FAQs

The Total Contact Saddle will fit any horse, from a Shire to a Shetland and everything in between, as well as riders of all levels of styles, shapes and sizes. It's especially well suited for horses who are young (and still growing) older (and changing shape), or those whose form fluctuates with the seasons; the larger flat backed table top horses, short backed horses, heavy horses, Shetlands, Arabs who can be hard to fit, Mules and Donkeys.

The TCS wraps around the horse and hugs their body, making it completely flexible to any size or shape of horse. In fact, many TCS customers have one saddle which they use on multiple horses - you can't do that with any other saddle! Both the long girth strap and short girth strap fits all size horses, it’s purely your preference if you want to use a normal girth or a dressage girth. For more information, please refer to our User Guide.

You can do any riding you’d do in any other saddle! We have riders use their TCS for anything and everything from pleasure hacking to endurance rides, jumping and dressage to cross country. It’s a very gentle saddle that’s brilliant when first bringing your horse into riding, and provides beautiful connection and bond between you and your horse – no matter what kind of riding you like to do together.

The simple answer is no. To ensure that the Total Contact Saddle is completely safe for your horses’ spine, the TCS has been professionally pressure tested. Results show that there is less strain on your horse than would be experienced in any other saddle. However, correct placement of the TCS is important therefore we recommend you read our User Guide before using your TCS.

With correct padding, the Total Contact Saddle is designed to fit any horse. What padding you will need to use is largely dependant on your horse's conformation, your anatomy and your level of riding. We have designed the Premium Saddle Seat and the Saddle Seat Pad to be used with your Total Contact Saddle as a padding option however there are a myriad of padding options on the market. For more information on padding, please refer to our User Guide.

No! With the correct padding, your Total Contact Saddle should not slide.

We’d always recommend mounting from a block, regardless of what saddle you might be riding in. However, many customers mount their horses from the ground when riding with their Total Contact Saddle. Mounting from the ground isn’t quite as easy with a TCS as there’s no pommel or cantle to hold on to, but it’s certainly possible! For more information on riding in your TCS, please refer to our User Guide.

It's purely down to your preference what type of girth you
like to use. The shorter billet (Girth straps) is intended for those
that wish to use a longer/standard length of girth and the longer billet for those that wish to use a short/dressage style of girth, longer would also be the choice if you wanted to use a cinch but you may need a converter for the cinch to fit the buckles. The body on both the saddles are the same size. The only caveat is, if you don't have the flexibility to bend down and adjust a short under girth then you might want the short billet!  Other than that both saddles fit all horses and humans. 

The Premium saddle is made from the very highest quality saddle leather using the Butt leather from the hide, it is a bit thicker than the Classic and comes highly oiled. The Classic saddle uses a very high quality shoulder leather from the same hide and comes lightly oiled. Both saddles are finished in a textured print. The Synthetic saddle is thinner, very light and very durable, perfect for riding in the sea or water.

The stirrup bars are set much lower on the Total Contact Saddle than a regular tree'd saddle or saddle pads with stirrup attachments. You will find that your regular length of stirrup is likely to be 4-5 holes too low because of this.  You can use regular leathers with buckles that you might have already but many TCS owners find dressage leathers or T bars / Webbers work well with the TCS. They are flatter and therefore less bulk under the thigh. We find riders 5`' to 5"6" in height generally find the 22"  -24" leathers are the best length for them (but this does depend on your inside leg) and how long you ride. .  T bar leathers – you can see them here. For more information on choosing the right length stirrup leathers, please refer to our User Guide.

Clients compete in a wide range of activities in their TCS! Do check the rules before you enter, just to be sure that you are allowed to compete in a treeless saddle.

Total Contact Saddles offers a 14 day trial. Please go to the Trial Saddle page for more information.

A bareback pad with stirrups causes pressure because the stirrup bars are the same height as an English tree'd saddle. The stirrup bars on a bareback pad are also set straight across the back, often cutting onto the wither, whereas the TCS's shape has a cut out to accomodate the wither. The TCS stirrup bars are set a lot lower so ultimately if you put pressure in your stirrups it won't tighten across the spine, it pulls downwards and creates a bridge, which is why the TCS is always recommended to use with the appropriate padding.

With the TCS, the saddle has a padded area under the underneath middle which helps disperse pressure and the fact that it has a large surface area allows forces to be spread over a much larger area than a traditional saddle.The stirrup bars are set above a plastic reinforcement plate sat on top of the double girth strap top, which is a thick flat solid leather plate.  This alleviates direct pressure points from the bars and spreads the pressure over a bigger area.

We’d be only too pleased to help. Please send your questions directly to melanie@total-contact.co.uk. (Please check your spam as sometimes the reply email gets sent there!)