Going round the bend about this bloomin' saddle!! >:/

floradora09

floradora09

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Got a new horse a few weeks ago. He's a 15.2h TB gelding. He hasn't got a lot of topline and we expect him to muscle up a bit.

Tried a friends Wintec on him, which seemed to fit. Got saddler out who reckoned it would be OK if we put in a Medium gullet rather than the Medium Wide which he had in. I felt that with the Medium Wide, it was pressing down a bit on his back near his wither. Tried the Medium today, but it was -very- tight over his shoulder and I really didn't like it. However, it seemed to lift up a lot more over his shoulder and looked good, until I got on, then it seemed to be pressing down again...? I could sort of fit my hand under the front, but it felt quite tight. When I got back from my ride it appeared to have been rubbing a little on the base of his withers and there were nobbly bits where the panels had been (used a different bumnah so could be due to that!?)

Thanks SO much for any help, I am going round the bend atm trying to work out what to do! xxx :(
 
A good saddle is so hard to find. I would get the saddle fitter out again and maybe try some different saddles. I personally prefer leather saddles. Good luck in your search.
 
I don't find the Wintecs a particularly good fit on horses that have a bit of wither - this is from experience of trying to get one to fit a skinny TB, and also my high-withered welsh cob. Both horses are now ridden in Thorowgood T4 high-wither saddles instead, and they seem to suit better.
 
hmmm... I get a different saddle fitter. It's a bit strange to say if you change the gullet it will fit. He needs to see it on the horse.... It may need flocking or adjusting here and there.... Or it may just not fit at all.

I'd recommend getting a different saddler out.
 
I found him a little unhelpful, and at the end of it all I was left feeling frustrated and confused! :( I've got a lesson tomorrow, and as he's my instructors old horse I will chat to her about it and see what she has to say. But the odd thing is, we tried a Thorowgood high wither on him and it seemed to do the same thing of pressing down... ?!

arrrrghhhh! plus we're on a little bit of a budget, and i don't have a blind clue about saddle fitting so that doesn't really help matters!! xx
 
when my friend 1st got her horse the saddle didn't have a lot of clearance of the wither, but it was due to the fact he was a bit poor and had no muscle. But it did clear it. We rode him with a gel pad to help him as he had no muscle under his saddle at all.

Speak to your instructor and I'd get a diff saddler out and make sure it's sorted out there and then and that you have a good ride in it infront of them.
 
xena_wales said:
I don't find the Wintecs a particularly good fit on horses that have a bit of wither - this is from experience of trying to get one to fit a skinny TB, and also my high-withered welsh cob. Both horses are now ridden in Thorowgood T4 high-wither saddles instead, and they seem to suit better.
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I agree, had the exact same problem when first got my TB ex racer last year as a 4yo, got her a Wintec which was fitted by a really **** saddler - even with a polypad with the front corners folded under it ended up so low over her wither it was pretty much knocking the sides as she walked! Ended up sending it back - was still quite set on getting a synthetic to save ££ but eventually went for a leather one as the second saddler I tried who was fantastic felt that the synthetics he had (including the hi wither Thorogood) didn't suit her shape. I honestly think its a false economy to try and scrimp too much on a saddle (not saying spend 1000's either though!) cause you'll just end up faffing around with gel pads and numnahs trying to mask the fact it doesn't really fit properly. Good luck and yeah you should def get a different saddler cause sounds like the one you had didn't fit the saddle very well if it was as you described :(
 
I have found Albion saddles good for horses with quite a lot of wither. We get quite a few TBs come for schooling, usually with no tack and the Albion seems to fit them well. Get a new saddler who carries second hand saddles in stock. You shouldn't see any rub marks or need lots of pads if the saddle fits properly. The other alternative is to get a treeless saddle. I have a Torsion and it's very comfortable plus it's good for horses that are changing shape - your saddler probably wouldn't recommend one though!
 
Thanks SO much for everyones help- I am really not sure where I'm going with this! Interesting to hear that maybe as he muscles up the saddle will sit better, which I can believe. The other issue though, is that he's a medium now, but what do we do if we buy a medium fitting saddle now but he muscles up to a medium-wide? Is that quite unlikely? Would we need to get a different saddle? Could it be reflocked?!

:( :$
 
I'm another one who has Saddle Company saddles which are brilliant at accomodating a horse with a changing shape. I bought all 4 of mine on ebay and paid no more than £250 for saddles that had been hardly used. They are built on injection moulded plastic trees and if you have a fitter who has a templating machine in their car, you can have the tree widened or narrowed there and then. With one of my horses my fitter fitted the saddle to a Prolite pad to allow for muscle build up, when the muscle had built up then we simply took away the Prolite and the saddle fitter.
 
