massive saddle and saddler problems

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clairefeekerry1

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Hi. As some of you may know I have had a horrid 8 months of un diagnosable lameness and have pretty much hit my insurance limit. After a referal to a major hospital to my horror my saddle is playing a major part in this. First thing on my vet report is to get a different saddle fitted. I will mention names on here as not slagging anyone off but if anyone wishes to add their thoughts please do. Pm if you prefer. I bought a kent and masters new saddle of colne saddlery they have been out twice since and assured me it fits. Vets say it really doesnt. I now need a new saddle and would like someone else out as still un decided as to how I am going to approach this with colne saddlery. I have been suggested kay humphries but I am concerned about the prices being banded around. I'm so annoyed that my saddle could be the major factor. Colne saddlery are highly thought of round here but the vets say the saddle is all wrong for his confirmation. My insurance company may want to take this forward too. I'm now left with a nearly new saddle that I cant use and a horse thats been lame for 8 months so I dont have alot of money!
 
Sorry to hear about your saddle problems so annoying, Why dont you give Barnsby a call, they will come out for free at the moment and as they are master saddlers if something can be done to fit your saddle they will do,
worth a try and I know they do flexi pay on new saddles
 
I'm in oxfordshire. I do know most of the saddlers round here but I thought I was using the best. Not sure if I want to use a normal saddler.
 
That's terrible. I really feel for you. You are not the first whose horse has been crippled by so called master saddlers. There are a lot of good ones, but many well thought of ones operating that are fitting saddles far too narrow. I had an 18 year old horse arrive at my yard with hind limb lameness and terrible muscle wastage. I was supposed to school him but as soon as I put the saddle (fitted and regularly checked by master saddler) on his back, it was obvious why. The saddle was a narrow fit and the horse was a wide! He was only narrow because of the muscle wastage. A new saddle and a new saddler later and the horse filled out 2 inches each side of his withers and his lameness completely went. I hope you resolve your problems, but it is all so expensive!
 
I would never use Colne for saddles, hit and miss fitting (not that I've had one fitted by him, but know plenty of folks that have), over-priced and I just don't like his snooty, superior attitude.

ETA he won't admit anything. Someone else on here has had the same problem with this saddler, if I can remember their user name I'll find the related threads.
 
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Its such a pain up the bum. I'm no expert a but I quite like the saddle and it looks okay to me but the vets are on about the width of the gully etc not just the width of the plate. Obviously the vet hospital were very careful what the said but they went along the lines of it is not right for his confirmation. Thing is he's not am odd shape or build. What about kay humphries then? Pm if you prefer.
 
the vets are on about the width of the gully etc not just the width of the plate
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OK, so it was pressing on his spine because the gap between the panels isn't wide enough. That does make sense, given his syptoms.
 
Try Lavinia Mitchell: laviniamitchell.com lovely lady, took lots of time to explain what she was doing, profiling my horses back, and explaining what it all meant, trying different saddles etc. Showed me as well some remedial horse profiles before and after she's been to work with them.
 
I have used maurice from colne on 2 occasions and thought he was lovely, polite, professional and took his time getting the right fit of saddle for me and my horse and I managed to sell my saddle for the same amount I paid for it so I didnt think he was overpriced either.

Saying that I thought he did fit a tad on the tight side and ended up swapping for the next size up but that turned out to be too wide so I think it was was my horse forever changing shape that was the problem not the saddle fitter.

I dont know anyone else that has had a problem with him either!

However, as you are looking for an alternative, how about Mike and Sue Norton from the saddlers in the covered market? They have a brilliant reputation too!
 
Finding a decent saddle fitter is the bain of my life, I really feel for you hun.
I had a saddler (we are sort of in the same area) fit a saddle to my boy & had so much difficulty with it, he then got struck off the master saddlers as well so was un-contactable.

Kay Humpries is based near us, I have heard hit & miss things about her & for the money I dont think it is worth hte risk, although she apparently makes her saddles made to measure but have heard a few people say how they have had no end of problems with them & spending £1000 a time, its not a good service.

I am currently in talks with Kevin McArdle (SP??) he is based in Oxford, he has a website if you google him, has been very helpful to me but he wont travel to me for less than £100 +VAT cos we are so far away.

Good luck!
 
I have used Ian Hastilow before and found him very good. Don't know where he is based. He has also helped a few of my friends too, and does part-ex (he part-exed my GFS for a Black Country and I ended up paying a very minimal amount towards the new saddle).
 
