Are Cair/Flair/changeable gullet saddles best option for backing?

Cliqmo

Cliqmo

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Hello everyone,

Sorry if this should be is Stable Yard, there are more people viewing in New Lounge!!

Fingers crossed I will be starting to back my 5yr old as we come into spring and it's got me thinking about the best saddle options for him... are these air filled saddles a good option for a youngster who is changing shape? Should this type of thing be combined with a changeable gullet? If you get a conventional flocked saddle, how quickly do you anticipate it will need altering/changing for a different size all together?

Any advice much appreciated
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My opinions-
1) i wouldnt use a cair saddle if i was given one. I hate the design, they rarely fit imo and even though you can change the width it does nothing for the banana shaped tree! The cair panels can be rock hard and dont fluctuate at all with the muscle movement. They are not adustable at all, so offer less flexibility than a wool flocked saddle.

2) If you can afford it, a wow saddle would be very good. Ive backed 2 horses in them and they soon paid for themselves. You can adjust them very accurately and offer more adjustability than any other saddle on the market. You do have to make sure the right panel, tree, etc is chosen in the first place though!

3) I had a horse that got through 4 saddles in 12 months. So i bought him a wow and have never looked back. A horse can easily change by a width fitting in a month, so a non adjustable saddle will have to be changed this frequently if required!

4)Thorowgood saddles are also very good imo, excellent value for money. They offer alot of adjustability (girthing, width, etc) and are well designed.

So, my advice is an adjustable saddle will last you longer than a non adjustable one and if you can afford it a wow would be the best option.
 
i have a wow saddle for both my beasties, i did have a decent flocked saddle each for them but i found that they both have changed shape so much (my big lad had one saddle 3 weeks and then had a growth spurt and it no longer fitted) its easier to get the wow fitter out than send the conventional saddle to get widened/reflocked, and cheaper in the long run, but they dont suit every horse, its what works for you
 
personally I don't think they are bad at all. However if you have a very flat backed horse then the Thorrowgood cob saddle with adjustable gullet would be better. Go for Cair NOT Flair tho
 
I have both. The cair needs to be warmed up. Once warm it is more flexible but it takes about ten minutes on a radiator! I would go for flair over Cair tbh.

I would certainly go for a saddle that can be adjusted. I would also go for the WOW over the Bates.

The only thing I hate about the Wow is the weight and the cost!
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But I would rather the Wow than the Bates although I think the appearance of the Bates is neater!

At the end of the day you have to go for the saddle that fits best and it may not be one of these. And the WOW saddles are so dependent on the fitter.
 
The cair needs to be warmed up. Once warm it is more flexible but it takes about ten minutes on a radiator! I would go for flair over Cair tbh.
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Cair does not need to be warm up, nor can it be warmed up - there's nothing to warm up! The panels are soft foam bags seal at atmospheric pressure. Warming the air inside the sealed bags will only make the panels HARDER as the air expands. The only thing you'll be doing by warming the sadlde is making the equileather softer, which I suppose isn't a bad thing.

Cair and Flair are NOT the same things and can't really be classed even under the same type. Cair is sealed bags of foam. They won't go lumpy like flocking but that's about all that can be said about them. They are hard and 'spring' back into shape too forcefully is depressed. Flair is adjustable bags of air, usually pumped to well below atmopheric pressure, so are soft and moulding. They have very little memory (i.e don't spring back into shape) and are infinitly adjustable.

Yes, I'd definintly go for a saddle with an adjudtable gullet but not the wintecs, unless you have a fairly wide (but not flat) horse, in which case the wintec Wide (cob) saddle can be a good fit. The standard 500/2000 are only suitable for TB's and even then don't suit.

thorowgood make lovely, well designed saddles with a good choice of tree's and panels to suit most horses. Very good value for money and the newer ones have the changable gullets (older versions don't - be careful if buying secondhand)

WOW are also very nice saddles and a good investment IF you have a good fitter. There are so many options when fitting them that you really need someone who knows what they're doing.

P.s Dozzie - the new wow saddle seats are much lighter than the old heavy resin ones (which I totally agree weigth a tonne!)
 
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The standard 500/2000 are only suitable for TB's and even then don't suit.


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I beg to differ. As I said in a previous post they fit my mare like a glove and she's a tb x
My friend who also has a tb finds the wintec fits well
(What fits one horse doesn't always fit the next, even if the same breed, heigh etc)
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Hmm this is all interesting reading, especially about WOWs which I have subsequently read and frankly am excited/concerned by (depending on what I'm reading!)
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They sound like the bees knees so long as you can get a decent fitter- but how do you know whether they are any good unless you wait until you damage the horse
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monkeybum- a problem ive seen with wintec saddles on tbs is that in order to clear the wither, the gullet width has to be too narrow. Ive also seen dents in the panel under the gullet due to this, so the rider thinks the horse has got narrower, swaps to a narrower gullet and makes the problem worse! Not disputing your saddle fits, just ive seen this many times!

Alison- ring a few fitters up and talk to them and see if they can answer your questions. Make sure they are interested in getting the fit right for the horse and not just making a sale.
 
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a problem ive seen with wintec saddles on tbs is that in order to clear the wither, the gullet width has to be too narrow. Ive also seen dents in the panel under the gullet due to this, so the rider thinks the horse has got narrower, swaps to a narrower gullet and makes the problem worse! Not disputing your saddle fits, just ive seen this many times!

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One of the many problems with wintecs! To be honest the most common problem I see (and it includes about 95% of all wintecs) is the panels at the back being too sloped for the horse, so the outside edge digs in. I am always very sceptical when people insist their wintec fits their horse (esp those who have flatter backed horse) because I see it time and time again, even with horses who have had the saddle 'proffesionally fitted'. I know TWO horses (out of many with wintecs) that the wintec is a good fit. And they are TB's. I just wish people would actually look at their saddle fit, from ALL angles.
 
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