Dressage saddle for TB

MissSBird

MissSBird

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Hi

I've been wanting to get a dressage saddle for a while now. Though I've no intentions of doing dressage to particularly high levels, I'd like to get one for the little bit I am doing. I'm also going to use it for the little bit of showing I'm doing.

This all started when I rode a friends horse in her ideal Jessica and felt what a difference it made to ride in that to my standard wintec GP. I really liked the saddle. Since then I've also ridden in an ANky saddle which I liked, though not as much as the ideal Jessica.

However, when trying these on my thoroughbred, who is very fine built and narrow, they look huge on her and completely drown her. I'm beginning to wonder if I'd be better going for a show saddle, but then that doesn't have the secure feeling that I liked about the dressage saddles.

Does anyone have any suggestions?
 
My 15.2HH TB has a VSD (very slightly dressage!) kieffer koln. It is ideal for us as it gives me that secure seat that you are looking for, but I actually can use for all disciplines. It gives him the extra movement through his shoulder that he needs.

It is very lightweight too - doesn't drown him at all.

Hope this helps. Have a photo of us schooling in it if it would help?
 
Have you tried an Isabel Werth? The synthetic ones are very lightweight and you can pick up a second hand quite cheaply. I would go for the flock version. The stirrup bars are set quite far back.

They do suit TBs and I think there is less saddle there although I think Ideals are good for TBs espec with drop panels.

The other one you could try is the Wintec dressage - not a fan of wintecs but if they are going to fit any horse (and they rarely do) it will be a typical TB type.
 
I have a full TB which is an Ideal (but not a Jessica) dressage saddle (but he is a med fit) and 15/16ths TB which has narrow fit and has an Ideal Jessica and it is a lovely fit.
Funnily enough my Warmblood (wide) has an Ideal Roella and my Welsh cob an Ideal DL ...spot a trend......?Ideal make some fantastic saddles and will have something to fit your TB I am sure as they will make them to template.
 
Its not the weight or the saddle width of my horse thats the problem. It's just the general size of the saddle. My mare is only 15hh and both saddles I tried just look huge, with the length of the flaps and height of the cantle/pommel. Just so much saddle.

Unfortunatly, I want to use this for showing as well so really don't want to go down the synthetic line if at all possible.

Thanks for the suggestion Natalie, but I really want a proper dressage saddle. I already have a GP which I'll be keeping so I've no need for a VSD.
 
the seat on a dressage saddle is deeper, therefore the pommel and cantle will look "higher".

Other makes I would suggest are Barnsby, Barry Swain and Saddle Company (those are the saddles I fit!). Yes dressage saddles do look like a lot of saddle on a 15hh horse, but there are defintely more streamlined versions.

You can get leather Isabel's as well - it is quite streamlined in my opinion.

if you were going for a proper show saddle you would need a working hunter - depending on the make, it will be either based on a dressage or gp tree - so if you get one with a slightly flatter seat it wont look as "big" on your mare.
 
I wouldn't discount a VSD completely as I found there was an big difference between my GP and my new Albion VSD in my position. Also it doesn't look big on my 14hh pony either. Also I'm sure my fitter mentioned that he had a tb like back (though he ain't nothing like a tb) and the Albion saddles suited them - check this out though, I could be wrong.

Not sure where you are in the country but I struggled to find a place to actually have a sit on this saddle before I brought one - if you are not far, Crewe Saddlery have a huge selection in for you to try and they also fit them though I have no experience of this.

Also, I found I felt more secure jumping in my VSD than my GP though the jumps were small and it probably says more about my riding than the saddle
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I do however have a WH for sale....
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I love Ideal saddles.
Maybe a differant type of Ideal will look a bit better on your mare?
My mare is a very dainty 15.2 TB (see my siggy) and she is in a 17.5" medium wide Ideal dressage saddle, I love it and so does she.
I have to say that the Ideal Jessical fitted her like a glove, but there just werne't any available when I went to buy one.
I usually find that a VSD saddle doesn't have knee rolls.. so I don't like them as I like knee rolls, but it is up to personal preferance.
Get a saddler to go up to you with some VSD's and some Dressage saddles?
Hope this helps!
Izzi xx
 
I'm going to go speak to my saddler soon and see what he has to offer, and his suggestions as he knows her shape best.

Thanks guys, I'd forgotten just how many different saddle companies there were! Got some ideas on where to look now and some confidence that the right dressage saddle is out there somewhere.

CBAnglo, probably my inexperience talking, but why would I need a WH saddle instead of a standard show saddle?
 
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