In This Chapter
Unless you’re wealthy — or
starring in a movie — you probably don’t have the luxury of having someone
bring your saddled and bridled horse out to you every time you want to ride.
The task of tacking up, as horse people call it, falls squarely upon
your shoulders. Of course, to truly become an accomplished horseperson, you
need to be able to tack up a horse.
Although the basics of tacking up
for English and western riding are essentially the same, the differences are
enough to make the process a bit confusing. We unravel all those straps and
buckles for you in this chapter so you have a fundamental understanding of how
to prepare a horse for riding. (And for more about the basics of horse
equipment, be sure to check out Chapter Getting
into Gear with Horse Equipment.)
Putting On a Saddle and Accessories
The saddle and accessories always
go on before the bridle (the head piece consisting of the bit, headstall, and
reins) when tacking up a horse; you need the horse’s halter (a head harness of
sorts) to secure him to crossties or a hitching post while you saddle up. After
you finish bridling, the halter comes off.
Remember
Before you attempt to tack up a horse, have an experienced horseperson demonstrate the steps. After you watch the process a few times, you’re ready to try it on your own — with supervision. Don’t attempt to tack up a horse alone until whomever is supervising you assures you that you have the process down pat.
Before you start saddling up, do
the following:
1. Tie your horse securely by his halter to a hitching post (using a quick release knot) or crossties. (See Chapter Working with Your Horse from the Ground for more about tying.)
2. Groom your horse thoroughly, being careful to brush down the hairs on the back and the girth area (check out Chapter Welcome to the World of Horses for a diagram showing the parts of the horse). Make sure that no pieces of dirt, bedding, or other foreign objects are stuck to your horse’s back or girth area. (Chapter Keeping Your Horse Clean and Pretty has the full scoop on grooming.)
3. Check your saddle blanket and girth or cinch to make sure that no burrs, sticks, or other items are clinging to the underside.
Remember
Correctly positioning and fastening the saddle on your horse’s back is extremely important. A poor saddling job can result in discomfort or injury to both you and your horse. The diagrams in Figure 15-1 show the correct placement of English and western saddles.
Protocol
Whether you’re saddling your horse with an English or a western saddle, always begin on the left side. All tasks concerning the horse’s body begin with a left-side approach. The tradition of working first on the left side of the horse goes back hundreds of years, and is part of horse handling protocol. Most horses are accustomed to being approached from the left as a result and are likely to be more cooperative if you maintain this tradition.
Figure 15-1: The correct placement
of English and western saddles on a horse’s back is essential.
The English saddle
First, familiarize yourself with
the parts of the English saddle (refer to Chapter Getting
into Gear with Horse Equipment). Know where all your
equipment is. You need
- A saddle pad
- A girth
- The saddle
Then follow these steps to saddle
a horse with an English saddle, beginning on the horse’s left side:
1. Lay the pad over the horse’s back. Stand on the horse’s left side and position the front of the pad a few inches above the horse’s withers, at the base of the neck.
2. Slide the pad backward a couple of inches so the front edge of the pad is still covering the withers.
Warning!
Don’t slide the pad forward if you need to reposition it because doing so ruffles the hairs underneath, resulting in irritation to the horse while you ride. Instead, lift the pad off the horse’s back and reposition it. Check both sides of the horse to make sure that the amount of pad is even on the left and the right.
3. Pick up the saddle. Grasp the front of the saddle in your left hand and the back of the saddle in your right. Make sure that the stirrup irons have been pushed up to the top of the stirrup leathers so they don’t flop around while you handle the saddle.
4. Place the saddle gently on the horse’s back in the hollow just below the withers. About 3 inches of the pad should be showing in front of the saddle, and at least 3 inches showing behind (if not, the pad is too small). To determine whether the saddle is correctly positioned on the horse’s back, look to see whether the girth, when attached to the saddle, fits just behind the horse’s elbows (refer to Figure 15-1 for the correct position of a English saddle).
5. Slide the girth straps on the left side of the saddle through the tab on your saddle pad. Go to the horse’s right side and do the same.
6. Fasten the girth to the right side of the saddle. You usually don’t store English girths attached to the saddle, so your girth will probably be detached. Three girth straps hang there, but you only need two. The third one is just in case one of the other straps breaks.
Bring the girth over to the right side of the horse and fasten the girth’s buckles to the two outside girth straps that are hanging from the saddle. Be sure you’re fastening the part of the girth that has solid leather and not stretch material. The stretch material attaches on the left side. (Some girths have stretch material on both sides — in that case, it doesn’t matter which side you attach to the left or right.) Fasten the buckles about halfway up each girth strap.
