Total Contact Saddle Fitting

I recently purchased a Total Contact Saddle from the company in England.  I've been eyeing them for ages, and have done tons of reading online with reviews in online forums.  My concern was that it will create pressure on the spine of my very shark-fin withered horses.  The online community all insisted that they didn't have this issue, even with older thinner horses with significant withers.  When I looked at the photos to support this, however, the horses pictured definitely were closer to the average horse's back than my OTTBs.  It's not terribly expensive, so I decided to purchase one and see how it would work here.

When it arrived I tried it on Highboy, Ferriana, and Daisy with mixed results.  I quickly discovered that the padding beneath it is extremely important, especially with horses as high withered and fit as Highboy and Ferriana. 

Here is a photo of the saddle on Daisy, the horse here with the closest to average shaped back.  I have a sheepskin lined cotton pad with a leather correction half pad, the TCS, with breastplate.

 

There's no tree in it - it's basically a surcingle with stirrup bars.  I've had such issues with several of the horses and their saddles popping up and hitting me in the butt when jumping that I wanted to see if I could get this to work and not interfere with my balance.

This photo is of the underside of the TCS.  You can see that it's just leather with billets sewn in.

 

For its first ride, I put it on Highboy with a sheepskin lined cotton pad beneath it.  He walked around the arena with me aboard but taking much smaller steps than he normally does.  I was able to get him into a trot with some coaxing, but he refused to lengthen his stride at all and felt like a slow sewing machine with legs shuffling and zero movement in his back.  I then added a thick leather correction pad between the cloth pad and the saddle, and he took slightly longer walk steps with that configuration, but still wouldn't trot normally.  We only did a few laps around the arena because I could tell he didn't like it.  

After I dismounted and removed the tack, I could see that his withers had had too much pressure on them, as he showed some discomfort with palpation and there was mild swelling just beneath the skin where the equipment had created pressure points on his spine.  I concluded it wasn't going to work with the setup I currently had on this horse, rubbed his back with liniment, and put him away.

Next I rode Ferriana with it, since she has a much wider rib cage but still has pronounced withers.  I had similar issues with her, it was a nearly identical ride as far as behavior from her.  She didn't have the irritation on her spine when we were done, though.

My third try was with Daisy.  Daisy is much smaller, has much lower withers than anyone else here, and she has a relatively wide rib cage.  Overall her shape is much closer to the average horse than any of the Thoroughbreds or warmbloods.  Using the TCS with a sheepskin pad and the leather correction pad on top worked really well for her.  I found that she was bending better to the right than normal, and she got her leads and lead changes much better than with her regular saddle.  I even jumped her in it and she went really nicely.  I didn't have any issues with it slipping side to side, though I could imagine that being an issue if we really got to doing some more aggressive riding with harder stops, sharper turns, and bigger fences.

These two photos are of me jumping Daisy in the TCS.  I loved it during this ride because it didn't interfere with my balance at all (as some regular saddles do due to my conformation and many saddles being built for people with a shorter femur than I have).  We were cantering a figure eight in the arena jumping the barrels in the middle, and Daisy got her lead changes nearly every time.

 

In this photo if you look closely you can see that it's just a cotton pad lined with sheepskin, with the leather correction half pad, and the TCS on top.

Fast forward a few weeks, and I decided to take it out again and try it with various different pads on Dewey.  Dewey is an OTTB with high withers, but he is at a heavier weight than Highboy and Ferriana.  Dewey also always tells me if something isn't right, though fortunately he does it by tossing his head and moving differently instead of bucking (like some of the horses I know and love...).  It was a rainy and foggy morning, and I was just in my work clothes for barn chores.  My pants were baggy enough that I could put my tall boots on over my knee high socks, but under my pant legs.

Withers Free Half Pad - 3rd Choice:

My first attempt with Dewey was using a withers free pad on top of a no-slip english pad.  This half pad has pockets on both the left and right sides, which I had filled with felt shims to create some lift in the front in an attempt to lift the sides so as not to place so much pressure on the spine and create some clearance.

 

This second photo shows the pocket into which I placed the felt shims

Here is the whole setup on Dewey:

 

Dewey wasn't actually as sweaty as he looks in the photos - it was a rainy morning and he was pretty wet before we started the day's project.  So most of his damp appearance is from rain and fog, not from working hard. 

Here is the video of Dewey riding in it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEoYLwExPsc

 

You can see in this video that Dewey is tense in his back, even at the walk.  I don't have the TCS girthed up too tight because I need to see how Dewey reacts to it without too much pressure.  He takes smaller than normal steps, and once he starts to trot you can see that he is hollow in his back with his head up in the air.  This next photo shows him trotting, but taking a relatively short step with his hind foot, and arrows drawn in to show his head lifted, and his back lowered.  This was the setup he liked the least of what we tried today.

Felt Cutback Half Pad - 1st Choice:

Next I tried the TCS with a pad that is essentially a one inch thick western felt pad that is also cut back to accommodate high withers.  Here is the photo of it on Dewey:

Here is the video of Dewey trying it out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJHcN9DFpuo

Dewey liked this much better.  You can see him taking deeper breaths, longer steps with his hind end, lifting his back and lowering his head.  This was his number one choice out of what we tried today.

Foam Front Riser Half Pad - 2nd choice:

The third try was with a closed cell foam half pad with front riser. Here is the photo of it on him:

Dewey liked this foam pad with riser better than the withers free half pad, but not as much as the felt cutback half pad, so this was his number two choice for the day.  He did stretch out some when riding in this, but not as much or as consistently as with the felt cutback. 

Here is the video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVPmsM54xB4

This photo has the arrows drawn in so you can see what's going on with his body.

 

Lastly, to let Dewey actually move well and give him a chance to canter I put the felt cutback pad back on him.  Here is his video from the final setup.  I did notice that the felt cutback pad and TCS did need to be placed farther back, so that it rested in the lowest spot on his back.  This allowed the stirrup to be directly under my seat, so that my balance was better and thus I didn't interfere with Dewey's balance either.

Here is the video from the final setup:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4Ueo9iePBQ

By this point Dewey has realized we are doing tack fitting.  He starts out a bit braced, and you can see him lift his head and tense up a few times at the beginning as he tries to determine which setup he is currently wearing and how comfortable or uncomfortable it will be.  Once he decides this is the comfortable setup he settles right down and his gaits improve quite a bit.  His canter levels out to be more balanced, and his trot after cantering is very nice as his back has loosened up more from cantering in the comfortable setup.

 

 Summarizing Dewey's experiment today:

• Dewey's preferred half pad is the 1" thick felt cutback.
• The TCS works on Dewey best with the felt cutback pad and saddle placed far enough back that my leg is under me.
• Dewey's second favorite pad is the closed cell foam front riser pad, but it's not ideal.
• Dewey definitely does not like the withers free pad, likely because it didn't have enough padding in the front to give him sufficient wither clearance.