Keep losing my saddle cloth from under my saddle...any ideas?

Tiarella

Tiarella

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Hi, just a quickie. I recently bought a new bates ap saddle for my nf pony. Had it fitted, and then had it re fitted on tuesday as i'm having terrible problems keeping a saddle cloth under it. No matter if theyre with/without velcro straps, girth loops, high withered etc they all slip back and back. Never had this issue before, and its really bugging me! The saddle fits lovely, so im presuming its not the saddle? Was thinking of buying http://www.horsehealth.co.uk/acaval...l/acavallo-just-gel-lambskin-half-pad-natural and see if that solves the problem?
 
TandD said:
I was told that if the saddle cloth is slipping is does mean the saddle is not fitting correctly!
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Im beginning to think this you know. Bought saddle brand new, as got told it would be perfect...4 weeks later i'm already having it adjusted. Have booked in to go and see another saddle fitter on wednesday.

6 years, 6 saddles and still nothing that fits :(

I doubt i'd be able to get a refund on my new saddle if it wasnt suitable?
 
and the funny thing is....all the times i've tried the saddle/other saddles she always made me wear a thin numnah, this time when she adjusted it she made me wear nothing at all, hmmm.
 
When this happened to me it was because the saddle wasn't wide enough, the action of the saddle trying to move forward would send the numnah backwards. Mine was a new saddle supposedly made to fit, once I got a wider saddle the problem went away
 
Hi
Just a thought, are you using a elastic insert girth? My saddle always moves and makes nummnah move also, when I use one. when doing faster work I often had to get off to readjust. With a normal non elastic girth no problem, complete with hunting breastplate.
My horse does have odd conformation though so maybe that's it, but just a thought.
Star*
 
This happens on my horse, in every saddle he has ever had, which fit him and have been consistently refitted to him. His problem is he has a huge wide very free shoulder which flings the numnahs back. I have tried many things, and the thing that works the best is, I brought a roll of that grippy sticky gel like stuff used as draw liner. I brought a huge sheet of it in Tesco for £5 as a car boot liner, cut it to fit under the saddle and put it between saddle and numnah.
 
I always used to use an elastic girth, but on this saddle I use a girth without elastic so it won't be that :( he is a little croup high and an inch too long in the back, with big shoulders - do you think that would affect the saddlecloth? Just seems strange that I've never had this problem before with any other saddle.
 
mil1212 said:
This happens on my horse, in every saddle he has ever had, which fit him and have been consistently refitted to him. His problem is he has a huge wide very free shoulder which flings the numnahs back. I have tried many things, and the thing that works the best is, I brought a roll of that grippy sticky gel like stuff used as draw liner. I brought a huge sheet of it in Tesco for £5 as a car boot liner, cut it to fit under the saddle and put it between saddle and numnah.
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He is a new forest pony, who does have quite big moving shoulders - do you think that will be the issue? Why only do it in this saddle and none of the others I've ever had? That sounds like a much better idea than spending £80 on a pad to keep my £1200 saddle in place, grrr!
 
To be fair, he moves very nicely and his paces have extended a lot since being in this saddle - do you think now he has more shoulder freedom and bigger movement they're slipping?
 
I couldn't say that it was definitely not the saddle fit, but this is exactly what happens with my horse, it happens most in canter and when jumping, when he truly throws his shoulder. I brought a barnsby grip saddle pad and it didn't work to great expense as well as the gel pads. No harm in trying the draw liner, you can always use it for something else at least!
 
mil1212 said:
This happens on my horse, in every saddle he has ever had, which fit him and have been consistently refitted to him. His problem is he has a huge wide very free shoulder which flings the numnahs back. I have tried many things, and the thing that works the best is, I brought a roll of that grippy sticky gel like stuff used as draw liner. I brought a huge sheet of it in Tesco for £5 as a car boot liner, cut it to fit under the saddle and put it between saddle and numnah.
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Same. CS has huge shoulders, big movement up front and always moves his pads back. Saddle fits, horse is happy, pads just go squiff! He won't tolerate a gel pad on his skin so I put it between saddle and pad which helps. You can try either way if Douglas isn't such a fussy pants!
 
I'm afraid Bates, although advertise that their saddles can be adjusted to fit any horse it's not strictly correct. The width of the gullet is not the only measurement that needs to be right. I've had horses where a Bates saddle fits & others that there is no way a Bates will fit. I do hope you get this sorted out though.
 
Prince33Sp4rkle said:
Same. CS has huge shoulders, big movement up front and always moves his pads back. Saddle fits, horse is happy, pads just go squiff! He won't tolerate a gel pad on his skin so I put it between saddle and pad which helps. You can try either way if Douglas isn't such a fussy pants!
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Compared to cs his movement is minimal haha but for a nf he does have big shoulder movement espesh in this saddle now he can lift more in it too. My friend has a gel pad I'm going to try this lunch time between saddlecloth and saddle - fingers crossed it works!
 
Toby_Zaphod said:
I'm afraid Bates, although advertise that their saddles can be adjusted to fit any horse it's not strictly correct. The width of the gullet is not the only measurement that needs to be right. I've had horses where a Bates saddle fits & others that there is no way a Bates will fit. I do hope you get this sorted out though.
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We tried many saddles and bates was the best because of the flat tree. I had it fitted properly and then re adjusted after 4 weeks. I don't know what to do? :(
 
rachaelstar said:
I have had it properly fitted though? This is just becoming an absolute nightmare, I just want a saddle within price range that fits!! :( :(
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I got Kay Humphries out - I don't trust anyone else, and then had my saddle rebuilt to her measurements and specification. The tree was luckily fundamentally the right shape, it needed adjusting slightly at the withers and completely re-stuffing to my mare's shape. The saddle now fits so well I can probably ride without a girth.
 
TandD said:
I was told that if the saddle cloth is slipping is does mean the saddle is not fitting correctly!
Click to expand...

I never had any trouble keeping a saddle cloth where it should be - until my horse's back dipped and it was more mobile than water after that. My girl was a funny shape and I didn't feel that the saddle could be stuffed to take her into account so I retired her.
 
I had this problem when the velcro loop at the bottom edge of the numnah was in the wrong place for the saddle and the girth/girthstraps were effectively pulling the cloth back. It happened with a dressage cut numnah on a forward cut saddle, swapped to the gp version of the same numnah and it didn't.
 
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