Dressage Saddle for Dutch Sports Horse - Help Anyone

[Vixxy]

Hi

I am going to buy a new dressage saddle for my boy Ollie and need help in order to choose the best for both him and me.

Living in Norway is proving really frustrating on the saddle fitting front. My nearest saddle fitter is over 8 hours away and tends to just sell the ones he is getting the best trade price on and to hell with the fit Grrrr. Norway is very backwards with horses ... most people shoe themselves (legal here), people never get backs checked (not very many specialists even if you do want a check) and like me my nearest horse vet runs his clinic 5 hours away!

So I need the best of your knowledge

Ollie 16h Dutch Sports Horse, Short backed with a very high wither and large shoulders. He has been out of work for a while so is lacking muscle all over. I have started to lunge and long rein in order to build him up before riding him again.

I am 5ft 7 of heavy build with chunky thighs and a large bottom. I need a saddle with both his comfort (even weight distribution) and mine in consideration (I have Lupus, disease where immune system attacks muscles).

I really want a dressage saddle that will put me in my optimum position for dressage, it can be difficult for me to maintain a postion due to my muscle disease.

Sorry for the long post but I thought more detail the better. I can post a pic of Ollie but I could not figure out how!

Thank you so much

Karen

 

[emmah]

May be worth looking at an Amerigo Close contact dressage saddle? I have a 16.1 dutch warmblood (in sig below) that is very short backed and we have managed to get away with an 18inch amerigo to fit my big bottom in

I tried several saddle makes and this was the only make I could have an 18inch in. They are very lightweight too and having owned mine for a year now I couldnt imagine riding in anything else

 

[Chumsmum]

And I thought I had saddle problems

Sorry, can't advise but there are lots of people on here who should be able to help you - good luck

 

[Ashy]

I would recommend a wow competitor saddle from first thought equine. They are fully adjustable as they are flaired with independent bags front and back (4) and have interchangeable headplates, flaps and flair panels: www.wowsaddles.com

I have a competitor dressage saddle with a no 2 headplate, DWG panels with a tab and without a stitch line and have found this combination excellent for high withered large shouldered warmblood types. My saddle fitter said "thats not a horse, its a shark!" about my last horse due to her high wither!

but the saddle was great for her. I have since bought a young but big holsteiner thats been out of work and has no topline and big withers and hollows behind his scapula and having adjusted the flairing it now fits him beautifully. You do need to alter the flairing to fit the horse's back conformation and the headplate for the width, but once you have it correct it is lovely and secure, but allows the muscles and ligaments down the spine to move and build up underneath. You can get different seat sizes too.

I have also heard that semiflex saddles are very good (Barry Swain) but have never tried one myself.

 

[sarahs]

TDS Saddlers will offer a bit of a vertual sddle fit - you can send them pictures of your horse at every angle and they will try to recommend a saddle I think - have a look on their website - put their name into google. Have never tried this service myself but have used them.

 

[cpendle]

I've got an Isabell Werth Wintec (Bates do a leather version) fully adjustable gullet and very good for my 16.3hh very high withered and wide British Warmblood.