Dry patches under wintec wide saddle - help! Very wide horse!

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roz84

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Ok, so I have what I think is another problem in the continuing nightmare that is trying to get a saddle to fit my mare. We currently have a new style wintec wide, flocked version (had for approx 2 months!) which up until now I have been really really pleased with, however this last week or two I have noticed some ruffling of the hair and dry patches towards the front of where it sits. I checked the gullet width and changed it for the next wider as it was a touch narrow, but the darn patches are still there! To be fair to horsey she seems happy enough, however I AM NOT! To my eye, the saddle looks as if it should fit perfectly - it is the correct width and it sits really nicely and in balance on her back, doesn't move etc. I did have it fitted but clearly something has changed!

To fill you in, she is about an xxxw in width, big shouldered haflinger. We have tried a few saddles within my budget - the thorowgood T4 cob (rolled around), also a barefoot treeless (Which I hated). To make matters worse, saddle fitters are few and far between here - the saddler in the closest town who fitted the saddle has recently closed down, the next nearest saddlery will only come to do a fitting if you are buying one of their brand new saddles, everyone else is miles away etc etc. To add to the pain I have recently been made redundant so am currently just scraping by and managing to pay for livery and shoes, have definitely NOT got the money to fork out for made to measure leather saddles, multiple fittings etc etc!

Anyone have any suggestions?
 
Can you not contact wintec and see if they have a recommended fitter?

If was a cair I would say it needs the little foam pads in the front. But I haven't had a flocked saddle in years.
 
Yes I think I will contact them today for advice although financially it is a major issue at the moment! It is a flocked version, when I bought it it came with the full set of riser pads - I have experimented with them but still getting the ruffled hair :-(
 
You have to be careful not to fit the saddle too wide. If it was only a little tight on the front you might find going up a gullet has made it too wide. You might need to add a pad to support the saddle and stop it dropping forward. Go on to Facebook and see if you can find a freelance saddler, I know it's hard but they often see things you miss. I have given up and bought myself a Heather Moffett, treeless until my cob settles down. I got it off eBay.
 
Ruffled hair means its moving when you are riding so it definitely needs looking at.
What area are you? Some one might be able to recommend someone.

Hope get it sorted
 
Ñutwell saddlery fitters are the only ones my horses physio recommends in Devon area.
They don't seem to be pushy on selling you a saddle, helped my friend find a saddle on evilbay & then came back to fit it.
 
Ok - perhaps I will give them a ring - I know they are over 60 miles from me though - seriously it is annoying that there is no one in our local area that can just pop out or whatever!
 
OP if you're in North Devon I believe there's a place near South Molton............... I'm feeling your pain as have been there done it, got the T-shirt, DVD, matching bra & knickers set basically with blimmin saddles!!

Oh gosh, trying to remember the name of the place: I enquired about them coming to me but it would have cost an arm and a leg.

Julia Garrett? She's apparently very good: but you'd have to book her a couple of months in advance I gather, when she's "doing the rounds" in your area - I've not used her personally, this is just recommendations I've had from other people. Think she's based up near Cheddar somewhere though.

I've heard somebody Cheffings' name mentioned re saddle fitting??? - Vanessa? They're up mid-Devon way I believe. Anyone else in the area know???

Nutwell are horrendously expensive IME; won't sell you anything under at least £1000 and come with a very limited range to try.

Had someone from Wychanger out to the yard backalong, not impressed TBH.

What about Jodie Hooper?? She's well recommended, don't know whether she covers your area.

Have a look at Andrea Hicks' FB page as sometimes there are some nice used/secondhand saddles of hers on there.

You could always re-post on the "South West" regional board on here........???
 
Slightlyconfused said:
Ruffled hair means its moving when you are riding so it definitely needs looking at.
What area are you? Some one might be able to recommend someone.

Hope get it sorted
Click to expand...

This and movement could as easily be too wide as it was for me when I thought the other way! Do you have the gullet guage? Have you watched the videos on fitting a wintec, lots on you tube and on the wintec website.
 
Thanks so much for your replies! Mijodsr2blinkintite - the saddlery you are thinking of is acorn, I believe they only come out to fit a new saddle, have heard of Jodi Hooper, and also everything i've heard about the others you mention tallies with what you have said. I have watched videos and read articles to death about saddle fitting, pretty sure that I have the principles of it right! To give an idea of her shape i have attached some pix of horsey and her wither tracing - funnily enough she is not completely flat withered at all (like a native I guess), just very wide and big shouldered

10726715_566071753524693_1427405249_n_zps86c9e37a.jpg


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10603181_535573563241179_850312707_n_zpse4f97d5f.jpg
 
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I have 2 very wide backed horses and i think its probably impossible to get a brilliant fit, What I do is have a thickly padded humnah underneath, it takes out any minor abnormalities.
 
should have added one had wintec wide in the widest gullett available and the other has the next one smaller. The thgd saddle i used to have didnt go wide enough.
 
