Vindaloo
Well-Known Member
I finally got back to the UK and collected my new Kent and Masters high wither dressage saddle and armed with three different bars flew back to India and popped it on Casper.
Finally settled on the medium bar, gave approx three fingers clearance in height and sat beautifully when viewed from the front. Seemed a little close to the spine towards the back though. That said, at no point did it touch and he went just WOW in it. Clearly he appreciated this not wither pinching saddle which didn't need breast plate to keep in position.
Lunged him in it, no movement, no jumping up and down on his back, to my mind though, it just looked as though it could do with coming up towards the cantle a bit to be perfect. After riding, examined the cloth and the sweat marks were uniform and not touching anywhere they shouldn't.
However, two weeks in and the flocking has settled to an alarming degree and definitely did touch his spine. I have been fanatical about keeping an eye on it and so am now not riding until it is sorted.
So, the question is. Can this be remedied by adding flocking? At the front all is good and looking along the gullet there is good width either side of the spine, it is simply not sitting high enough off of his back. He has had a poorly fitting saddle previously and needs to build up his back muscles considerably (work in progress) so his spine is a little higher than ideal. Once those muscles are built up, the saddle will sit higher in any case but for now I need to know if re-flocking is the answer.
As i'm not in the UK it is impossible to get a saddle fitter out but there is a chap on site who can at least re flock to what degree, well who knows i'm a bit at his mercy really.
I'm not getting back on him until this is fixed and would really appreciate any advice.
Thanks.
Finally settled on the medium bar, gave approx three fingers clearance in height and sat beautifully when viewed from the front. Seemed a little close to the spine towards the back though. That said, at no point did it touch and he went just WOW in it. Clearly he appreciated this not wither pinching saddle which didn't need breast plate to keep in position.
Lunged him in it, no movement, no jumping up and down on his back, to my mind though, it just looked as though it could do with coming up towards the cantle a bit to be perfect. After riding, examined the cloth and the sweat marks were uniform and not touching anywhere they shouldn't.
However, two weeks in and the flocking has settled to an alarming degree and definitely did touch his spine. I have been fanatical about keeping an eye on it and so am now not riding until it is sorted.
So, the question is. Can this be remedied by adding flocking? At the front all is good and looking along the gullet there is good width either side of the spine, it is simply not sitting high enough off of his back. He has had a poorly fitting saddle previously and needs to build up his back muscles considerably (work in progress) so his spine is a little higher than ideal. Once those muscles are built up, the saddle will sit higher in any case but for now I need to know if re-flocking is the answer.
As i'm not in the UK it is impossible to get a saddle fitter out but there is a chap on site who can at least re flock to what degree, well who knows i'm a bit at his mercy really.
I'm not getting back on him until this is fixed and would really appreciate any advice.
Thanks.