Flair

[Benjamin]

Anyone have any opinions on this??


Thanks

 

[KatB]

One thing that someone said to me that has stuck in my mind is that compressed air is harder than wool.....

 

[Benjamin]

[ QUOTE ]
One thing that someone said to me that has stuck in my mind is that compressed air is harder than wool.....

[/ QUOTE ]
Very true Kat.

Am investigating all avenues. Now need to buy a new saddle

 

[KatB]

Ouch and

in equal measures. Have to say I favour Barnsby and Ideal from the research I have done into "normal" saddles.... what sort you after?

 

[Benjamin]

[ QUOTE ]
Ouch and

in equal measures. Have to say I favour Barnsby and Ideal from the research I have done into "normal" saddles.... what sort you after?

[/ QUOTE ]
I have been told that Ideal may suit the new chap better.
I have no idea what I am looking for really. Just want something that will fit him well as I think he is going to be pretty sensitive.

Just hope I can sell my two Kieffers

 

[Bert&Maud]

I'm not a fan of Flair. It's very hard and unforgiving, although people often think that air must be kinder! I have an Ideal Event and a Jessica and love them both.

 

[nikki_07766]

I'm just waiting to take delivery of my shiny new ideal saddle with flair, so will get back to you about how it feels and rides in, i rode my boy in lots of saddles, with and without flair and he did feel/ look much freer with the flair, but i guess it’s each to their own not everyone will like it but some might swear by it, i would recommend ideal tho!.

 

[kerilli]

it depends how it's fitted, air can go hard like a crisp packet under pressure (that's how it was explained to me), but my main concern is always that there is an edge to the airpocket, and also perhaps an overlap between the front and back pocket edges... with wool flocking in a serge panel, everything is uniform, soft, and easily altered by the saddler.
My 2 new Ideal saddles for my supersensitive mare are as above, and she's very happy in them.

 

[Benjamin]

QR - Thank you all for your replies, much appreciated.

I actually rode in an ideal last night, and I found it very comfy, although I did try and Excell Event and that suited Rudy very well.

Lots to think about!

P x

 

[Pidge]

going totally against the grain here but Pidge (and me) love it

Not hard in any shape or form but had it put in my dressage saddle and I now have a transformed horse

who can work on the bit, and has no tension over his back. Previous flocking on saddle was shall we say rock solid! and resulted in an upside down, inside out unhappy horse

 

[Benjamin]

Thanks for your reply Pidge.

Can I ask how much it cost to get put in?

P x

 

[flyingfeet]

I will also go against the grain - I have wow saddles and their panels are squishy and nice. The cair models from Bates are rock solid, but flair should be squishy.

David from wow said that many fitters over fill the flair panels, when only a little bit of air is enough to disperse the pressure.

I would favour either flair or big serge panels.

 

[Pidge]

£325 all in

 

[tracyt]

hi

i had an ideal event saddle that was fitted with flair and it was v squishy but the air was evenly distributed when the saddle was on the horse if you know what i mean! haha

anyway i had it removed i felt that it made the saddle very unstable ie it moved v easily side to side and moved quite a bit if my horse spooked or anything like that! i got my saddler to check it out a couple of times and was confirmed as correctly fitted but he also said that it might just not suit my horses shape (rather broad round id type with v little withers!) hope this helps!

tt

 

[Tiffany]

I liked the idea of Flair so bought a saddle fitted with Flair although I have since sold it. I personally found that the saddle needing adjusting more often, there were no decent Flair fitters in my area and when they adjusted one thing it created another problem for me and my horse

I agree that a good fitter is essential and most fitters will come out to sell you a saddle but some don't want to come out when it needs adjusting

 

[LadyLuck1]

I just bought a new saddle and decided on Flair without doing much research. I love it. It has certailnly made a huge differnece to the looseness of my horses back during flatwork schooling.

I think Flair or traditional flocking has the potential to go wrong i.e. poorly flocked panels can be lumpy and hard as can poorly fitted or overfilled Flair bags.