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A saddle that fitted perfectly last season may no longer fit today. The horse loses weight, builds muscle, changes the type of work, and the saddle stays the same. That is exactly why there is no such thing as a saddle for life, and it is what we discuss with Katarzyna Czaprańska, Equishop saddle fitter from Greater Poland. Kasia has worked with show jumping horses for years: together with her husband she runs a yard where they prepare young horses for sport, and as a saddle fitter she fits Prestige Italia saddles for amateurs and for riders at the very top of Polish show jumping.
This conversation is part of our series of interviews with Equishop saddle fitters. We ask them about what you will not find in a catalogue: what the work with the horse looks like, which mistakes riders make most often, and what really decides whether a horse saddle will sit well on the back.
Key takeaways
- There is no saddle for life. A horse loses and gains weight, builds muscle and changes its work, and the saddle has to keep up.
- Young horses: while breaking in, a general purpose saddle with latex panels works best.
- Asymmetric horses are a process: the fit changes together with the horse.
- Wool panels mould to the back as the horse works. They do not need restuffing every three months.
- Saddle checks: for an adult horse in training usually every 6–12 months, more often for a young horse.
Table of contents
- From Anglo-Arabs to saddle fitting
- First client visit: in at the deep end
- No saddle for life: lessons from young horses
- Asymmetric horses: the challenge that teaches most
- Jumping saddles for top riders
- Professional vs amateur: who senses a problem first
- Most common mistakes when choosing a saddle
- Yard, saddle fitting and family
- What horses teach us
- Quick questions
- Frequently asked questions (FAQ)
- Conclusion
From Anglo-Arabs to saddle fitting: how it all began
Kinga (Equishop): Kasia, let's start at the beginning. How did your journey with horses start, and when did saddle fitting come into the picture?
Katarzyna Czaprańska: I have been drawn to horses all my life. I started riding at nine at a private Anglo-Arab stud, where I spent ten years. While studying in Poznań I got to know the world of sport, among other things as a volunteer at large international shows at the Poznań International Fair, which over time grew into Cavaliada. Then came my own horse and my first more serious competitions.
I first came across saddle fitting when I travelled to shows with the stand of a tack shop. The shop wanted to bring an Italian saddle brand to Poland and I took a basic course at the time. I liked it, but the brand did not catch on, so I went back to what my husband and I were doing, which was training young horses.
Real saddle fitting started when Mateusz from Equishop visited our yard because we needed another saddle. Mateusz mentioned that Equishop was recruiting saddle fitters. Physiotherapists and vets I knew told me I had an eye for it and could see how a horse changes. That is how it started.
First client visit: thrown in at the deep end
Kinga (Equishop): Do you remember your first solo client visit?
Katarzyna Czaprańska: I remember it very well, because I was thrown in at the deep end. All my life I had worked mainly with show jumping horses, and my first client in my region needed a dressage saddle. Luckily I had travelled a lot with Mateusz, who specialises in dressage saddles, so I already knew which model suits which horse. The client also knew Prestige Italia saddles, so it was mainly about the fit.
And that was a challenge. The four-year-old, quite spirited mare was only just starting her sport career and did not quickly show which model suited her. Testing took a long time. On top of that she was clearly asymmetric, so the fit had to be refined so the saddle would not slip to one side. In the end we found the right balance. We still work together today: the mare is seven and doing well in lower-level eventing. The first visit was stressful, but very rewarding.
No saddle for life: what young horses taught me
Kinga (Equishop): What has changed most in your approach to horses and saddles since you started?
Katarzyna Czaprańska: I understood that there is no such thing as one saddle for life for one horse. I used to think a memory foam pad would solve everything. Unfortunately not.
You see it best in young horses. They usually came to us in winter, around January and February. My husband called them “hornless bullocks”: shaggy, without muscle, very round. After a few months of work they changed completely, from ugly ducklings into really nice sport horses.
It taught me that while breaking in and in the first months of training, a general purpose saddle with latex panels works best, rather than panels with wool that is still settling. These horses are more or less sensitive and need a saddle that, as the saying goes, stays where you put it. Our first Prestige saddle, the Versailles with latex panels, was recommended to us by the Equishop specialists and it was spot on: we still have it and I use it mainly on young horses.
The difficulties start later, when horses move into more serious training and start jumping. Every horse is different, and with several horses in training one saddle, even with well-chosen pads, is not enough. Today we have three saddles for five horses in training, and only with that setup did everything start to fit well. When looking for your own, it is worth browsing Prestige jumping saddles with the conformation of a specific horse in mind, rather than one “do-it-all” model.
Kinga (Equishop): Do you see the effects of this change in your work with horses?
Katarzyna Czaprańska: Yes, and that is the best part. It used to happen that a problem started with a stiff back and ended with leg injuries. Since we learned to fit saddles properly, this has practically stopped happening at our yard.
