More Advice Please!!

hannah9000

hannah9000

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Hi all,

Following on from my previous thread, I've been chatting to a lady with a rising 9 16.2hh TB gelding who came from a racing yard last summer. She's pregnant and her husband won't let her ride. She had him up for sale but I asked if a loan with view to buy would be considered and she agreed and said if I did choose to buy come the end of the loan she'd knock a couple hundred quid off. Anyway, more to the point - the horse is currently rested as he has bruising to his back due to an ill fitting saddle (which testament to his personality he coped with extremely well, never trying to get rid of his rider, no bolting bucking or rearing). He needs his topline building (fine) and rides in a happy mouth bit and has good brakes despite being very forward.
My questions:
What is the approx cost for a saddle fitter to come out and review/adjust the saddle? I don't want to start with him with a poor fitting saddle and go back down the route he's just recovering from.

He's not done alot of work since coming from the racing yard, the owner has just hacked him getting him 'used to life'. So i'm prepared to put in some hard work with him schooling etc. Just wanted your opinions too as I found the advice the other day invaluable :)
 
You're looking at around £90 for the saddle to be assessed and re-flocked. However, the owner should be paying this - not you. She needs to send the horse off with correctly fitting tack and a fit and healthy horse.

I'm not sure what your level of experience is (so apols if I offend) but is this really the sort of horse you want?
 
Yep i'm looking for a project horse as i've found myself with plenty of spare time and for the last 5 years i've been breaking other peoples horses! I don't want to go through the breaking process however i'm happy to have a horse that needs work.
 
Ah, cool. Sounds just the ticket then. Remember to have an agreed price in writing if you are taking it on loan with a view to buy.
 
I've decided, that should I go ahead and loan this horse, that i'll get the saddle and have it fitted as long as the owner gets his teeth, back etc checked and has him wormed before I take him on....does this sound fair?
 
Personally I'd be cautious about paying to re-fit a saddle that isn't yours unless you really like both it and the horse, think they'll be good together, and realistically intend (barring unforseen issues during the loan period) to buy both. :-( I understand loan horses usually come with (fitting!) tack, no?
 
Oh, but having said that if it really is only 90GBP then it will be small compared to the cost of actually keeping horsey during loan so I wouldn't be too fussed either :-) espec. if you get the written agreement on future price.
 
Tickles said:
Personally I'd be cautious about paying to re-fit a saddle that isn't yours unless you really like both it and the horse, think they'll be good together, and realistically intend (barring unforseen issues during the loan period) to buy both. :-( I understand loan horses usually come with (fitting!) tack, no?
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It's not just the fitting i'd be paying for, i'd be buying the new (second-hand) saddle also and have it fitted. I'm off to view the horse hopefully Friday so I will be able to talk about options with the owner then. You're righ, loan horses do normally come with fitting tack, however this horse was originally up for sale but she's agreed to loan with view to buy for me if I got on with the horse during the loan period. So the worse that could happen was that the horse got sent back after the loan period and I'd have a saddle with no ride!
 
Sorry, not sure I properly understand but if you are going to buy him another saddle why bother getting his owner's saddle reflocked? My first question when I read your post was that it could well be possible that his current saddle is such a poor fit that it won't be possible to have it reflocked to fit.
 
Sorry, I meant, I'll get him a new one and get a saddler to ensure it fits correctly as he's had this ill-fitting one for a while and the last thing I want to do it put another ill-fitting saddle on him. I don't intend to get his old one reflocked.
 
Just read my first post and I can see how it's confused you! Sorry! I just meant I want to be thorough and ensure we start off on the right foot so I want the new saddle checked etc.
 
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