Could you not get the saddler and vet together on the yard so the vet can show the saddler where the problem is ? He make take the comments from a vet rather than you ?
 
clairefeekerry1 said:
Hi. As some of you may know I have had a horrid 8 months of un diagnosable lameness and have pretty much hit my insurance limit. After a referal to a major hospital to my horror my saddle is playing a major part in this. First thing on my vet report is to get a different saddle fitted. I will mention names on here as not slagging anyone off but if anyone wishes to add their thoughts please do. Pm if you prefer. I bought a kent and masters new saddle of colne saddlery they have been out twice since and assured me it fits. Vets say it really doesnt. I now need a new saddle and would like someone else out as still un decided as to how I am going to approach this with colne saddlery. I have been suggested kay humphries but I am concerned about the prices being banded around. I'm so annoyed that my saddle could be the major factor. Colne saddlery are highly thought of round here but the vets say the saddle is all wrong for his confirmation. My insurance company may want to take this forward too. I'm now left with a nearly new saddle that I cant use and a horse thats been lame for 8 months so I dont have alot of money!
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have you considered balance international , there a lot more than saddle fitters, there trained in bio mechs , for horse and human can rate them highly enough £50 bys you a visit a joy ride in there saddles, buts the info they give in great detail thats worth the 50 quid, also the hire of a port lewis pad will show all sorts of this,
 
apritina10 said:
Sorry to hear about your saddle problems so annoying, Why dont you give Barnsby a call, they will come out for free at the moment and as they are master saddlers if something can be done to fit your saddle they will do,
worth a try and I know they do flexi pay on new saddles
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do you work for barnsby?!? almost all your posts are about Barnsby...! :eek:

anyhoo OP, there's often talk about 'master saddlers' on these threads... and we expect them to be Gods in the world of saddle fitting, but remember 'master saddler' means they MAKE saddles. They may never have actually seen a horse in their life (okay, so that's unlikely.. but in theory you know what i mean)... some are trained as fitters, but that's nothing to do with their 'Master Saddler' title. I think the confusion comes from The Society of Master Saddlers are the people that award the master saddler title, and have now branched out into the world of saddle fitting training too.


I think your first port of call should be your fitter, and explain what the vet has said. Most fitters want to have a good reputation and will work with you. If that doesn't work, it could be worth calling Kent and Masters, as they are usually actually very friendly and helpful... and, whilst the fitter was the person that fitted the saddle, K&M don't want a customer out there that is unhappy with their saddle. They too have a reputation to look after.

Good luck! I hope it all gets sorted out. x
 
I went through this with my horse - he went for bone scans etc etc and it all turned out to be down to the saddle which I had checked and double checked; the trouble was I kept using the same saddler who I previously trusted. Turns out he wasn't qualified - or if he had been he had since been asked to leave the Society of Master Saddlers. Anyhow, long story short, I wrote it all down, contacted Trading Standards, sent letters to the saddler setting out exactly what the problem was and giving him x time limit to refund the cost of the saddle. I also had to get a Master Saddler to come and check the saddle and confirm that it was not fit for purpose. I got my money back via the Small Claims Court and then returned the saddle.

If you pm me your email address I'll forward an email I got for Trading Standards at the time which may be useful to you. There also may be a way of pursuing the saddler for damage to your horse - although your insurance company may decide to do this on your behalf.

Its hell, I know. I hope you get it all sorted soon.
 
Thank you everyone. Some really good advice. See this is the problem with saddlers . Some like some dont. There is one name someone has suggested that I would not touch with a barge poll! So I suppose it its a personal choice. I dont think the vets would directly go against the saddler. They have chosen their words carefully. I was maybe thinking of ringing colne saddlery and asking them for their thoughts. But half of me doesnt want them anywhere near my horse.
 
Bowen4Horses said:
do you work for barnsby?!? almost all your posts are about Barnsby...! :eek:

anyhoo OP, there's often talk about 'master saddlers' on these threads... and we expect them to be Gods in the world of saddle fitting, but remember 'master saddler' means they MAKE saddles. They may never have actually seen a horse in their life (okay, so that's unlikely.. but in theory you know what i mean)... some are trained as fitters, but that's nothing to do with their 'Master Saddler' title. I think the confusion comes from The Society of Master Saddlers are the people that award the master saddler title, and have now branched out into the world of saddle fitting training too.


I think your first port of call should be your fitter, and explain what the vet has said. Most fitters want to have a good reputation and will work with you. If that doesn't work, it could be worth calling Kent and Masters, as they are usually actually very friendly and helpful... and, whilst the fitter was the person that fitted the saddle, K&M don't want a customer out there that is unhappy with their saddle. They too have a reputation to look after.

Good luck! I hope it all gets sorted out. x
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thank you. some good suggestions there- and i didnt actually realise what 'master saddler' meant!! thing is i really like my saddle and i used some inheritance money, its one of the nicest saddles i've ridden in a while. sounds silly but i feel a bit awkward ringing the saddlers, they are a bugger to get hold of as well.
 
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