Jumping on the band wagon...WOW saddles

[harrihjc]

I keep reading about these WOW saddles and how great they are, I've scanned through the website and I'm fascinated! Apart from price, what's the drawback with these saddles? Are they not allowed in certain disciplines, like showing? They look very nice and 'conventional'. Do they not suit some horses, or maybe some riders? From what I've read they seem to be lighter, better for the horse and allow the rider to feel the horse better, but what is the reality? Is it a sales pitch so to speak, or are these saddles really the best things since sliced bread? If they were so great, surely everyone would be wanting/using them, but they're not, is this price related??

Sorry, a hundred questions there! Can anyone fill me in, give their experiences, good and bad?

Thank you!

 

[Tierra]

Love mine, love mine, love mine! Im a complete convert.

Ive been riding in them for just over 3 years now. My first was for my very out of shape mare who, quite simply, i wanted a highly adjustable saddle for. She'd had a foal, hadnt been ridden for over 2 years and the thought of buying a decent saddle to have it not fit after a few months wasn't pleasant.

When i bought my new horse, he had severe muscle wastage round his withers (not through a lack of work, he was eventing). He's a terrible shape to fit a saddle to... very very high withered but with a large shoulder and a very active shoulder movement. 16hh but very short coupled (16.5 inch saddle).

I got invited to Richard Davisons yard to have a wow dressage saddle fitted there and the difference was instantly amazing. His paces became much free'er and the amount of feeling I suddenly had was amazing. I'd taken my trainer with me and she agree'd he felt much better... so that was my second wow

The look much more conventional now than the early ones did. To be quite honest, when a rider is on board, you only notice its a wow from the silver panel at the back of the seat (although you can opt to not have this fitted at all).

Ive heard some people say their horses dont like flair but personally ive never seen this. My horse is very sensitive over his back.... you cant bare back him... he HATES the feeling of it (and no, he doesnt have any problems), yet he took to flair perfectly.

From my point of view, i can feel *everything*. Ive gone from vaguely guessing at when to ask for changes to being able to understand exactly when i need to ask. My trainer was great at explaining what i needed to be feeling for and where the horse had to be in his stride, but i just couldnt feel it in a conventionally flocked saddle... now i can

I can feel much better when he starts to lift his back under me.. its not just a feeling of either hes there or he isnt... i feel every single stage of him working in to the point where he's right up underneath me.

The flair is supposedly better in that it allows the muscles to develop better. Even horses in saddles that fit fine will tend to go up in width when they switch to flair flocking. Mine has expanded enormously but he did have severe wastage.

The fact they can be tweaked in size almost infinitely is great. To change the width is just a matter of a new headplate.. if things alter over the spinal area you can switch gullet designs or alter the flair.

Down side? SOME riders hate them. They do feel different when you first get on them. For one thing they have a very wide twist. For another, the saddle is shaped differently to fit into the hollow at the top of your thigh. Thats a security design for the riders seat but still, it feels different at first. Again, you can suddenly feel a lot more under you which some people dont like and depending on the how the flair is fitted, they can feel bouncy (the flair has to be adjusted to suit horse and rider). It took me all of a week to get used to mine and now i detest riding in anything else. When i schooled my trainers horses, id put my saddle on

(Then again... she was quite well known for stealing my saddle also

)

The price is high.. but its a saddle for life which makes the sting not so bad. They wont suit everyone i guess, purely because a saddle is such a personal thing, but in terms of well known riders, theres a sizeable chunk using them.

I wont ever switch to another saddle

Any new horses will have wows without question.

 

[harrihjc]

Thank you very much for your reply

It seems there is a stockist based very near me, so I may have to give them a call and try it out, my boy has grown so much and I thinkl I may need a new saddle, and it certainly beats buying several for jumping, dressage, showing etc if the flaps are easily changed?

 

[Tierra]

I think the first time i switched mine, it took me a good 30 minutes and i can remember being quite frustrated

They now have videso on their site of how to do it and mine takes me about 5 minutes

That said... i havent changed them in forever since new horse / saddle is purely for dressage.

 

[dozzie]

I agree with Tierra!!!

It is the only saddle my horse has been happy in. Before having the wow my horse was positively dangerous to ride ( I was virtually on first name terms with the paramedics!!) due to her back problems but now she rarely bucks and is much happier whilst not totally cured (She cant be!).