To find the correct width gullet you need to place it on the horse a couple of inches BEHIND the back of the shoulder blade. The correct width will lie parallel to the body, not digging in, not flaring away at the bottom. Then put it in the saddle and place the saddle with the points of the tree behind the back of the shoulder blade. Girth the saddle up and lead the horse around. 2 things to look out for- gaps at the back of the saddle between the back and the horse and clearance at the front over the wither.

Quite often when the correct width is fitted the saddle will be too low at the front, especially wth the rider on board. also because of the shape of the tree the back of the saddle often gaps. You probably got more lift at the front with the narower gullet because its too narrow.

It also sounds like your horse may have long withers, so you need to check further back under the saddle andnot just at the pommel. Wintecs have very shallow panels too and your horse may need a deeper panel, not necessarily a narrower tree.

You need to ask around for a different saddle fitter and try several saddles. But try the thorowgood again with advice- they fit totally different to wintecs and are usually very good for Tbs
 
Cluny said:
I'm another one who has Saddle Company saddles which are brilliant at accomodating a horse with a changing shape. I bought all 4 of mine on ebay and paid no more than £250 for saddles that had been hardly used. They are built on injection moulded plastic trees and if you have a fitter who has a templating machine in their car, you can have the tree widened or narrowed there and then. With one of my horses my fitter fitted the saddle to a Prolite pad to allow for muscle build up, when the muscle had built up then we simply took away the Prolite and the saddle fitter.
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So you think that if I bought a saddle company saddle then it could be adjusted to fit? Also would they fit the TB type with long/high withers? Thanks! :)

And thanks for that teddyt, will defo get a different saddler out in a couple of weeks.

In the meantime, I'll be looking out for saddles- what sort of make would suit? Saddle company? Someone suggested Albion, thorowgood...? Any others? I think he does have a long wither- it's not very especially high, just very long! xxxx
 
Black Country saddles are good on TBs. Mine has a medium with wither gussets so it fits on top but doesn't restrict his huge shoulders. But of course get a saddler out to advise you.
 
a while ago, i had a saddler supply me with a secondhand bates caprilli gp, supposedly fits the same as a wintec as made by same people?
anyway, she said it fitted, horse seemed happy as before was being crippled by saddle, however a few days later she had scrub marks and pressure points at the rear of the saddle.
she then came out again and 'fixed' it, making it narrower as to stop it rocking and causing discomfort. at this point, we now had a medium-narrow bates on a tbxish with high-ish withers and a flat back the rest of the way along...
anyway, the point is these saddles actually dont fit any horse, just a select group who suit the shape of the tree. i would suggest that you go for something with flatter panels and cut-back pommel, our next saddler supplied me with a medium-wide jeffies falcon hawk event which is perfect... needs a bit of numnah-ing up in the winter when she shrinks muscle-wise but other than that is happy as anything in it :)
 
I wouldn't buy a saddle thinking you can get it to fit (or rather get your saddler to fit it) as you will be just throwing money away. Work out your budget and then call your saddler out with a description of how your horse is now. There is also (sorry!) no guarantee that your horse won't change shape when muscled up - infact I would assume he will. My saddler actually padded up an existing saddle for me when I got my new boy, with the proviso of what to look for etc and then kept an eye on it for me as he broadened out. Really sadly for me, once muscled up = neither of my beloved saddles fitted him and I had to sell them and start again. Theoretically, both "should" have fitted as both were medium wide but in reality, while coming up to a MW, neither saddle would have fitted regardless of what my saddler did.
 
As mine was young and was likely to change shape, I told my saddler that I was looking for a leather second hand saddle.
I figured a good leather saddle would hold it's value quite well as long as I looked after it so if I needed to I could part exchange and all I would lose would be the percentage my saddler takes on selling saddles.
 
My saddler recommends Symond's saddles for TB's, something to do with having a wide gullet on a medium tree ... but don't quote me on that :p.

Basically, what she was saying, is with the typical TB spine, where it stands proud and drops away, you need a wider gap up the gullet than is available on the tree.

Right, I've confused myself now :confused: but I know what I mean.

Google them, they are made by Symonds Saddlery in Walsall and maybe give them a ring.
Alternatively, do a search on here, I'm sure they've been discussed for TB's before.
 
Thanks everyone, this has all been so helpful and I've got a bit of a better idea where I'm going! What I think I'll do is ring up a different saddler (on recommendation) and get them to come out with a whole load of second handers. Then I'll talk to them about fitting a saddle maybe with some extra padding so that when/if he muscles up we can remove the padding or whatever. To be honest, even if he does muscle up over the summer he won't be ridden enough in winter to keep it probably!

I'll do a bit of a search! Thanks! :D
 
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