Breaking in saddle?

[charliesarmy]

Looking to next summer and my (will then be 3 year old) was thinking of saddling him, but just wondering what to use? Try and get a cheap synthetic,a adjustable,or just keep buying as he changes shape (costly) what do you do?!?!

 

[Blitzen]

I think a decent adjustable gp saddle would be your best bet. I have an adjustable thorogood for my 3 year old, he long reins in it at the moment, and it will hopefully last him a while! It will need tweaking every few months, but much cheaper than buying a new saddle and having it fitted every time he changes shape. x

 

[ex racer rider]

Treeless, I broke my youngster in one and lots of other horses too. You dont have to change it at all and they generally have a secure seat for those sticky moments

 

[maggiesmum]

I agree with treeless, I have a big issue with people using cheap not professionally fitted saddle for a horses first experience of weight bearing. I cringe when I see adverts for old knackered saddles with the words perfect for breaking! Surely the idea is to make it pleasant for the horse to prevent future problems? I understand there is some correlation between poorly fitting saddles used in the breaking process and cold backs.

A decent treeless will probably do the job nicely and will hold its value should you wish to revert to a tree'd saddle at a later date.

 

[Stacey6897]

I used an old Wintec for 2 horses, and a treeless that looks/rides like a normal saddle, was ideal for my boy who refused to stop growing

 

[Ladydragon]

Not sure what your budget is but when our TB arrived in really poor condition, the saddler was able to fit him with a second hand Maxam he had as a temporary saddle knowing he'd change shape quite drastically...

The saddle was £100 and the saddler has been able to tweak it substantially at fittings since...

IF he's happy with the fit it'll come for breaking another one at a later date and if it doesn't I'm not going to be gutted as it's been well used...

 

[flying solo]

I bought a new wintec and lunged with that on and before I started letting my pony have any weight on his back I got the saddler to check the gullet etc. He's now changed gullet but saddle still fits and it didn't cost me the earth.