Altering saddle trees

[missirons]

I'm looking for a second hand saddle for my horse but can't find anything that is going to fit him I can't afford to buy a brand new saddle!

I was thinking of buying a fairly new saddle and having the width adjusted.

Has anybody had their saddle adjusted? What make was it and how much please?

Thanks!

 

[Christmas Crumpet]

I just got my saddle widened and it cost £150 all in all which was to have it sent away, changed, posted back to the saddler, saddler's visit (time and mileage) and a fitting.

Def. worth doing!!

 

[missirons]

Not as much as I thought! What saddle do you have? Do you know how old it is?
I'm not sure if I'm correct in saying only saddles with carbon fibre trees can be widened?

 

[Sugar_and_Spice]

My friend had a kieffer saddle that could be changed wider or narrower by the saddler.

 

[loverly]

I had my saddle widened and it cost £20 as luckily it didn't need reflocking

 

[sbloom]

Pretty much all saddle tree types CAN be widened - you just need a fitter prepared to do it and with the right equipment - sometimes best to contact the manufacturer to get their advice and a recommended fitter. I adjust the traditional beech laminate trees in our saddles, but just a certain amount and only a few times - the metal headplate will eventually get fatigued and can break in the press. Synthetic trees like the Kieffer have their own systems - Kieffer itself use some kind of oven to heat the tree before adjusting.

 

[missirons]

Thank you! This has definitely made buying a saddle a lot easier now!