How does a custom saddle impact your horse’s comfort and wellbeing?

Choosing the right saddle is decisive when it comes to improving your horse’s wellbeing and your riding performance. The wrong saddle can give horses pain and muscle tension, whereas a custom saddle is designed to suit your horse’s body shape and needs, giving you the peace of mind that comes with the perfect fit. So how does it work and why is it so important?

A guide to saddle fitting: a tailor-made fit

Saddle fitting involves one of our Antarès experts fitting the saddle to your horse to ensure it’s comfortable and suits the shape of both the horse and rider.

Here’s a guide to saddle fitting to ensure you have the perfect fit:

1. Position the saddle: The saddle is placed on the horse’s bare back whilst stationary and at rest. This enables our expert to assess how well-suited the saddle is to the horse’s shape without any interference from movement.
2. Check the horse’s movement: The horse is then encouraged to move to ensure the saddle doesn’t impact movement or cause any pain.
3. Test with a rider: The rider tests the saddle and provides feedback to the Antarès expert. Their feedback is essential to fine-tuning any necessary adjustments to the saddle.

The Antarès Sellier experts conducting the alterations are professionals in the equestrian world. They are specifically trained in saddle fitting and have been coached by equine osteopaths. They use their expertise and experience to assess the needs of every horse and rider to design a custom saddle that will both improve performance and provide the ultimate in comfort.

The consequences of the wrong saddle: avoidable aches and pains

The wrong saddle can result in your horse being in significant pain. If the saddle is too wide or too narrow, it can exert excessive pressure on reflex points along your horse’s spine or withers. This can cause muscle pain or serious injury that may affect their locomotion and wellbeing.

Constant trips to the equine osteopath or repetitive injuries soon becomes a thorn in your horse’s side. That’s why it’s essential to choose a saddle that has a snug fit and moves with your horse.

We’ve designed some of our products with equine health professionals to meet the specific needs of every horse, including some of our custom saddles such as the Extra Contact jumping saddle, our halter and Precision large crank noseband anatomic bridle.

For further advice, read our in-depth articles about how to properly position your riding saddle on your horse’s back and tips to prevent your horse from getting back pain.

The benefits of a custom saddle

Tailor-made comfort

Expert craftsmanship goes into each and every Antarès custom saddle to provide your horse with the perfect fit and a comfortable ride.

The fit of the gullet, panels and other parts means these premium saddles relieve pressure points and distribute weight across your horse’s back evenly. That gives your horse greater freedom to move which means they perform better and feel relaxed. The Antarès saddle panels are designed to provide a snug fit to your horse’s back and alter over time.

A custom design for every discipline

Whether you’re involved in show jumping, dressage, cross country or endurance, our custom saddles come in a wide range of fits to suit your riding discipline. The flap size, saddle length and panels can be altered to improve your position and tailored to suit your mounting technique and needs.

Custom options

We want every rider to celebrate their own signature style at Antarès Sellier. You can customise your saddle and choose from our extensive range of colours to update parts of the saddle or stitching, subject to model. From classic colours like royal blue to glitter trims, every detail makes a unique, eye-catching statement.

Give your saddle an extra dose of French chic with a personalised cantle plate!

You can also take your pick from our range of premium leather: grained calfskin, lined calfskin, grained buffalo and lined buffalo.

Leather is a natural material that needs protecting if you want it to last. That’s why it’s so important to take care of your saddle. We recommend protecting it with saddle covers. Check out our blog for information about how to look after your leather saddle).

A custom saddle is an investment that provides the kind of comfort and peace of mind that are priceless. When you take you and your horse’s requirements and body shapes into due consideration, what you get is better poise and movement during your ride and less chance of pain and injury in your horse. We provide a whole host of customisation options ranging from leather to plates, meaning you get more than just the perfect fit; you get a one-of-a-kind saddle.

At Antarès, we’re proud to use premium French leather to make all our custom saddles in our workshop in Les Gonds, Charente-Maritime.

Choose a custom saddle and experience comfort and precision designed especially for you and your horse.