Fairfax Spirit/Chunky Monkey Jump Saddles?

[Munchkin]

Struggling at the moment with a pony who has a small back and enormous shoulders - basically any forward cut saddle does not fit his shoulders and widening it means it doesn’t fit his back!

The panel in the Spirit saddle looks like it may alleviate this issue as the fixed part sits behind the shoulder, but I’d like to hear from anyone who has one on a big shouldered horse?

Also potentially saving a fortune and looking at the Chunky Monkey freedom, which is essentially a show saddle panel with a knee roll on the top flap! Again, any users here?

Thanks!

 

[fredflop]

What does your saddler say

 

[asmp]

What does your saddler say

Agree. Our saddler (a Master Saddler) will assess the horse/pony and tell us what saddle will fit the best and what to look out for. We then buy privately and she comes and fits it.

 

[Red-1]

I have had a saddle with the dressage panel and a jump flap on top. It was awful! It actually felt OK, right until the moment the horse had a jink, I dug my knees in, the flaps folded over and the saddle became an ejector seat! It really unnerved the poor horse too.

I sent it back to the manufacturer for reinforcement and extra padding, and again it was OK right up until the moment you needed to grip tight and then it bowed.

For the big shoulder thing, I have found that a CC jump saddle is best, the type where the flap is designed to sit over the shoulder not behind it. The flap is bendy so the shoulder can slide underneath, but has a block on top of the thigh so if you need to grip on, your thigh is tucked under. That way your knee is unrestrained more or less as the padding is higher up.

 

[Munchkin]

I have had a saddle with the dressage panel and a jump flap on top. It was awful! It actually felt OK, right until the moment the horse had a jink, I dug my knees in, the flaps folded over and the saddle became an ejector seat! It really unnerved the poor horse too.

Thank you, this is exactly what I was wondering about and I imagine it’s the same landing over a big fence!

I think I’ll get the Fairfax fitter out

 

[sbloom]

I fit only wide horses with big shoulders and don't often find they need some special arrangement with a forward cut saddle to deal with the shoulders. Sometimes going down a seat size is needed but the seats are flatter therefore ride bigger and most people go down a seat size from dressage to jump anyway. If the shoulders are very asymmetric it can sometimes be an issue causing slipping.