on a regular basis and Scotty based on their conformation. The serious what he claims. This list can go on ad-nau - would often times refuse someone a ride be - equestrian can usually be seen in old photos sium. cause of that issue. That sometimes caused riding horses or mules that were fairly slen - The summer I turned seventeen I went to the sign up desk to be a pretty exciting place der, with no hay bellies and nowhere close work as a wrangler at the Blue Jay Stables at times. It was not easy to tell a man his to being overweight. The other horses and mules were sent to harness duty. This choice different type mule backs as possible. This alized that more than any other equine en - of conformation on the part of riding ani - is a big expectation of the part of mule own - deavor, endurance riding had major in - mals went a long way toward eliminating ers and for practical reasons, is not easy to volvement and input from veterinarians, sore backed saddle animals. Likewise, the achieve. and physicians, both as advisors and partic - riders were fairly slim. In 1964, two years after I graduated from ipants. One thing was for certain; no aver - Working ranches where cowboys had a high school, I bought the first book I read age pleasure or trail rider was going to the set number of animals assigned to him, had on saddle and tack fitting, entitled Saddlery, lengths that endurance riders do to make to use one saddle on all the horses in his by E. Hartley Edwards. The book was pub - their equine endeavor successful. In this care. He couldn’t afford to own eight sepa - lished in 1963 and the comments on saddle light, many pleasure and trail riders refuse rate saddles for each of the eight animals as - fitting are almost word for word, what ex - to acknowledge their responsibility in the signed to him. Cowboys alternated the use perts in the field are saying today. Mr. Ed - saddle fit equation. Instead, they want to of their animals on a regular basis. If they wards made reference to several points of blame the saddle for all their problems, were being subjected to hard use a cowboy saddle fit that he felt were necessary to good while ignoring their responsibilities as an would change mounts in mid-day. Better saddle fit. They are long in explanation, so active partner in the overall issue of proper ranches had horses that were of a kind that for our purposes, I am going to quote high - saddle fit. were basically user friendly. Certain confor - lights of these points, and we will eventu - I have read a big bag full of articles and mation issues were known to cause prob - ally explore all of them. books on saddle fitting in the last 40 plus lems that would make the animal unusable 1. The saddle must afford complete clear - years and coupled with my personal expe - and those animals were avoided. ance of the withers and also across the rience, research and lessons learned from However, in our current state of private width and along the length of the backbone. some really knowledgeable people, I have equine ownership, we take a whole different 2. The construction of the saddle must be learned to sift the wheat from the chafe. look at things. Most mule buyers, especially such that it bears evenly upon the back in One solid rule is there are four interre - first time buyers, will seldom give potential its entirety, so that the weight of the rider is lated parts to saddle fit, the mule, the pad, saddle fit issues a second thought when con - evenly distributed over as large an area as the saddle and the rider. We are going to talk sidering the purchase of a mule. Instead, the bearing surface on each side of the back - about this inter-relationship and how saddle prospective buyers are often more enam - bone will allow. fit problems can be solved by understanding ored with the mule’s color, and personality. 3. The length of the saddle must correspond this relationship. Also, we are going to ex - Mules looking for a new home always seem to the available length of the back. plore some very easy to apply tips to help - to have a personality that buyers can’t resist. 4. The equines back must be conditioned ing you identify good and bad saddle fit. Mules aren’t known for being stupid. before being subjected to anything but short For the following articles in this series, I Early scholarly efforts to explain saddle periods of pressure. want you to keep something in mind, and it fitting, are almost always making reference For the most part, until the last two or was best noted by saddle maker Dusty John - to English saddles, and much of the early three decades, the European equestrians, son who said, “There is no such thing as saddle fitting expertise comes from the in - South American equestrians, and endurance perfect saddle fit.” sight of military veterinarians. Prior to the riders around the world, were more inter - World War II era, it was common practice ested in and much more advanced in their To contact Terry Wagner for informa - for saddlers to recommend that each horse knowledge of saddle fit than most western tion on this article or prior articles, have a saddle that is made just to fit a par - saddle users, be it on a mule or horse. A email: [email protected] ticular animal. number of years ago I attended the National In this day and age it is not uncommon Endurance Ride Conference in Reno, Ne - for most people to own and ride more than vada. I was there with a commercial exhibit, one mule. In doing so, most owners have but found time to sneak out and attend a few mules in their back yard that are a long way presentations I was interested in. Among from being carbon copies of each other. I those was saddle fitting and equine condi - know this from personal experience. I have tioning. These were real eye openers for four mules and not one of them has a back me. At first glance I thought all endurance anywhere similar to any of the others. At the riders were built like whip handles, rode cost of saddles today, its not economically horses conditioned like a Triple Crown can - feasible to own a custom made saddle for didate, and had perfect fitting saddles for each mule. The economic factor, if no other, each horse. presents a challenge to tree and saddle mak - The entire conference was filled with a ers to produce a saddle that will fit as many lot of very knowledgeable people, and I re - 1/2 page ad