She has big, upright shoulders and a pronounced slope down towards her withers from her bum. The hair ruffling at the front will most likely be the saddle sitting a smidgen too far forwards and the shoulder sliding under the panel a little. She has quite a pronounced place that the saddle wants to sit and unfortunately that's just a little too far forwards! Do you have a side on tacked up photo showing most of her( i.e not too close in)?

What girth strap do you use? Generally the girth decided where it wants to sit (usually right behind the elbows and the saddle is dragged to match.

Try the point and first strap with the girth not too tight, sit the saddle a couple of inches further back and use a sheepskin pad.

What I'd also try is a front raising pad (NOT a wintec one, they're rubbish. A Prolite or a Shires Shock Absorbing pad (looks like Prolite but has a double thickness at the front, although the description doesn't say that!) and make the width that little bit extra to accommodate. Reason being that her back shape causes the saddle to slide forwards and a pad at the front gives lift and balances out the slope a little, plus extra padding to let the shoulder slide under.
 
Kallibear said:
She has big, upright shoulders and a pronounced slope down towards her withers from her bum. The hair ruffling at the front will most likely be the saddle sitting a smidgen too far forwards and the shoulder sliding under the panel a little. She has quite a pronounced place that the saddle wants to sit and unfortunately that's just a little too far forwards! Do you have a side on tacked up photo showing most of her( i.e not too close in)?

What girth strap do you use? Generally the girth decided where it wants to sit (usually right behind the elbows and the saddle is dragged to match.

Try the point and first strap with the girth not too tight, sit the saddle a couple of inches further back and use a sheepskin pad.

What I'd also try is a front raising pad (NOT a wintec one, they're rubbish. A Prolite or a Shires Shock Absorbing pad (looks like Prolite but has a double thickness at the front, although the description doesn't say that!) and make the width that little bit extra to accommodate. Reason being that her back shape causes the saddle to slide forwards and a pad at the front gives lift and balances out the slope a little, plus extra padding to let the shoulder slide under.
Click to expand...

Wow I must have been paying more attention than I though because all of that makes sense to me lol.

We had trouble wit our tb with him pushing the saddle back with his shoulders so we went down to as 16. 1/2 " as the 17 was sitting right his last rib. His girth sit about a hand width back from his elbows as that's were his saddle settles once the shoulders had pushed it back but I know that's how his body likes the saddle as he has some scaring under there from his racing days and the scaring is right were the girth and saddle want to sit.
If all of the makes sense
 
Kallibear said:
She has big, upright shoulders and a pronounced slope down towards her withers from her bum. The hair ruffling at the front will most likely be the saddle sitting a smidgen too far forwards and the shoulder sliding under the panel a little. She has quite a pronounced place that the saddle wants to sit and unfortunately that's just a little too far forwards! Do you have a side on tacked up photo showing most of her( i.e not too close in)?

What girth strap do you use? Generally the girth decided where it wants to sit (usually right behind the elbows and the saddle is dragged to match.

Try the point and first strap with the girth not too tight, sit the saddle a couple of inches further back and use a sheepskin pad.

What I'd also try is a front raising pad (NOT a wintec one, they're rubbish. A Prolite or a Shires Shock Absorbing pad (looks like Prolite but has a double thickness at the front, although the description doesn't say that!) and make the width that little bit extra to accommodate. Reason being that her back shape causes the saddle to slide forwards and a pad at the front gives lift and balances out the slope a little, plus extra padding to let the shoulder slide under.
Click to expand...

Thanks very much for that reply - I have duly been up and taken photos, both before and after riding - the pictures with the stirrups down are afterwards. I didn't use a numnah, rode for about 20 mins in the school. You can just about see the hair ruffling in the pictures that show the sweat patches (she wasn't really sweating to be fair).

