Saddle fit: Tighten your cinches

From Mugwump:
http://mugwumpchronicles.blogspot.com/2008/08/two-good-questions.html

On to the back cinch.In that picture of Mort and me, I noticed my saddle is quite a bit more forward than I ride them at now. There should be three or four fingers between the cinch and his elbow. My stirrups are a little longer than I ride now too. I also notice that the saddle seat is quite a bit smaller. Sigh.Sonita was getting a sore back after fence run practice.I was worried that she had strained her back, or my saddle wasn't fitting right.I usually worried about these things out loud about two beers into evening."I wouldn't call the vet just yet." The Big K said.I'm a notorious, call the vet over everything, kind of person. On the flip side of the coin, The Big K keeps a pair of pliers in the tack room so he can pull his colt's wolf teeth. Then he hops on and rides them."What do you think's wrong?""I think you need to tighten down all three of your cinches."He meant my front cinch, my back cinch, and my breast collar."Why? My saddle doesn't slide.""Well, slide over to the fridge and get another beer."Keeping that golden nugget of advice in mind, I made sure my cinches were snug the next time we worked cattle.No more sore back.When I'm going down the fence at 30 miles an hour and make a slamming turn into my cow, only to get back up to thirty miles an hour going the other way, my weight can't yank the saddle around. If my cinches are tight, my horse can hoist me through that turn, I can rebalance, and we're both good.If the cinches are loose, at the worst, I'll fall off and die, at the least, my saddle will bang around, and make my horse sore.Same for trail, barrels, anything that a western horse does with that big old saddle on his back.