'even-ing up' a horse

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LindsayWoodward

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I've been having problems with my saddle slipping over to the right when i ride, it's more pronounced in the school on circles and not really an issue when out hacking. My saddler has checked the saddle and says the fit is fine and the problem is caused by my horse being slightly more 'built up' in the area just down from the withers on the right side, where the front padded part of the saddle sits (sort of under where stirrup bars are). He thinks this issue will happen with any saddle, it's just the way she is and we've already tried adding more flocking to the saddle but it compresses after a couple of weeks and we are back to square one. He suggested trying a limpet pad to hold the saddle in place more. I'm going to try that but I wondered if there were any exercises I could try as he says he see this more commonly in pleasure horses than competition horses. Any ideas?
 
Common problem! You could try a piece of Fibregee/ gamgee under the saddle on the right to see if it helps- if it does then you can sew some felt onto your numnah on the right. Limpet pads tend to be ok til you get sweaty then they really move. Lunging in a pessoa really helps to even up horses- i had this problem for years on my cob and Im a saddler! I must have tried over 100 saddles and they all moved- just different amounts. Since i started using a pessoa he is much more even in his muscle tone and gait and im sure that has made a huge difference. Generally older saddles with firmer flock tended to move less, synthetics were lethal!- for eg my hunting saddle that hardly moves at all is a 20 yr old stubben that hasnt been flocked in the 10 years i have had it and the flock is flat & firm- not hard.
 
I get on really well with the Mattes adjustable half pad as you can adjust where you want the padding - once horse starts to build up remove some padding until levelled - helps keep you balanced in the saddle to stop you exacerbating the problem
 
Pessoa is really easy to use but i strongly advise you to have a lesson in how to fit and use it.
re Miller- yes the Mattes or Prolite 4 piece pad/numnahs are great if the gamgee experiment works- i just hate wasting money on things that dont work hence trying gamgee first!
 
HG - I find the gamgee smoves about so went straight for the Mattes pad - ides was Mattes stuff lasts forever and will be useful on other horses - oh and OH paid
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Dont touch and bargepole come to mind. Mega four point pressure and flat panels offering little grip- PLEASE DONT DO IT - also mega expensive & very difficult to sell s/h. NB this is my personal opinion based on years of working with physios sorting out problems- if you have one and are happy- good for you! lol
 
If the saddle moves on a TB, try a proper flocked or air panel but make sure it is a "dropped" or "TB" panel- when you look at them upside down, the panel is double the width around the points at the front and the seam between the flocked part and the sweat flap has a distinct "wiggle" to the shape- Heritage and Black Country do excellent TB saddles BTW
 
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