I will post the link to the album below; hopefully you can see it!

http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm128/roz84/saddle pictures/DSCF6285_zps974f7cd2.jpg
http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm128/roz84/saddle pictures/DSCF6284_zps9578d923.jpg
http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm128/roz84/saddle pictures/DSCF6283_zpse62d20dc.jpg
http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm128/roz84/saddle pictures/DSCF6282_zps9a0a9c37.jpg
http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm128/roz84/saddle pictures/DSCF6281_zps6af32a2d.jpg
http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm128/roz84/saddle pictures/DSCF6280_zps6248cb00.jpg
http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm128/roz84/saddle pictures/DSCF6279_zpsaaa22d8c.jpg
http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm128/roz84/saddle pictures/DSCF6278_zpsd415587e.jpg
http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm128/roz84/saddle pictures/DSCF6277_zps0e091f5d.jpg
http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm128/roz84/saddle pictures/DSCF6276_zpsfc6da031.jpg
http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm128/roz84/saddle pictures/DSCF6275_zps6c66f6c4.jpg
http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm128/roz84/saddle pictures/DSCF6273_zpsc88a04c7.jpg
http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm128/roz84/saddle pictures/DSCF6272_zpsd6fa8e82.jpg
http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm128/roz84/saddle pictures/DSCF6271_zps18becb77.jpg
http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm128/roz84/saddle pictures/DSCF6269_zps86bfe98a.jpg
http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm128/roz84/saddle pictures/DSCF6268_zps6b474c92.jpg
http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm128/roz84/saddle pictures/DSCF6267_zps8bc89809.jpg
http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm128/roz84/saddle pictures/DSCF6265_zps3ce7ab9a.jpg
 
I am one cowry but I think your best bet it to go for a treeless.
I know you said you hated the barefoot tree less but can you try another brand ?

Trying to fit yourself and having an awkward horse points to treeless being easier to fit.

Can you look on the internet?
eBay have some unbranded treeless which may not be of great quality but might do the job temporarily.
 
Not looked through all of the photos, but one did appear to be slightly too far forwards.

Two other things to think about - there is a way of using talcome powder with your saddle to see if the bearing surface is ok. I'm sure if you do a search on here you will find something.

With regards to fitting, are there any thermographers local to you? They can do saddle fit shots which are really useful!
 
Shame if it's a bit far forwards - that's where it naturally wants to sit, as kallibear said :-( will defo think about padding it up a bit to see if i can level out the surface a bit... will look into the talcum powder thing, sounds interesting! Very much doubt there is a thermographer near here - can't even get a saddle fitter lol!
 
Agree with going down a gullet and sitting it a bit further back behind the shoulder.

Though be careful that you aren't going over the last rib behind as that will cause another set of problems. You might need to go down a seat size like we did for the tb to compensate where the saddle needs to sit behind the shoulder to not pressing on the last rib or gong over it.
 
As a fellow Haflinger owner I feel your pain!

In my opinion (and I am no expert) the saddle looks too long as well as too wide. My Haffy has massive shoulders too and after trying 5 different saddle I got a Saddle Company one, and had it fitter further back. Problem with this is he can only take a 16inch saddle as he is so short in the backed, so it was a fine line. It's sorted now but has taken about 18 months.

Edited to add: O too tried a 16.5 inch Wintec Wide and it looked huge on him. I will try and see if I have any pictures.
 
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Honestly, if the gullet was any narrower it would dig in, i took it out today to double check and it fits perfectly on her back, neither too wide or narrow..... I am however thinking that perhaps we could do with a smaller size seat, that does make sense - do saddles for adults exist in a 16 or 16.5 inch seat? :-D
 
I'm thinking that you are thinking your horse is a lot wider than it actually is. I thought so from the very first photos. I have a friesian whos in an x-wide and its going to need a thicker pad in the winter and shes off the weigh tape shes so wide. Wintec wide is a lot wider than it needs to be. Did you try just a normal wintec in an xwide gullet? I'm not a fan of wintec at all, i would try a thorowgood maxam lol
 
roz84 said:
Honestly, if the gullet was any narrower it would dig in, i took it out today to double check and it fits perfectly on her back, neither too wide or narrow..... I am however thinking that perhaps we could do with a smaller size seat, that does make sense - do saddles for adults exist in a 16 or 16.5 inch seat? :-D
Click to expand...

Just remember that when you sit on the saddle it widens too, so may be sitting too wide.
 
roz84 said:
Honestly, if the gullet was any narrower it would dig in, i took it out today to double check and it fits perfectly on her back, neither too wide or narrow..... I am however thinking that perhaps we could do with a smaller size seat, that does make sense - do saddles for adults exist in a 16 or 16.5 inch seat? :-D
Click to expand...

My Saddle Company is a 16 inch and I am a size 12 who rides short and I have no problems at all.
 
but if i put a narrower gullet in, would it not dig in as soon as i got on board? thought the basic principle was that the width of the gullet has to follow the contour of the back! i will feel very foolish if that isn't the case.......... :-D
 
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