More and more often adverts appear looking for a "cheap breaking saddle". It is usually accompanied by a short sentence along the lines of, "it doesn't matter what state it is in as it's only for youngsters" There is often no detail on what size it needs to be or width, as these details seem to be unimportant..
This is so counter productive in my eyes. I have talked about this briefly in other blogs and it is also stated on our livery information page, that even in the backing stage we will make sure that their tack fits properly and correctly, because why wouldn't you?
So often I see young/green horses being worked either on the ground or sometimes under saddle, in these cheap tatty saddles. They bounce around on their backs and are usually either too narrow or too wide in front. In other words they simply don't fit.
You could argue that for ground work it doesn't matter as there is no weight on them but of course it matters, especially if this is your horses first experience of wearing a saddle. Saddles that don't fit even without any weight on them are going to put pressure in places they shouldn't and make the horse uncomfortable. We want our horses to be comfortable at all times. A comfortable horse makes for a relaxed and trainable horse!
Aside from these cheap saddles usually being ill fitting the panels themselves are usually in bad shape. They are usually lumpy and hard as well as being asymmetrical. All these things can and do cause issues even in these early stages.
All these things can contribute to many issues; muscle atrophy, bucking, rearing, kissing spine, running through the bridle, asymmetry, crookedness, lameness, just to name a few!! None of us want these things for our horses, make yourself familiar with the basics of saddle fitting and what is correct (and incorrect!) and get a reputable saddler to help you find the right saddle for you both even in these early stages.
Do the best by your horse and make sure your tack fits correctly from the get go!
**Images from Google**