7. Fasten the girth to the left side of the saddle. Move to the left side of the horse and reach underneath to grasp the girth. Follow the same buckling procedure that you did in Step 6. Be sure that the girth is resting just behind the horse’s elbows, and that it isn’t twisted. Buckle tight enough to make the girth snug.
8. Gradually tighten the girth on the left side over a period of several minutes (so as not to shock the horse with one sharp pull) until it’s snug enough that the saddle doesn’t move. If you run out of holes on your left-side girth straps, begin tightening the buckles on the right. Figure 15-2 shows how you tighten an English girth.
Figure 15-2: Gradually tighten the girth on an English saddle so you
don’t shock your horse.
9. Check your stirrup length. Before you mount, determine whether your stirrups are the correct length for your legs. You can check pretty reliably by holding the reins in your left hand while sliding your right hand, palm down, under the flap of the saddle where the stirrup leather attaches to the saddle. Using your left hand, grasp the stirrup iron and pull it toward the crook of your arm, allowing the stirrup leather to lay flush against the bottom of your outstretched arm. If the stirrup iron fits snugly in the crook of your arm, the stirrups are most likely the correct length for your leg. If the stirrups are too long or too short, the problem will be obvious relative to your arm length.
If your stirrups need lengthening or shortening, adjust them by using the buckle on the stirrup leather.
After you mount, you can determine whether the stirrups are truly the correct length. You should be able to stand up in the stirrups and have your body clear the saddle. Another way to check is to take your feet out of the stirrups while you are sitting in the saddle and notice where the stirrups rests against your foot. The irons should rest at the ankle when you legs are stretched down.
10. Stretch the horse’s legs to prevent pinching. Standing at the front of the horse, pull the left leg toward you to stretch out the skin under the girth so it doesn’t pinch the horse. Do the same with the horse’s right foreleg.
Remember
You may need to repeat Step 8 after leading your horse around, before you mount. Many horses have a tendency to puff up their bellies by holding their breath while you tighten the girth. Before you get on, make sure that the girth is snug enough that it feels tight if you put your fingers between it and the horse’s body. If you can’t get your fingers in there, the girth is too tight and needs to be let out a notch.
The western saddle
Before you start, familiarize
yourself with the parts of the western saddle (refer to Chapter Getting
into Gear with Horse Equipment). Have your
pad and saddle ready to go. Then follow these steps to saddle a horse with a
western saddle:
1. Lay the pad over the horse’s back. Stand on the horse’s left side and position the front of the pad a few inches above the horse’s withers, at the base of the neck.
2. Slide the pad backward a couple of inches so the front edge of the pad is still covering the withers.
Warning!
Don’t slide the pad forward if you need to reposition it because doing so ruffles the hairs underneath, resulting in irritation to the horse while you ride. Check both sides of the horse to make sure that the amount of pad is even on the left and the right.
3. Prepare the saddle. On a western saddle, the cinch is permanently attached to the right side. Before you approach the horse, flip the cinch up and over so it drapes across the seat. Take the right stirrup and loop it over the saddle horn.
4. Bring the saddle to the horse. Grasp the front of the saddle in your left and and the back of the saddle in your right. Approach the horse’s left side.
5. Place the saddle on the horse’s back. From the left side of the horse, swing the saddle up and over, and place it gently on the horse’s back. The saddle needs to sit in the hollow just below the withers with about 3 inches of the pad showing in front and in the back. To determine whether the saddle is correctly positioned on the horse’s back, look to see whether the cinch, when attached to the saddle, fits just behind the horse’s elbows (refer to Figure 15-1 for the correct position of a western saddle).
6. Walk around to the right side of the horse and undrape the cinch so it hangs down. Unloop the stirrup from the saddle horn and let it hang.
7. Secure the saddle with the cinch. From the left side of the horse, reach underneath and take up the cinch. Run the latigo strap through the ring of the cinch, and then feed the strap through the same D-ring on the saddle where the latigo is attached. Continue to loop the latigo strap through the two rings until you have about 12 inches of free strap coming from the D-ring. See Figure 15-3 to find out how to tie the knot.
Figure 15-3: You tie a western
cinch knot in five easy steps.
