Choosing a saddle for a young still growing horse

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christinewinter

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I am just in the process of buying a four year old who still has some growing to do. I want to buy a saddle that will grow with him and quite fancy the idea of a treeless saddle. Any advice or recommendations would be welcome.
 
saddles dont grow!!! buy him a well fitting saddle now a good second hand will be fine if it fits well. re assess every 6 months til matured then buy the saddle that fits and you want!
 
Intrested to see what replys to you get, I need to find something that will suit my horse who's just rising four, no good when it comes to picking saddles :p
 
for mine i had the saddler out to fit a cheap leather saddle which did ffor a while then changed to a different one then another with out spending much more money was able to exchange the previous or sold the previous one privatly to fund the next one - always fitted again - shes pretty much finished now but still have the saddler out on a regualr basis :)
 
What will you be doing with him?

I've got a treeless Libra Trec for my boy (also 4 - I backed him 2 months ago) which is great for backing, hacking and schooling on and will do for another year or so until he's done growing and changing shape and then I can consider upgrading to something else (yet to decide what as I'm still not totally decided as to what we'll be doing as a "career").
 
we went treeless for this very reason, and I also have a normal GFS saddle for jumping and schooling. The GFS has just started to not fit, so I am sooo glad I have my trusty Barefoot to hack in while we sort the gullet plate out. :)

In fact, I have to say I MUCH prefer riding in my BF to my GFS. Shy goes so happily in it too.
 
My YO tends to use various elderly stubbens, normally padded on her youngsters. Most godammed uncomrtable saddles but seem to fit a huge range of horses.
 
Thank you for the feedback so far. I plan to do a combination of hacking, schooling, endurance and some dressage. I like the idea of getting a cheaper saddle and upgrading as we develop. Heather Moffett has a new budget saddle that I have looked at online. She has always impressed me as someone who makes complex stuff understandable...like buying saddles!
 
Barnsby do a saddle rental scheme, where you can hire them for 6month periods. You can change saddles etc within the hire period, if you need to. Might be worth trying whilst he is still growing? Think it's 75 a month x
 
Blythwind said:
Barnsby do a saddle rental scheme, where you can hire them for 6month periods. You can change saddles etc within the hire period, if you need to. Might be worth trying whilst he is still growing? Think it's 75 a month x
Click to expand...

Looked on their website but couldn't see anything about this. Do you know where I could find out more?
 
we have been using an Easytrek treeless saddle too,for backing one of ours. The mare happily goes in it. Also have a Wintec as you can change the gullet as the horse changes shape. Ours currently prefers the Easytrek,which I think is because being treeless,it moves much more with her than the more rigid wintec.
 
I'm using a saddle company saddle but it isn't a cheap way of doing it, they are fully adjustable so will fit your horse for the majority of his/her life but having them adjusted and re modelled can be costly, They have serge panels which are kinder on the horse's back etc.
 
It's a shame there isn't more about the rental scheme on the Barnsby website. They definitely do it though, as I hired one for my four yr old. You have to pay a refundsble deposit, then a monthly cost for minimum of six months. If you subsequently buy the saddle, the money you spent hiring it comes off the purchase price. Your best bet is to ring them, they are very helpful. I noticed they will also be at Your horse live this year so you could speak to someone then x
 
I have a Wintec Isabell Werth - it's lightweight so great for backing, the gullets can be changed and they seem to retain their value quite well so if it ever doesn't fit I should be able to sell it fairly easily.
 
I have recently just bought my 4 year old a new saddle, i had an old one which did for the backing period, but found once we were riding she changed so quickly having the get new saddles every few months was just costly, i opted for a Bates Caprille with changeable gullet system, and have found it amazing, nice and light and with the changing gullets i can get it reshaped every few months rather than having hassle of a totally new saddle. It also fits me and my style of riding aswell which in turn helps me to ride more comfortably and have better balance. i did wait until she has got out of the gangerly stage though before i bought this.. Hope this helps
 
£75/month sounds like quite a lot, as you will probably have it for 6 months and that is £450 - enough to buy a decent second hand leather saddle.

For my youngster I have gone through three Ideal Jessicas which do seem to fit most horses well - he has gone from medium to medium wide to wide in a year. The first belonged to my old horse, i sold it to buy the second (and made a profit) and have just sold the second to buy the third (actually making a profit again!). I haven't spend more than £300 on any of them. If you buy the ones with suede knees and seat they give lots of grip, and don't seem to be very popular, so you can buy them quite cheaply.

If you want GP, the Ideal Event saddle seems to be similar in fitting most horses well.

Some makes are adjustable as the horse changes shape (Prestige for example, or the synthetics) but as the gullet size is always the same, the amount of variation you can achieve is minimal. My saddler told me not to bother having narrower saddles altered to fit as my boy has a wide spine and really needed the wider gullet.
 
Have you considered a Keiffer? They have an adjustable tree that can be reshaped to the horse for about £50 a pop.

I have a Kieffer garmish which came from ebay for about £400 and was then adjusted to fit.


"As a basic principle, all kieffer saddle trees are adjustable. Depending on the model, the saddle trees can be adjusted by a qualified dealer or master saddler either in an infrared process or via the adjustable gullet plate using kieffer’s specially developed alteration bench. After that, it is advisable to also check and adapt the panel flocking if necessary"

http://www.kieffer.net/adjustment/
 
My pony was 4 when i bought her, we got a thorowgood t4 changeable gullet saddle, whenever we think it doesnt fit , we call the person who fitted the saddle and they come and take a look :) thorowgoods are very comfy!:)
 
Young horses have softer backs which are more vulnerable to damage - if an adjustable saddle truly fits then great, but the best saddle, as always, is one that fits! Any movement or uneven pressure will cause problems.
 
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