My Journey: The road to saddle fitting
Having horse in your blood affects everyone differently. My grandfather rode in the mounted Cavalry as a veterinarian in World War II. I never knew him, and his horse blood seemed to skip a generation, as none of his children wanted much to do with horses. I suppose that shows just how inherent this way of life is. Just as he couldn’t influence his children to love horses, I couldn’t be influenced away from them. I was not encouraged to ride. I didn’t play with horse toys or run around the yard pretending to be a horse- it was my now non-horsey sister who galloped over croquet wickets. I just wanted to be with and ride the real thing. We grew up within the city limits of Portland, and I had to beg for my riding lessons. Fast forward through the teenage years, and I began riding again in college. I think I went to vet school mostly to enable my horse fetish. Nobody could ever tell me I couldn’t have a horse if I was a veterinarian, right?! I spent over 4 years in general equine practice. The reality is that general equine practice is so all-consuming that the rest of your life sits on the back burner. I managed to collect quite a few horses and start a lovely Andalusian breeding program while working in equine practice, but found myself spending very little time in the saddle. In an effort to rebalance myself, I began searching for a better way to utilize my professional skills and personal calling. As an equine veterinarian I have always been fascinated by the back. Traditional western medicine is quite limited in its ability to diagnose and treat pathology of the horse’s back. This fascination, combined with my soul-searching, has led me to study saddle fitting.
After an exhaustive search to try to determine the best route to learn the complexities of saddle fitting, I enrolled in a saddle fitting program with Mike Scott, a Master Saddle Fitter in South Carolina. His course is an intensive 6 month program which only accepts a few students each year. The first week in South Carolina cemented my intuition that this was the right path for me. The years I had spent trying to discover my calling were answered. Everyone should be so lucky to find something to make a career of that they are so excited about.