8. Check your stirrup length. Before you mount, determine whether your stirrups are the correct length for your legs. You can check by holding the reins in your left hand while sliding your right hand, palm down, under the flap of the saddle where the stirrup leather attaches to the saddle. Using your left hand, grasp the stirrup and pull it toward the crook of your arm, allowing the stirrup leather to lay flush against the bottom of your outstretched arm. If the stirrup fits snugly in the crook of your arm, the stirrups are most likely the correct length for your leg. If the stirrups are too long or too short, the problem will be obvious relative to your arm length.
After you mount, you can determine whether the stirrups are the correct length. You should be able to stand up in the stirrups and maintain your balance for a few seconds in that position.
If your stirrups need lengthening or shortening, adjust them by using the buckle flap underneath the stirrup leather. (You need to dismount to do this, if you discovered a problem when you were already on the horse.)
9. Make sure that the cinch is snug enough that the saddle doesn’t move, but not so snug that you can’t fit the fingers of a flat hand between the cinch and the horse’s body. To tighten the cinch, loosen the knot, and pull up on the outside layer of strap between the D-ring and cinch rings.
Remember
Check the cinch again after walking your horse a little and before mounting. You may need to retighten the cinch if your horse has a tendency to hold his breath when you cinch him up.
Bridling Your Horse with Ease
Remember
The bridle goes on last, because after you bridle your horse, you can’t tie him up again until you finish with your ride. If you’ve never bridled a horse, ask an experience horse person to show you first before you attempt it.
Before you start to bridle your
horse, do the following:
1. Tie the horse securely by his halter to a hitching post (using a quick release knot) or crossties. See Chapter Working with Your Horse from the Ground for more about tying.
2. Groom and saddle the horse. Chapter Keeping Your Horse Clean and Pretty has grooming info.
3. Check the bridle to make sure that the noseband (the part that goes around the nose) and throatlatch (the strap that fastens around the horse’s jowls) on an English bridle are unbuckled. If you have a throatlatch on a western bridle, make sure it’s unbuckled, too.
4. Have an experienced horse person help you determine whether the bit size is correct, and how short the straps need to be on the headstall (the part of the bridle that goes over the horse’s ears and is attached to the bit), if your horse has never worn this particular bridle.
The steps for putting on an
English and western bridle are nearly the same. Familiarize yourself with the
parts of both bridles before you begin (refer to Chapter Getting
into Gear with Horse Equipment). Then, follow these
steps to put on the bridle:
1. Secure the horse with the halter. Standing at the horse’s left side, unbuckle the halter (which you had put on the horse before saddling), slide the noseband off, and then rebuckle the halter around the horse’s neck (Figure 15-4 shows how the halter fits around the horse’s neck).
2. Put the reins over the horse’s head so they lay on the horse’s neck.
3. Hold the bit and headstall and stand at the left side of your horse’s head, facing the same direction that your horse is facing. Grasp the top of the headstall in your right hand and the bit in your left hand. Let the bit lay against your outstretched fingers. Stand next to the horse’s head, facing forward in the same direction as the horse.
4. Place your right hand (still holding the headstall) just on top of the horse’s head, behind the ears. If you can’t reach above the horse’s head, you can instead reach your arm under the horse’s jaw and around to the right side of the horse’s head so your right hand and headstall are just above the horse’s forehead, or above the bridge of his nose.
5. Open the horse’s mouth and insert the bit. With your left thumb, gently press down on the inside corner of the horse’s lip to open his mouth and gently guide the bit into his mouth, being careful not to bang it against his front teeth. Raise the headstall in your right hand until the bit slides all the way into the horse’s mouth.
6. Gently slide the headstall over the horse’s ears. Adjust the horse’s forelock (the hair on the forehead between the ears) and the area of the mane just behind the ears so the hair is smooth under the headstall. The bridle is now in place.
7. Buckle the throatlatch and noseband, if any.
- English bridle: The throatlatch and noseband need to be snug, but not so tight that you can’t get three fingers between each of these straps and the horse’s face.
- Western bridle: You probably won’t have a noseband to tighten. If the bridle has a throatlatch, make sure that two fingers fit between the horse’s cheek and the strap.
- Curb chain or strap: If one of these is attached to the bit, make sure that it’s loose when you let the reins relax (one or two fingers should fit) but makes contact with the horse’s chin when you pull the bit shanks back at a 45-degree angle.
8. Unbuckle the halter from your horse’s neck. If you plan to mount where you are, leave the reins over your horse’s neck. If you want to lead your horse to another area for mounting, remove the reins from around your horse’s neck and lead the horse by the reins.
Figure 15-4 shows more detail on
how to put on English and western bridles.
Figure 15-4: The correct way
to put on English and western bridles.
by Audrey Pavia with Janice Posnikoff,DVM
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