Maryland Saddlery's Guide to Choosing and Fitting Saddles Issue 1 | Page 5

The third style is a dressage saddle.
The stirrup bar is almost directly
underneath the sweet spot or seat of
the saddle. This results in your leg
being very open at the hip. The rider
is practically standing on the horse.
Human hips do not allow for a
completely straight down leg as long
as we are seated on something wide.
So the angle for which your hip is
comfortable is very personal. Some
dressage saddles have very small
deep seats with not a lot of room to
sit. Others have more seat space.
Depending on where your hipbones
fall it will determine how
comfortable the saddles are for the
rider. Dressage saddles are
characterized by very deep seats,
straight flaps, rounded cantles and
are mostly black leather.

All in all, any horse can be ridden any discipline bareback. Foxhunters in Maryland
have been known to ride in postage