Albion vs Ideal saddle help please

[MM&PP]

I had my boy in a MW Albion Legend GP and it began slipping at the back. He has changed shape so much in the past 12 months and saddler advised he needed to be in a WIDE saddle.

I purchased and Ideal GP in W this morning as per the advise of fitting round (ish) cob type horses.

I have bought it home and next to my MW Albion is is about an inch narrower through the gullet? Is this just how the saddle is made? Or does it sound like I have bought an incorrectly sized saddle? I can post pictures and sizes if it helps?

Thanks.

 

[Dizzle]

Not an Ideal but my old TB was in a M/W Jeffries Falcon Hawk Event that was too narrow, he was then fitted with a M Albion that was perfect!

 

[Copperpot]

Albions tend to come up big. My horse was a medium Albion but a medium wide in other makes

 

[Pinkvboots]

Ideal come up quite wide but then so do Albion, the gullet can vary though it does not mean the saddle will be narrower, thing is by your saddler saying you need a wide now is not really much help as saddle widths with various brands can vary so much, so a wide in one make might fit but yet another may not, did he try an Ideal on your horse?

The width of the ideal shoul be stamped on the stirrup bar thats where mine was.

 

[MM&PP]

Thanks for replies.

Saddler does not sell saddles, only fits them. It is SO hard to get a good saddler round here and this one was recommended so went ahead. They advised Ideal as a saddle which would suit his shape. I just assumed that their experience was good enough and went ahead and bought the Ideal...

I have sat it next to my MW Albion. WIDE Ideal on the left, MW Albion on the right. I have checked stirrup bar and there isn't any sizing? It just says 'DT Trees'.

I was just shocked at the width difference so thought I'd ask you guys whether it was likely to be a WIDE before I looked silly in front of my saddler (and paid them again!). If you think going by the gullet width is an unrealistic thing to do I'll go ahead and get them back out.

(Please excuse floor! Recently bought house and mid-refurb )

 

[sbloom]

Your use of the word gullet is correct, however with the advent of adjustable headplate saddles it has come to mean something else ie the tree angle width at the front.

To check that your horse can take that narrow a gullet, feel the spine with your fingers, set your thumb and finger at the point at which the spine ends on each side, then slide your fingers underneath to see how many fingers width your horse needs in a gullet - it should not be wider than that either, as you need the panels to be close in to the spine.

The width at the front must be assessed on the horse - well lit photos from the front, with saddle girthed firmly and no pad, showing from pommel right down the flap, will help assess that.