Best dressage saddle for a downhill horse

[Cubbini]

Hi all, I wondered if you have any recommendations for a good dressage saddle for a downhill horse? The horse in question is a thoroughbred and his confirmation is slightly downhill. When riding him in his current dressage saddle I'm noticing that I'm tipping forward especially in trot. This is impacting my position and balance especially when schooling and riding in general. This is making riding him a challenge especially when trying to work on getting him off the forehand in general.

Thanks!

 

[[153312]]

@sbloom is a saddler who may be able to advise

 

[saddlesore]

Solution saddles?

 

[sbloom]

There is no single brand, it depends on tree shape and panel shape and what suits you as a rider. I wish it was as simple as recommending a brand but it seldom is sadly. Your best bet is to find a really recommended fitter - they MAY have a solution that has a plain, non-gusseted rear panel, but not many brands have them, and how they work depends on the type of tree, the overall fitting style for that brand, and how good the fitter is at selecting and fitting it for only the appropriate TYPE of croup high shape (they vary massively). A dropped panel at the front may or may not help too.

 

[sbloom]

@sbloom is a saddler who may be able to advise

Saddle fitter . I wish the shorthand was fitter rather than saddler, as a saddler is something entirely different and not usually a fitter. Some do both, I definitely don't. I even saw a post recently, made by a saddler, about fitters trying to pretend they're saddlers which made me laugh, and I corrected her saying that it was riders, not fitters, that were using the term for us and we don't like it

 

[[153312]]

Saddle fitter . I wish the shorthand was fitter rather than saddler, as a saddler is something entirely different and not usually a fitter. Some do both, I definitely don't. I even saw a post recently, made by a saddler, about fitters trying to pretend they're saddlers which made me laugh, and I corrected her saying that it was riders, not fitters, that were using the term for us and we don't like it

Please enlighten me; I've been raised using the two interchangeably and assumed they were basically synonymous. What is the difference?

 

[sbloom]

Please enlighten me; I've been raised using the two interchangeably and assumed they were basically synonymous. What is the difference?

A saddler makes and repairs saddles.

They sort of used to be the same thing, as you took your horse to the saddler in your local town and they made you a saddle that fitted (?) the horse, though of course often it was made for the rider. I don't know when the first stand-alone fitters appeared, probably the 70s, but they have increasingly become separated from the saddler profession, and the qualifications for either have been completely different since the 80s or 90s when the SMS offered the Qualified Saddle Fitter route.

I am a fitter with my own specialisms, and I don't even work on girth straps etc but would take it to a saddler for that. I DO however, and unlike some fitters, adjust on site (tree and flocking). Some fitters take saddles away to saddlers to have adjustments done but many of us prefer to learn to do it ourselves as we can tweak before AND after seeing it ridden in, and more than once if necessary.

Edited to add - however all good fitters should understand the construction of saddles, and ideally all the types that they intend to fit. This has implications for generalist fitters who will check the fit of anything, including treeless, flexi panel and other alternative saddles. Even plastic and wooden treed saddles have quite different constructions.

Some fitters believe you should have gone and trained and have made one saddle. I am not one of those fitters.