Your Saddle Fits a Horse That No Longer Exists — Letitia Glenn on Horse Care

You measure with your hand while he stands there. Then he takes a step, and the horse you measured is gone. Saddle fit is horse care. I rode my whole life before anyone said that to me plainly. I met Letitia Glenn at Road to the Horse. She had seen footage of me riding, and the first thing she thought — which she then said to my face, out loud — was that I did not know what I did not know about saddles. She was right. I brought her out to Florida on the hottest day of that summer, rode in one of her saddles, and felt my mare Lady's scapula open in a way it never had on the whole road trip. Letitia came to horses at 47, with a two-year-old Paso Fino stallion named Echo, and she has spent the quarter century since asking one question. Why does equipment made by the finest makers in the world stop a horse from moving the way he moves loose in a pasture? She found the answer backpacking. Fifty-five pounds, eight miles, the Rocky Mountains. Picture the corner of a book pressed into your spine. You will contort away from it. So will he — and his left shoulder will talk to his right hip, and his hips will rotate forward, and his head will come up, and now you have a horse who cannot get under himself no matter how beautifully you ride the reins. So we go through what she watches for. The upward head nod at the walk on a loose rein. The four Bs. The belly tickle test, eight fingernails near the sternum, and a top line that travels from curved to flat while you stand there watching it happen. The hollow behind the scapula she once said she could have put a cantaloupe into, on a very good dressage rider's horse. Beef steak, she says, not beef jerky. We also get into the part of horse care that never appears on a bill of sale. Saddle fitters are often paid by the brand they recommend. Trainers take a cut on the tack their students are told to buy. A ten-thousand-dollar saddle is evidence of a marketing budget and nothing else. Lady gave me a scar on my stomach the first year I had her, reaching back for me while I did up the cinch. I used to call that her temperament. I asked her here because I wanted the horse world to have this, and because Lady told me about it years before I was willing to hear it. You can find out more about Letitia and her saddles here: website | instagram | youtube This episode was sponsord by Natural Horseman Saddles (Contour Saddlery) At Natural Horseman Saddles, we believe every saddle should be built around the horse—not the other way around. That's why our saddles are designed to support your horse's natural movement and feature an adjustable fitting system that adapts as your horse changes over time. The result? Better comfort, better performance, and a saddle designed to fit your horse for years to come. Experience the difference a truly horse-first saddle can make. Visit Naturalhorsemansaddles.com to learn more. Interested in more from Noëlle? Noëlle's writing again — head to her Substack for essays, observations, and the kind of thinking that doesn't fit in an episode. https://noellefloyd.substack.com Every episode is also on YouTube, where the conversation continues in the comments.  https://www.youtube.com/@noellefloyd_plus And if you're ready to go deeper, NF+ is where the real work happens — masterclasses, curated content, and a community that takes horses seriously. https://noellefloydplus.com You can also download the app - <a href= "https://apps.apple.com/us/app/nf/id1572366848" target="_blank" rel="noopen