I would say one downside was the weight but they now make a lighter one. The stirrup leathers are a bit of a pain at first as the holes are stiff but you can use normal ones. the only problem with normal ones is its difficult to alter the length whilst the saddle is on the horses back.

Also when you first have it you need someone to tighten the girth from the ground whilst you are mounted as it is easily overtightened in the beginning. Once you know how far the girth normally does up you just tighten it to those holes.

I also found a normal straight girth moved forward and cut my horse under her armpit. So I bought the zigzag girth and havent had a problem.


Another negative is that the horse will change shape rapidly in the first year and you may need 3 or 4 visits and several headplate changes.

A positive is that you dont need several saddles for different disciplines as you can change the flaps but these are expensive.

Some people find them difficult to ride in and they take a bit of getting used to. And they still look strange as far as Im concerned!!

Initially they are a bit fiddly to take apart but it gets easier. But I am a bit challenged in the fine motor skils department!!

Perhaps the cost is the biggest negative of all!!

But the positives far out weigh the negatives.

 

[WeeBrown]

I'm also really interested in this as my horse is new and came with an awful saddle which both me and OH can't stand. He says he'll pay for a new one, so as he'll probably only say this once I want to get the best one possible (and one that will last me a good while) My horse is only 5 and has just recovered from an illness so needs to build up her muscles again. I was wondering if the wow saddle would be o.k for this? (sorry to hog the thread here). A few people already messaged me to recommend Wow's (thanks for that!) so it's looking good.

 

[pootler]

Out of interest - what is it that makes the difference with this saddle, I am beginning to wonder whether it's the flair panels that make all the difference rather than the cut of the saddle itself. What are your thoughts?

My Mum had her Albion converted to flair and absolutely swears by it.

 

[Rowreach]

Personally I don't like the wow saddles.

I had problems with backs/poor muscle development/constantly having to have saddles altered, but now I have a treeless one from www.totalsaddlesolutions.com - again this is not a cheap purchase initially, but the saddle fits everything, you can alter it yourself in seconds, it makes a huge difference to your riding, and the change in the horse is almost instant. This might be the answer to your probs, WeeBrown. If you want to ask me about it more, just send me a PM

 

[Tierra]

I think its both.

The flair is very good in that it makes the saddle somewhat flexible over the back... it also usually allows increased muscle development and better feeling and, for me, helped my back ache when riding. It also offers very very high levels of pressure distribution comparable only with a good, well fitting, traditional western saddle. This is obviously much better for the horses back.

On the other hand... its the panels and the headplate in the wow that allows the saddles fit to be tweaked endlessly (which ultimately will help the horses way of going). The saddles seat also makes a lot of difference to the rider because of its shape (the wider twist, the "bulge" in the part where it joins the flaps enabling the rider to "sit" better).

The tree also moves laterally which means that every time your horse takes a stride, the tree will move to allow that shoulder to come through properly (basically it moves from side to side with every stride your horse takes). First Thought claim that many horses demonstrate a lengthened stride when switching to their saddles.... which is predominantly down to the lateral movement of the tree allowing the front end to move better.

Ive riden in flair converted saddles.. and wow saddles and *personally* the wow is superior but again, saddles are such a personal thing that its each to their own (and i know how much some people love their albions

) For me, its more about the saddle design than the flair and i think the wow is the most technoloigcally advanced saddle you can get.

 

[harrihjc]

Thanks for the information, it's definitely something I'm going to look into, especially if we do need to change saddles, which I strongly suspect is the case!

 

[flyingfeet]

Ok WOW saddles are good, however the adjustability also means you tend to get teething problems and this is VERY common.

So you might get dry patches, lumps on the spine, saddles waving in the air and finally panels deflating.

When you make the decision to go WOW check that you have a saddle fitter who is local and helpful. I'm not impressed by my fitters recent service to a friend - 5 weeks waiting whilst your saddle is waving on your horses back and causing marks is unacceptable when you've spent £1.6k

 

[CASP3R]

Have you heard of Korrector pads - it's the same technology in a numnah. My wife uses one under a cair flocked Wintec which gives her width adjustment plus flocking adjustment. It works for our quarter horse. All for less than £500. The pads vary between £60 and £125 depending on whether they are second hand or new.

