Dressage saddles for high withered horses and/or with adjustable gullets?

Hels_Bells

Hels_Bells

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Have been keeping my eye out for Ideal Jessicas/Suzannahs as they come so highly recommended but am not sure how well they would work for my WB who has a very high wither. (This will be my first proper dressage saddle!) Sounds like they would be very comfy for me, but need to be comfy for the horse too!!! Also I'm looking mostly for second hands as I don't have much of a budget.

He has also had back problems in the past so I used to have him in a thorowgood GP with changeable gullet which can be easily adjusted if needed. For the past year or so he has been working fine in a medium gullet 17.5 Albion Jump saddle (without high wither or adj gullet) as he has kept his shape well. But thought it might be good idea to keep those factors in mind while I'm speculating on saddles!! I'm hopefully off to trainer's place to try out a bit of a "range" of dr saddles next week but thought also good to bear in mind thoughts from HHO too!!!

All advice very welcome!
 
I had a meadowcreek saddle which was a VSD saddle which fitted my TB brilliantly when I first got him . Very comfy for both me and him and only changed as he decided that at the age of 7 he was going to bulk out quite considerably :D Not a particulary well known make but it fitted him better than anyof the stubben,albion ,big name saddles that I tried .
 
I had trouble finding a dressage saddle for the warmblood x that I ride, as everything ended up digging into his withers. In the end I found a second hand Prestige Venus which is fantastic. Fits great, and I sit an heck of a lot better in it. Try 'Saddles Direct' and try a few different ones and speak to the them on the phone to discuss what may suit.
 
Oh fab - thanks for the tips both! I haven't heard of meadowcreek at all, so will look into them. Saddles direct sounds like a good tip to so will take a look - haven't heard of them before!
 
my high withered ISH came with an ideal jessica but the tree wasnt suited to her and the points arent very long she needed one with longer tree points and TB panels underneath so was recommended Thorowgood hi wither T6 (they also come in leather as the kent and masters version - or really lovely softer leather in fairfax version - but still same tree and changeable gullet)
or albion k2 genesis tree - the albion was out of my price range so got thorowgood for now and will get either a kent masters or fairfax saddle - it has nice panels and the thorowgood is actually really nice doesnt look synthetic.
 
I have a fairfax high wither dressage saddle for my wb and you can change the gullet. I absolutely love it.
 
Have you had a look on equestrian clearance they often have Bates and Collegiate ones on there reduced, ebay is another good place to look; at a lot of Bates saddles are going cheap as they are the old models now since they bought new ones out in the summer.
 
My TB has a large wither we were worried about him changing shape. I've got a Wintec (bates do a leather version) Isabel Werth which I love to pieces, amazing to ride in, puts you in a fab position, comfy, fits horse really nicely and you can probably pick one up second hand for about £350 maybe. Definitely worth a look! I actually turned up to a dressage competition the other day and the two lorries next to me both had Isabells too, they seem very popular as lovely saddles at a good price (if you can find second hand!). xx
 
I had an ideal suzannah for my very high withered dutch warmblood. Really comfortable and fit him perfectly.

When I had the saddler out he tried a Passier grand gilbert, and a kieffer zugspitz, both of which were too low on the withers.
He also tried an albion K2 which did fit over the wither (not sure what the measurement was though) but I didn't find it as comfortable as the Ideal Suzannah.
 
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