Fitting a saddle to a downhill cob?

ShadowFlame

ShadowFlame

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Just looking for some ideas to be honest. My boy has just turned 5, and I think he's still got a bit of growing to do (or we hope!). His withers still haven't quite caught his back end up, though they are closer than when I first bought him. I had him fitted up for a Thorowgood T4 saddle about 4 months ago (we haven't done much ridden work in these 4 months), the idea being the gullet can be changed as he widens.

Now, this saddle has always sat quite high, leaving a lot of space between the pommel and his withers. I was dubious about the fit, so the other day I took a flexi curve and printed off the gullet guide from the internet. Saddle is fitted with a Medium, according to chart he's an XW... no wonder it was sitting high. I took the curve to the local tack shop, bought the gullet and fitted it.

My problem now is that because of his conformation, the saddle is sitting downhill and it seems to be rising at the back. Am I best off putting a riser pad underneath, or getting a different saddler out? Alternatively maybe a treeless?

I seem to have a lack of recent pics that show him standing square, but hopefully this will give an idea:

DSC_0865-1.jpg


Would welcome any replies - thanks!
 
I would say get a qualified saddler/fitter out as there is more to taking a template than just slapping on a flexi curve plus cobs are notoriously difficult to fit to because of the flat-no wither
 
Holly, which treeless do you use?

And M_G, it was a qualified saddle fitter that put him in a medium width, but looking at the gullet itself it's that narrow it's no wonder he's been unhappy having it put on. I will have a different one out if I stay with a treed saddle, just wondering what others experiences are of fitting these kind of horses.
 
Horses can change shape a lot in 4 months I would suggest either having the fitter out again or calling someone that has been recommended to you by a few horsey folk
 
i have a heather moffet not the vogue model. it has a gullet and i use a high wither nuumed with a wintec dressage girth. works well for the bum hi (now15 so that wont change), wide with a wither and large shoulder. a saddle fitters nightmare, went from a medium wide to xxw in 3 years of work!
 
I was in the same boat as you. I also went treeless (Freeform). He is now in a treed saddle but he was 7 before he settled down to a shape that he could be fitted properly.
 
My cob is 4 and always changing shape. A german lady fitted my saddle and it is fully adjustable designed by gemans for cob type horses, It's a massimo saddle.
Made to specification, I like it just need the weather to stabilise so i can tide some more. ;)
www.midbuzzler.com
That's the german ladies page.
 
I fit cobs and natives as a speciality and recently fitted a VERY downhill Dales, themost downhill I've ever fitted, and more so than your horse :D. The horse was an XXW and although looked like it had a slightly dipped back, it was purely an illusion due to the high croup. If I'd fitted a tree that had much curve to it it would have lifted at the back just as yours is. I went for our wide twist saddle with a very flat tree in, of course, the correct width, then flocked the front to lift the saddle from the points (I see too many saddles with a load of flock in the head of the tree ie at the top of the panel and this places too much pressure by the wither) and lightened the flock at the back. We're almost perfectly level now and the pony is showing her owner just how much and how well she can move (they're working on their pirouettes currently)!
 
The thorowgood cob saddle is not a great saddle for a horse like that. For some reason they're made the panels at the back REALLY deep. The front of the panels are slim, which is good for most wide fat horses but the rear gusset is really deep. The Cob plus saddle is actually worse: the front gusset is even shallower but they're not changed the back at all. :confused: So the front usually sits well but the back ends up perched somewhere in the clouds :(

I have a balanced cob who's slightly higher in front than behind (yey!) but the cob saddle fitted poorly on him until I had a lot of the flocking at the back taken out.
 
Had exactly the same problem with my cob. He's 9 tho and still is bum high! I got a saddle fitter out and bought a specialist saddle from him as he specialised in these hard to fit types.
 
Interesting reading, thanks guys. sbloom - gutted you're not closer to us!! If anyone could recommend a good saddle fitter in and around Worcestershire it'd be appreciated, torn between treed and treeless at the mo though as I'm not convinced he's finished growing (or maybe that's wishful thinking!).
 
Gosh! He's REALLY bum high, my girl is 14.2 at the (non-existant) wither and 15.1 at the top of her croup, huge shoulders and flat back. Nightmare to fit, and honestly it's just a lottery as to which will suit unless you go for a tailor made saddle - and even these seem to be an expensive gamble. I currently have a no-name WH saddle which seems to do the job (with a little extra flocking under the middle of the seat). Not great for me, as the rider, but is comfy for the horse for just about the first time in her riding life.
 
I seem to have the saddler out a lot but I had a made to measure so part of the deal. My trad keeps coming up and down. Suggest a saddler, native pony are good as our ideal for the wider friends! Nima synthetic fan I am afraid.
 
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