Jochen Schleese's Blog (6)

Saddle Fit and the Circle of Influence

In recent years, people are becoming much more concerned that the saddle actually fits, and to this end "master" saddle fitters are cropping up left, right, and centre to do consultations on-site. When I was invited to Canada in 1986 from Germany to be the Official Saddler for the World Dressage Championships (held for the first time outside of Europe), we did an informal market survey which revealed that at that time saddles were treated as commodity items - used, abused, broken, and thrown awa… Continue

Added by Jochen Schleese on November 15, 2009 at 1:30pm — No Comments

Saddle Fit and the Sway-backed Horse

This blog is in response to a member request to address saddlefitting as regards her sway-backed Arab. She is presently able to use only a western saddle on her horse, which she states is the only one that apparently doesn’t bridge. As in my other blogs, I am going to retain my level of honesty (and hopefully simplicity!) in addressing some of these issues, so please take what I say in the manner with which I present it – I want to honestly help as many riders and horses as possible achieve max… Continue

Added by Jochen Schleese on November 2, 2009 at 9:45am — 1 Comment

The Truth about Withers Clearance

One of the biggest misconceptions in saddle fitting is that two-three fingers withers clearance means that the saddle fits. When I check saddle fit there are actually 36 points to consider, and withers clearance is only one of them. The withers are a very sensitive area of the horse with different interacting muscles and bones. Obviously you do not want the pommel of the saddle pushing down on the wither bone of our horse which would cause sores. This is the area that veterinarians sometimes r… Continue

Added by Jochen Schleese on October 15, 2009 at 9:00am — 4 Comments

How do you Know?

You know your horse better than anyone – instinctively, you know immediately when something is amiss, even if you can’t immediately diagnose where the problem lies or what is causing it. I can put words to what you already know – how do you tell when your horse is happy? What I am going to say may be controversial and provocative to some, but if you are truly honest with yourself, you may realize that perhaps there is a lot of truth in it! A horse is not able to lie, to ‘act’ like he’s feeling… Continue

Added by Jochen Schleese on September 27, 2009 at 3:00pm — 2 Comments

Heike Kemmer comes to Canada!

I am so excited to be involved in this premiere event for Canada! We are thrilled to be working with Heike under our 'Saddlefit4Life' system in Europe and have organized this weekend together with Jen Anstey of Horse Sport publications to afford interested riders in our area the opportunity to meet Heike and watch her teach. Here is the information Jen has published - we hope to see as many of you out at the reception and weekend as possible! For auditors it's free; for others it's $20. This is… Continue

Added by Jochen Schleese on September 15, 2009 at 3:00pm — No Comments

Why I do what I do....

My Passion - Helping Horses Worldwide! In 1984 after qualifying for the European Championships I had to retire my beautiful Hanoverian gelding for lameness, and my riding career came abruptly to an end. I wish I knew then what I have learned in the past 24+ years as a Certified Master Saddler consulting with equine professionals around the world. At very least I know Pirat would have been sound a lot longer, at best my riding career would have gone much farther. At the time I was riding with th… Continue

Added by Jochen Schleese on August 31, 2009 at 10:48am — 11 Comments