Adjustable saddles and fitting

[Kat]

I don't personally have much experience of adjustable saddles but I am wondering whether the sizing of the gullet bars is reasonably consistent between brands.

So if you knew that a horse was working in say a MW in a Thorogood or K&M would it follow that they would also be a MW in a Cavaletti?

I appreciate that trees and flocking will vary and will be getting the saddle fitter out asap but Covid is making that difficult so I am wondering whether it is worth acquiring the gullet bar of the correct width before the horse arrives and how likely the Cavaletti is to fit or be capable of being adjusted to fit or whether we're going to have to start looking for a Thorogood/K&M.

We have other options (including treeless) but thought I'd tap into the wealth of knowledge here.

 

[Alli54]

Hello,
Your post is a little to technical for me, however I have 2 dressage sport horses both with adjustable trees. From customs saddles. All I can say is fantastic ! We won't use anything else. Our young horse was 5 when first fitted and now we have adjusted the tree twice as he has gained allot of muscles and body. Horse is now 7....I would of had to buy a new saddle otherwise. I believe it will be worth your time to look into it...not the cheapest option but in my opinion one of the best

 

[Birker2020]

Deleted - misread question

 

[sbloom]

Basically no, there are way too many factors involved even IF the angle of the headplate is identical. I have many horses fitted in two saddles both from the SAME brand and they can still be set at a slightly different angle. However as the headplates aren't that expensive, if the fitter doesn't carry them, I'd get it.

The brand Custom is about 3+ times the cost of new K&M/Cavaletti, completely different animal.

 

[Kat]

Basically no, there are way too many factors involved even IF the angle of the headplate is identical. I have many horses fitted in two saddles both from the SAME brand and they can still be set at a slightly different angle. However as the headplates aren't that expensive, if the fitter doesn't carry them, I'd get it.

The brand Custom is about 3+ times the cost of new K&M/Cavaletti, completely different animal.

Thanks sbloom, that's helpful.

I'll hold fire and see how the saddle looks on the horse before I do anything. I'll check with the fitter whether she carries the headplates in stock when I book the appointment.

She stocks Thorogood and KM as well as cavaletti but I'm hoping the cavaletti can be made to fit as it is less than 2 years old and hardly used so it would be gutting to have to part exchange it.