1. A ‘Wither Tracing". See step-by-step instructions below.

2. A side-on view of the horse, shown with his head in a normal, alert position, and his back without a saddle.

3. The weight and hands of the horse, and the weight, height, and waist/pant size of the rider.

Our success at fitting the saddle depends on the accuracy of this information, but it runs about 95% on our first try!

HOW MUCH WEIGHT CAN A HORSE CARRY?

 More than you think! But there is no quick answer. A bit like asking: how much weight can a human being carry? All we can do is use  variables, along with that rarest of all qualities -- common sense!  Here are the facts. Riding for pleasure, as we know it today,  is less than 60 years old! Yet men have been riding horses for at least 2,000 years, almost exclusively as a way to get someplace so they could kill each other. The load of the horse increased, as his use increased -- and weapons of war got heavier. Major G. Tylden, writing in HORSES AND SADDLERY, notes that Royal Cavalry in 1775 required horses to carry some 316 lbs. Into battle, no less!. And the load never lightened. Shetland ponies used by the British in trench warfare in World War I weighed 600 lbs, yet carried 400 lbs!! Through modern times, as a rule of thumb, a horse in working condition, should be able to carry one third of its own weight. Providing!!! The saddle fits. The rider can rider. The horse has no back or leg problems. The grade is not too steep, the sun not too hot, etc., etc...People who weigh 250  lbs frequently ask if we can take 10 lbs out of the saddle! Of course we can -- but there is an easier place to get rid of 10 lbs!! If you weigh 260 and your saddle weighs 60, you might like to consider a mule, or a massive donkey!! Their ability to haul is legendary. Anatomically, and from an engineering standpoint, the horse is built more to pull than to carry. But by being reasonable, we can work around that.

Yes, we fit MULES. A whole bunch of em!!

 By COLIN DANGAARD

 Lets get one fact straight: fitting mules is EASY. Ive have heard about hard to fit mules, but in 30 years of saddling them, I have yet to meet one. From one mule to the next, they are actually less different than horses. I have, however, met my share of hard to fit people! A mule has only one opinion: does this saddle hurt? People have endless opinions, prejudices, money concerns and THEN they carry the opinions of their trainer, best friend, Uncle Steve in the Smokey Mountains, etc., etc.

 Mules have definite but low withers, and straight backs. By comparison, horses have a vast range of wither definition, and placement on the back, along with virtually endless degrees of sway.

 Problems occur fitting mules with solid tree saddles designed for horses. It rarely works well.

 Mules are booming in popularity. Trail riders who have spent their lives with horses are finally discovering the toughness and dependability that is born to the Long Eared One. Once they understand what makes a mule different, both physically and emotionally, they rarely go back.

 Traditionally, Australian saddles are built on wood/steel trees. This technology goes back to the Middle Ages. A steel frame is fixed to wood, to bear the screws and tacks that hold together a saddle. Even after such a saddle has been built for a horse, our experts at The Australian Stock Saddle Company can pull in the gullet and flatten the bars to make it fit a mule. Again, this is nothing new. Three hundred years ago troops in battle pulled leather off the steel arches of trooper saddles, heated them in a fire and, by hand, manipulated the tree to fit a war horse to replace the one shot out from under just hours before.

  Today, I have clients who change horse with about the same frequency I change my mind. Ive altered the same saddle several times.   

 Australian saddles come in stuffed panels, for high-withered animals, or fleece for low-withered mounts. Obviously fleece is more ideal for mules. Crupper or breeching is always recommended, as mules are slab shouldered. A breastplate is also a good idea. To really appreciate a mule you need steep country. Stuff that might freak out a horse. So it is imperative that the saddle sits close to the back, and is solidly in place. You want to be looking at those lovely long ears, not sitting on them!

 Getting the right equipment for a mule is half of what is necessary YOU getting the right attitude is the other half.

 Unlike horses, mules do not tolerate people who are unreasonable or overly demanding. Get tough with a mule, and hell remember it and one day, hell nail you! Mules are not recommended for people who, to function in society, need anger management therapy! In this regard, mules are much smarter than horses. They accept only the utmost respect and kindness. They love positive reward for good behavior, but mentally cannot handle negative reward for bad behavior. Out on the trail, if you beat a mule to try and get him over a stream, he just might sit down, literally, and nothing will move him until HE feels like moving! You have to be at least smarter than the mule. Its like that old story: Put a horse in a trail, and go down the road, and have a wreck, and the horse will never forget the trailer. It will take lots of training to coax him back into one. Put a mule in a trailer, and go down the road, and have a wreck and he will never forget that YOU put him in the trailer!

Adding Wedges

With close-contact fleece-lined saddles, sometimes they "bridge". This happens when the saddle is hitting the front of the horse, and the back, but not the center. In other words, the horse has more "sway" than the saddle; or put another way, the saddle is more straight than the topline of the horse.  A good solution is to place "center wedges" that fill in this gap. By lifting up the center, there will be a transfer of pressure from either ends of the saddle. The load on the wither area is lightened, as is the load over the back. The dry spots will thus go away, or at least become non-injurious. Center wedges are built with high density felt, and come in thicknesses of l/4" , 1/2" and 3/4". Pressure alone generally keeps them in place, but they can also be "tacked" with superglue.