Millwood Equestrian Back in the Saddle Again

Saddle Fitter Cathy Frederickson

Photo by Linda Roberts

Millwood Equestrian Back in the Saddle Again

By Linda Roberts

Knowledgeable, skilled and professional—and throw in plucky, positive and determined—all words that describe Clarke County horsewoman Cathy Frederickson of Millwood.

Frederickson hasn’t been far from horses since she was a young child Photo by Linda Roberts growing up in California and riding Saddle Fitter Cathy Frederickson her aptly named small pony, Pee Wee, a Christmas gift from her grandfather, who instilled in her a love of horses. A third generation Californian, Frederickson “came east” in the 1980s with her husband Allan, also a horseman and former three-day event rider. She worked for top event rider Denny Emerson in Vermont before relocating to Clarke County.

Frederickson is light years away from the early years of jumping Pee Wee over cardboard boxes in her backyard, starting Pony Club at age 7 and competing in her first horse trial at 9. At 17 she achieved Pony Club’s highest “A” ranking, considered an impressive achievement at her age. Now, as a national examiner for the U.S. Pony Club, she teaches, tests and reviews skills of youngsters across the country and abroad.

After pre-veterinary studies at college, she decided her calling was riding and teaching riding, a pathway that led to England and certification as an instructor in the British Horse Society. Frederickson also moved through the ranks of eventing from novice to training, preliminary and eventually the intermediate level, all in the disciplines of dressage, stadium jumping and cross country. She has experienced first hand the instruction she provides her students.

Frederickson recently added a new interest to her Millwood Equestrian teaching and training business. Her clients now benefit from her skills in fitting saddles to horses and riders.

To a novice, placing a saddle on a horse’s back, tightening the girth and getting on for a morning ride seems simple enough. Yet, a myriad of underlying factors are in play.

Does the saddle’s shape actually fit the horse’s back? Could it have created that lump on the horse’s back? The old adage, “no foot, no horse” is easily retrofitted to “sore back, no horse.” making a pleasure horse no fun to ride and keeping a performance horse from reaching its potential.

Arriving at a client’s barn, these questions and many more keep Frederickson assessing the saddle, the horse’s conformation, and the horse and rider combination in motion for an initial 90-minute consultation.

The session doesn’t stop there. She also supports the horse owner in locating a saddle that properly fits the horse or making modifications to the existing saddle to ensure a correct fit. Savvy riders value Frederickson’s knowledge and respect her equine background in riding, training and teaching hundreds of students to ride.

An independent certified saddle fitter, Frederickson trained with respected saddler, anatomist and bio-mechanist Gillian Higgins and completed course work in England. She also is certified by the North American Saddlery School in Pennsylvania. Frederickson aspires to become a member of Britain’s Society of Master Saddlers, the pinnacle for saddle fitters.

“My background and training have gifted me with tools that work to make the total picture of horse and rider come together,” Frederickson said. “What gets me up and moving in the morning is the interaction I have with motivated people and the satisfaction I take in my work to improve a horse’s way of going.”

And ultimately it’s all about the “correlation of the horse, the rider and the tack (saddle).”

Cathy Frederickson can be reached at millwoodequestrian@gmail.com or by phone, 540-336-9824.