02/04/2026
Great post from my friend, Jordan at Saddles in Motion
Why do we look at gullet channel and width when fitting a saddle?
There was a time when panels laid nicely along the longissimus muscle and did not affect the spine and surrounding anatomy.
The longissimus muscle is the thickest and strongest muscle in the back, from the sacrum to the neck. (For those of you that hunt, the backstrap)
Then something changed, saddles started to have very narrow designs in the gullet channel so the saddle could “clip” on the spine. Less movement of the saddle offered more stability for the rider but worse for the horse.
This wasnt good for the horse as the spinous processes needs to have clearance but so did the supporting muscles of the multifidus.
The multifidus is a set of muscles which lay closely along the spine, stabilizing and supporting the vertebrae. They control the bend and flexion of the back.
If the panels are too narrow, they impeded movement of the back making the horse resistant to bending and flexing which can increase hollowed out movement.
However, panels can also be too wide.
The panels start to fall off the supporting longissimus muscle and onto the rib shelf. This will also create resistance in movement and flexion. The saddle could also sit down on top of the horse’s spine. We then would have to build the saddle up to get clearance over the spine that the rider is sitting above not on the horse.
This is not just an old saddle thing though. There are some new saddles out there that have narrow channels and can also be created by over flocking panels.
Check your saddle compared to your horse.