Asymmetric horses: the challenge that teaches most
Kinga (Equishop): Are there horses or cases you particularly enjoy working with?
Katarzyna Czaprańska: Definitely asymmetric horses. I like the challenge, and paradoxically they are often easier for me than a horse that at first glance seems simple, one that will be quick. With such a “simple” horse the difficulties start during testing: the saddle slides forwards, backwards, the horse does not want to go forward, and the cause is not obvious at all.
I also like asymmetric horses because I can watch how they change and in which direction. Every case like that is experience that helps me solve the next similar one faster.
Kinga (Equishop): So you value the fact that this work is a process.
Katarzyna Czaprańska: Yes, it is constant learning. Saddle fitting and riding mean working with a living animal. No two people are the same and no two horses are the same. Understanding the horse's temperament and its history of illness and injury is fundamental, whether we are talking about training or about fitting a saddle.
Jumping saddles for top riders: where a good eye comes from
Kinga (Equishop): Word has it that you are one of the best specialists in jumping saddles. You work with top-level riders, including Jarosław Skrzyczyński, Marek Lewicki and Wojciech Wojcianiec. Where does such a good eye for show jumpers come from?
Katarzyna Czaprańska: I have been involved with show jumping horses all my life. After moving to Poznań I reached a higher level of riding, and my experience working as a groom later made it much easier to move in the show jumping world.
People say all sport horses look alike today, but every studbook creates its own type. Selle Français horses look different from KWPNs, Belgian horses look different again, even though the same stallions are used. Walking the course, I often think: this one will be from Holsteiner lines, and that one by Casall. Analysing pedigrees and conformation helps me a lot in my work. To be fair, I do not know the world of dressage breeding as deeply, which is why show jumping is much closer to me.
Working with Jarek, Wojtek, or Marek and Gosia (Małgorzata Ciszek-Lewicka) is easier because I watched them as a teenager and got to know them personally as a groom. I know how they work with their horses. The rider's work and feeding shape the musculature, so one rider's horses gradually start to resemble each other. You have to pay attention to everything.
Professional vs amateur: who senses a problem first
Kinga (Equishop): Does working with riders at that level change how you approach saddle fitting? What do horse and rider demand from a saddle in sport that you do not see in leisure riding?
Katarzyna Czaprańska: Working with professionals is much simpler. In conversations with vets and physiotherapists you often hear that the source of a horse's discomfort is not always the tack; sometimes it is the riding itself. A professional rider has feel. They can tell whether the horse is signalling a problem with the bit, an upcoming dental check, or whether its back has changed and something has started to press under the saddle. They often sense an approaching injury from the horse's behaviour alone.
Amateurs have less of that feel, not because of weaker skills but because of fewer hours ridden on different horses. When a vet suggests checking the saddle, an amateur often assumes one hundred percent that the saddle is the problem, because it is the easiest thing to check.
A professional works the other way round: vet diagnostics first, then the physiotherapist, and the saddle fitter last. If the horse jumped brilliantly at a show and a problem appears on the third day after it, a professional knows the horse could not have changed enough in two days for the saddle to suddenly stop fitting. That is why they start with the vet and call the saddle fitter last. With amateurs it is often the reverse: they look for the cause in the tack first.
Most common mistakes when choosing a saddle and the wool restuffing myth
Kinga (Equishop): Do you have rules you never break when fitting a saddle?
Katarzyna Czaprańska: I have a fixed routine, and the main rule is: if there is a problem, I stay until I solve it. I do not plan my day by the hour, but by client. One day I will do three visits, because they are saddle checks and short tests, and another day I can spend half a day with a single client.
Kinga (Equishop): What mistake do riders make most often when choosing a new saddle?
Katarzyna Czaprańska: They buy according to fashion and trends, following random advice from the internet. The second mistake is believing that one saddle will fit every horse, stay with the rider for life, and ideally never need any work. Yet a horse, just like a person, loses weight, gains weight, gets ill. Many things can change it.
I explain it to clients with two examples. Tree width and saddle size are like trousers: if we gain or lose weight, they stop fitting. A wool panel, on the other hand, is like a new trainer. At first it can even feel tight, and over time it moulds to the foot. A wool panel moulds to the horse's back through work, and if the horse is going well, there is no need to keep fiddling with it.
By stuffing wool into every small unevenness, we do not give the horse room to develop, because we keep pressing on an area that is still taking shape. It is better to check the saddle after six months, then after a year, and watch whether the horse is developing.
There is a belief online that a saddle must be restuffed every three months and all the wool replaced once a year. I think that is going from one extreme to the other: some want a saddle for life, others would tinker with it every month. I tell clients: it is as if you bought new shoes every month because they had loosened slightly.
