Cob saddle help please -Kent and Masters

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katherine1975

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Hi. I had my saddle checked in June and was told that if Saffy got any wider it would be too tight, about a month ago she started doing a choppy trot and then last week was very unhappy trotting ears flat back - not like her at all.
I have bought a Kent and Masters cob saddle with a variety of gullets (saddler can't come out for a while as booked up), we went for a ride today and Saffy was happy in walk, trot and canter - the only thing I noticed was that the saddle lifts at the back. Please could you tell me what this means - too wide or too narrow? Otherwise it was great, very stable and didn't fall to one side like my old saddle.
Thank you for your help.
 
The saddle popping at the back means it's rocking back and forth along her back. If this is only a little bit, it could be that the saddle is too wide which is more common, or that it's too narrow, a saddle fitter would be able to say. If it's rocking quite a bit, the tree shape may be too curved for her back conformation in which case it's not just the width that's a problem, there's not much you can do to make it fit her. Is there not another local saddle fitter you can call out to take a look if yours is too busy? Or maybe post pictures on here for us to take a look at?
 
Might be worth downloading the fitting template off the Thorowgood website - it shows you how to bend a wire (I use a piece of twin & earth electrical cable) over their withers and you compare it to a template that you've printed out, and that gives the width that you need:
http://thorowgood.com/fitting_guide.html

You can also place the gullets directly on their back in the correct place to see which shape suits best.

Disclaimer: it would be better to get a saddle fitter to check than DIY!
 
Thank you. Will phone around some saddle fitters tomorrow, just wanted to try the saddle today to see if it was a saddle problem or a back problem. I've never tried DIY saddle fitting before just wanted to see whether I needed a back person to come out and see her.
Have ordered the Thorowgood saddle fitting guide from ebay and got the day off on Thursday so hopefully I can find a saddle fitter to come and see us then!
 
It's either a) too wide for her or b) too curved a tree for her.

The first is easy to sort as it's got changable gullets and a narrower gullet would sort the problem straight away.

If it's too curved for her you can have the flocking altered a bit - more flocking at the front and less in the middle will sort the problem. However there's only so much altering you can do.

Be careful the saddler is a good one though - it's common for saddlers to just shove a narrower gullet to lift the front - it stops the 'rocking' but it it'll be too narrow.

The cob tree is pretty flat and it's quite likely fixable with either a change of gullet or flocking or both.
 
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