 

[Rem]

Oooooh WOWwwwww - yes i would love one

- promised my pony i would get one if i bought him an english saddle (yes i am one of those weird Western people!!), but i am buying him the Western Korrector next month

.

Second best thing? Korrector pad - definately. We put a Korrector on my friend's mare when she was complaining on landing after jumping 3'3. The following week, she was jumping 3'6 no problem at all, and literally jumped me right out of the saddle when we first tried it at home - i looked down from 10' in the air and there was NO horse (at all

) under me!!

They can be a little fiddly to get right first off - as with the saddles i guess, but boy does the horse feel good when you get it right. Unfortunately at the moment, they only do them in black, white or leather - but i guess with enough demand they might do extra colours (?)

 

[Weezy]

[ QUOTE ]

When you make the decision to go WOW check that you have a saddle fitter who is local and helpful. I'm not impressed by my fitters recent service to a friend - 5 weeks waiting whilst your saddle is waving on your horses back and causing marks is unacceptable when you've spent £1.6k

[/ QUOTE ]

Over £2k

 

[Tierra]

I had a problem with my local fitter also, which is when I contacted First Thought directly to have a bit of a moan.

They were so kind and offered to try and get out directly to me but since, at the time, I was quite close to Richard Davisons yard, they asked if i could go there instead. They sorted his fitting out and its been fabulous.

So IF your friend really isnt impressed, just consider dropping them a line, they couldnt have been more helpful with me and were very apologetic in regards to the fitter in question. Im sure if they explain that 5 weeks on, the saddle still doesnt fit, they'll be more inclined to either help, or give said person a kick up the ar$e

 

[The Virgin Dubble]

To be frank, there is always the latest 'must have' item when it comes to horses, and the wow saddle seems to be the latest in a long line, that people swear by...

 

[harrihjc]

I looked at the korrector pads, and it seems they are more for when a saddle is slightly too wide, whereas my boy is filling out, so would still need to get a new saddle as well. I wondred whether panels deflating would be a common thing. I guess there are drawbacks with everything

 

[Tierra]

Ive got to say that when I first got my wow i was completly and utterly obsessed with the panels deflating

I checked the damn thing over obsessively every time i rode.

My current one has been on Jack now for about 18 months... he's changed headplate (which i did myself) and i think the flair is about ready for tweaking now (and i intend to do that myself). While the saddles often do need altering quite a lot when you first switch to them, ive not found it as bad as some of the horror stories ive heard and it is possible to do most of the maintenance yourself once you get to grips with the concept of the saddle and how it should fit.

As for whether its a fad thing... well flair has been around for about 10 years now, if not more. I remember it first coming out and a JA pony on our yard having their saddle converted.

The wow saddles have been round longer than most people realise (ive been in them for just over 3 and they werent that new then).

Its not a case of them being a new fad I dont think, just that more people are trying them out so the brand name is becoming more well known and because the concepts behind them are slightly different, they create more discussion. Im all for using technology to better products and thats basically whats happened with the wow. Some people dont like the feeling. Some people are very traditionalist and believe that saddles should be wool flocked!! etc etc

You're correct about the korrector pads Harri_and_flash. They're more to allow a conventional saddle to be tweaked throughout the seasons (i.e. if the horse drops some condition through the winter and needs something to fill the saddle out). So yes, if you're saddle is starting to get too tight, its useless to you.

The best you can do is try one

If you hate it, send the saddler away. If you like it, then you'll have a saddle thats very adjustable for a long time to come

 

[harrihjc]

well I have the saddler coming on tuesday, so if my suspicions are correct I will then start looking at new saddle options. Last time he was a bugger to get a saddle to fit!

 

[Tierra]

Yea mine was an absolute nightmare. The wow wasnt the first i tried on my new boy and nothing would fit him

The great thing about my wow is the way the panels are shaped. They're kinda banana shaped when you look at them, so they're closer together at the wither, then flex away from each other and then bend back in slightly.

These were added after the wow people identified that my horse has a muscle mass just back from his withers that pops up if he sticks his head in the air.. and more so it seems than most horses.

So while in an ideal world you'd say "dont let him stick his head up", if he did, the saddles would all instantly nip him across his spine

But with all the other saddles, going wide enough to accomodate this mass meant it was too wide on the wither and dropped down.

Its the first time id ever had a saddle fit where the saddlers wanted to see his back shape with his head at all different heights.