Maryland Saddlery's Guide to Choosing and Fitting Saddles Issue 1 | Page 14

Saddle Fitting Guide – Smith-Worthington Saddlery

How to draw a Diagram of Your Horse’s Back

What you will need: large sheet of paper • masking tape • 15” of Romex electrical cable (or a flexible
rule) • felt tip marker • small ruler • carpenter’s level
1. Place saddle in proper
position on horse’s
back with no
pad, no girth.
The
points
of the tree,
located at the
“saddle
nails”
should be 4 fingers
behind the bulge of the
shoulder muscle. Apply tape on
horse‘s spine between the 2 saddle nails.
2. If measuring without a saddle, measure 4 fingers width
behind the shoulder muscle and place tape on spine at
this point. (Hint: Place left hand, fingers up, on horse’s
left shoulder. Slide hand toward rear. When pinky finger
drops off rear edge of shoulder muscle - stop. Follow