Little saddles for little backs.

I

itsme123

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We have a standard shetland who is quite chunky and as such can take a 14 1/2" to 15" saddle. He is ridden by both my children. When being ridden by tinies I find his Maxam saddle is perfect, it allows the children to sit well and keeps them firmly in place. I can use it with a grippy saddle pad and have no problems with slippage etc.

However, when my eldest sits on him the saddle tips him fowards, and makes him 'perch' on top. This makes trotting difficult and uncomfortable.

Next year we hope to do more showing and as such when buying a new saddle I have this in mind. A saddle which can be used for the show ring and for GP for my elder child.

I've looked at all sorts of saddles and decided that for my eldest a treeless saddle pad will be best.

I don't want to spend alot of the treeless pad, I simply don't have hundreds of pounds to spare right now...
I really like the shires leather saddle pad, and at £60 it seems reasonable and attractive enough for the show ring. The only problem is that most saddle pads of this nature seem to measure in at about 17 inches on the seat (the shires doesnt say how big it is).. http://www.shiresequestrian.co.uk/shop/product.php?productid=905&cat=375&page=1

Does anyone have any idea how big these shires pads come up? Or where I can buy a saddle pad in leather or suede which will fit his back and I can attatch my own girth to?? Oh, and preferably under £100... (I have a new bridle, bits, rugs etc to buy atm so really am watching the pennies!)
 
Doh
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I didnt think of that! will do so when they're next open
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I looked at some on ebay for sizing and most said 17 inhes from front to back, so assumed this would be the same...
 
I think our saddle pad is quite big, probably larger than you'd need, but we showed shetties to top level in it. Because of how the saddle is you don't need it to be short, and if its not too long they look fine.

Have you looked into racing saddles? These were easier to use on the more fowards going shetties as they don't spin round so easily. Just the normal TB racing ones fitted well. As the saddle pads offer no support side ways, so if we went tto fast round a corner, I fell off. Every time.

Our saddle Pad has a girth attached btw. That didn't matter for showing atall.
 
I'm going to phone shires on Monday and see if they can tell me the length and advise me...

He's not a foward going shettie at all, he's very steady, but will look into a racing saddle in the future when jumping etc becomes more attractive to the children..

I need to be able to change the girth as I'm a total fusspot and it HAS to match the saddle LOL.
 
Thanks for that. I had a shettie breeder recommend the Zoe Snape saddle pad, and I looked into it and decided that although it's a reasonable price I just didnt like the look of it (It looks like someone made it at home on their sewing machine
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Told you I was fussy LOL.
 
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If you do go for that one after speaking to Shires, let me know first, I can get some discount for you!
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would you be able to find out the length of them for me? lol.

Will take you up on the discount if I go for it, every penny helps!
 
I'm getting my 5yo one of the griffin pony club saddle for our shetland. She does want to do a bit of jumping as well as games and general hacking, cub saddle hurt her when she was jumped out of the saddle at the weekend. I'm told they aren't at all bad, not sure about showing in a synthetic though
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the maxam is just like the griffin, and they are good saddles on shetlands. i find they have enough 'spring' in the tree to fit well and stay in place (ie don't slip sideways)

They're not great for older kids jumping though
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, I've had this pony jump two jumps with a rider on board. First time rider went out of the side door, after being 'bounced' out of the saddle on takeoff , and second time (with a much more experienced child who has a great seat) child approached jump, pony jumped, pony landed, child left the seat a second time and ended up on the floor. They do tend to tip fowards with weight on them too
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. The downside to a pad is that there is nothing to hold the child, but the upside is it won't bounce off the pony's back... so i guess it swings in roundabouts.

showing at local level in a synthetic is fine, we've never had it affect placings. But we hope to show at a little higher level next year, hence wanting something a little smarter.
 
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