Yard, saddle fitting and family: one day, many roles
Kinga (Equishop): Saddle fitting is only one branch of your work, because together with your husband you also run a yard. Is there such a thing as a normal day at the yard?
Katarzyna Czaprańska: Every day is different, although there is a routine. We feed the horses ourselves, so we start at six in the morning, then our son's school, paddocks, the horse walker, the farrier, vaccinations. We could not manage without the people who work with us. Working with young horses is an endless merry-go-round: breaking in, lower-level competition, shows.
Saddle fitting is a change of scene for me, even a rest from life on a schedule. I meet new people and new yards in different parts of Poland.
Kinga (Equishop): What does working in your own yard give you that no course can teach?
Katarzyna Czaprańska: A huge number of cases. In almost nine years, between 100 and 200 young horses have passed through our yard, and each one was different. I saw what aptitude and movement the offspring of a given stallion have, and I learned to fit tack so they showed no discomfort. On a course you see a horse once, at most twice. At home I watch it for six months, sometimes longer. That teaches you the most.
Kinga (Equishop): What is the biggest challenge in combining all these roles: the yard, saddle fitting and motherhood?
Katarzyna Czaprańska: Finding time for everything. If I could make the day longer, I would spend more time with my son. We try not to work at weekends, and our son often comes with us to shows or to clients.
Kinga (Equishop): What gives you the greatest satisfaction?
Katarzyna Czaprańska: A happy client.
What horses teach us
Kinga (Equishop): What have horses taught you that no person has?
Katarzyna Czaprańska: Patience, and that nothing comes easily. You have to work for everything, and if you rest on your laurels and stop developing, people will quickly forget you.
Horses also taught me respect. If you have no respect for the animal and a bit of distance, the horse will not work well with you. Horses are very sensitive to a person's attitude, and I carry that over to working with people. I approach everyone, horse or client, with a clean slate. I do not judge anyone by industry gossip. I always give a chance to work together, and if it goes well, I want to keep it going.
Kinga (Equishop): What is your biggest professional dream?
Katarzyna Czaprańska: My childhood dream is to breed a horse that wins the Olympic Games. In saddle fitting I would like to keep working with world-class horses and live to see the day when a horse I fit a saddle for stands on the Olympic podium with its rider.
Quick questions
Kinga (Equishop): In saddle fitting, what matters more: a good eye or experience?
Katarzyna Czaprańska: Experience.
Kinga (Equishop): The saddle you cannot imagine working without?
Katarzyna Czaprańska: Can I name two? Prestige X-Perience and Prestige Rubino.
Kinga (Equishop): The biggest saddle fitting myth you would like to bust once and for all?
Katarzyna Czaprańska: That there is a saddle for life.
Kinga (Equishop): One word that best describes you as a saddle fitter?
Katarzyna Czaprańska: Patient.
Kinga (Equishop): The hardest moment of a fitting: finding the problem or convincing the owner that the problem exists?
Katarzyna Czaprańska: Finding the problem. Although sometimes it is just as hard to convince an owner that there is no problem and something has simply been exaggerated.
Frequently asked questions (FAQ)
Is there such a thing as a saddle for life?
No. A horse loses and gains weight, builds muscle and changes the type of work, so a saddle that fitted last season may need adjusting today.
How often should saddle fit be checked?
For an adult horse in training usually every 6–12 months, and more often for a young, growing horse.
Does the wool in a saddle need restuffing every three months?
No. A wool panel moulds to the back as the horse works. If the horse is going well, a check after six months and then after a year is enough.
What saddle for a young horse?
While breaking in and in the first months of training, a general purpose saddle with latex panels works well, as it sits stably on a back that is still changing.
Saddle fitter or vet first?
If the problem appeared suddenly, start with the vet and the physiotherapist. A horse does not change enough in a few days for a well-fitted saddle to suddenly stop fitting.
Conclusion: a saddle fitted to a horse that keeps changing
One lesson from our conversation with Kasia is worth remembering: good saddle fit is a process, not a one-off purchase. A horse grows, builds muscle, changes condition and type of work, and the saddle should keep up with those changes. At the same time there is no need to adjust it every few weeks. Regular checks, usually every 6 to 12 months for an adult horse in training and more often for a young, growing one, let you react when it is really needed.
If you are wondering whether your saddle still fits your horse, or you are looking for a new Prestige saddle, talk to our saddle fitters via the contact page. Visit the Fitting Center in our shop and the Equishop Service at ul. Oświęcimska 9 in Ruda Śląska. A tree width adjustment or panel restuffing can be done in one place as part of the Equishop saddle service.
We thank Kasia for the conversation, her patience and a wealth of practical knowledge. More interviews with Equishop saddle fitters are coming soon.
