Flair vs Wool flocking

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now_loves_mares

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I had the saddler out today for a fitting. My mare is a very short coupled TB. My own current saddle is a 17.5" Patriot (Ideal make them specifically for Stirlingshire, it is single flap but wool flocked). I really like it and used it on my other mare who was PTS recently. However, last time I used it on my current horse, she didn't seem to like it and got a bit @rsey. However she was going through a generally difficult baby horse time back then, so the saddle could perhaps have been unrelated!

Anyway the saddle I have borrowed for her up to now is an ancient GP with Flair, but is actually nice and comfy, and saddler was happy it fits her well. I've been riding her with a rear riser prolite, as previously saddles tipped back on her, although saddler happy this has built up and she doesn't need the rear riser any more. She seems happy in the GP, but it's no use for me as I'm too long in the upper leg. It's also a smaller size, maybe even as small as 16.5". I have a tiny bum, but again the leg length is an issue.

So to get to the point, the saddler said the Patriot technically fits her well, it's borderline for length but not over her last rib, and there is no obvious reason she should be uncomfortable; but that sometimes there could be just something vague about the fit, or the short girth arrangement, or the wool flocking she objects to. So the plan is to try her again in my patriot (now she is stronger and grown up a bit more). If she turns grumpy again, I'll try it with a regular prolite, as she may have grown used to that feeling. If neither of these make her happy we will try some other jumping saddles next (17" though). The problem is, the Patriot has rarely been made in a 17" size, so if that was the route I chose to go down, I'd have to have one made, and to add flair is £400 more. I'm not being advised to go down this route yet as it could be that it's something in the patriot design itself she doesn't like.....

I'm still getting to the point....:p.... so anyway was wondering about others' experience with flair, and if they've had horses who much prefer it? The one thing that she said was that actually, because I've generally being using the prolite, she isn't really "feeling" the flair, so it shouldn't really be making that much of a difference.

:confused:

Not much on offer at this time of day. Cup of tea and some high fibre cubes is about all that's to hand :rolleyes:
 
I think it’s very much dependent on the individual horse. We use Albion dressage saddles and Patriots on our three, all with Flair, and none of them have objected. The first Patriot we bought second hand and it was already converted to Flair and then we bought new but had Flair put in at the time of purchase so can’t really compare with and without Flair. However we did have the dressage saddles converted from wool flock and the two horses we had then were much softer and seemed more comfortable with Flair. I know some people don’t like Flair but it certainly works for us and I like the fact it can be easily adjusted (often get it done at an event if saddlers aren’t in our area) whereas re-flocking would mean we were without the saddle for a few days.

It’s a shame you have just missed a 17” Patriot (with Flair) which a friend has just sold through Stirlingshire :( However if you do go down the route of buying new with Flair, in my experience, the second hand values seem to reflect the fact that Flair has been added.
 
I like flair in wow saddles

One of mine would only jumping properly in his wow and humped his back in the likes of Amerigo and sad he couldn't jump

I go with what the horse demands :D
 
Ah typical, that is a shame - even just to try would have been good! Oh well, perhaps I won't need to, as maybe she'll be an angel with it on now! And at least with the patriot I feel rather more secure than a slidy gp with my knees sticking over the knee-roll :eek:

Good point about the re-sale value too though. Thanks :)
 
I used to have Flair in my Ideal Jessica dressage saddle. I had it added after trying it at a trade stand at Olympia or something and when I first got it I absolutely loved it - pony went well in it and I loved the feel.
Fast forward ten years and the Flair got a puncture. I didn't notice. It doesn't go POP and go down fast the way you might expect. It goes down really slowly and we didn't have any other Flair saddles in the tack room so I had nothing else to compare it to. It felt soft, but then again it had always felt much softer than my jumping saddle which is traditionally flocked. When my horse stopped going forward after having the vet and back man out I got the saddler out who immediately spotted the problem - I had been riding my horse on a tree, essentially. It could have been fixed but my horse and I had both lost confidence in the Flair and by that point it took me a while to get her happy to go in the school in any saddle, so we have returned to wool flocking. I feel guilty for not noticing and sick that I put my horse through that much pain despite having her tack checked every six months.
I'm not saying don't get it especially if you will have other Flair saddles to compare it to regularly, but be aware that it CAN puncture and check for it as part of your regular tack checks. It is lovely when it works correctly, but horrific when it doesn't.
 
I hadn't really thought about the risk of it puncturing/deflating but it's obviously possible. However I guess if you are getting your saddle checked fairly regularly it would be ok. It does feel very very soft, I'm still not sure if I like it :confused:

Good warning though, thanks.
 
I have a Wow, which both my horse and I love, but I ended up doing the opposite and replacing the Flair with memory foam so it really is each to their own.

I collected a load of photos from the replacement of the Flair panels, fitted and unfitted in the saddle that I'd be happy to pm if interested - it may or may not alter your decision but I found it really interesting and it definitely helped me understand why my mare prefers the foam to the Flair.
 
Different horses react in different ways so there is no hard and fast rule. I have known some flair saddles cause more problems than they solve as they can move too much on some horses.
 
depends on the horse - mine loves her flair saddle. She is sensitive skinned, very sensitive 7/8th TB - did i mention she sensitive!!!lol.

My friend just had flair put in her saddle only cost £250 not 400 though.
 
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