New horse saddle dilemma

Halfpass

Halfpass

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I haven’t been on here for years!! A quick hello to all.
I’ve found myself the proud new owner for a 14hh fell x cob.
We got him for the family to ride including my daughters who are 2 and 6 and my 17 year old step daughter.
He’s a great little chap and will hopefully do the job, finding a horse to cover such varying sizes and capabilities is very tricky!!
He’s quite short backed taking a 5’3” rug and came with a 16 1/2” saddle.
This saddle will be fine for the smallest kids but myself and my step daughter are rather rounder in the bum area so need something bigger!!
I’m worried that he won’t be able to take a 17 1/2” saddle plus he’s very wide which my limit is also.
Any suggestions on make or ideas as to how we can get round the issue of needing a bigger saddle on a shorter backed horse?
Thanks in advance x
 
Quite simply - you can't put a saddle on any horse that is longer than the weight bearing area of his back. You can't stretch them! If 16.5 is the greatest length he can safely take then that is what it is.
 
thats not true. You can have a slightly bigger seat put on smaller panels, you can get upswept panels which help as do flat seats and angled forward flaps. All sorts of things. I went for a Ghost in the end as mine was very, very tricky to fit, but a good fitter should be able to find you something that works. The trick is finding a good fitter though as lots are utterly useless!
 
Don’t Kent and Masters do compact saddles aimed at rider/horse combo’s such as this?
Have a look OP. I * think the compact versions have a bit smaller panels on larger seats. Can’t be by a huge amount but worth a look
 
The Kent and masters cob saddles have a larger seat for panel size... The square cantle gives the extra room. I have a 17 inch on a 14h cob and it fits fine.... I once tried a 17.5 ideal saddle on him and it was humongous, almost reached his bum.
 
I have a 17” k&m flat back saddle on my Welsh d but she’s in a 5’9-6’ rug. The equivalent GP was too long. Think you will struggle to get 17.5” to fit.
 
It's weightbearing panel length rather than absolute tree size which matters, so some designs will be more suitable than others. Sboom on here specialises in these tricky to fit native types, but sometimes riders are just too large to fit in a saddle which the pony can accommodate.

My own youngest mare can accomodate her 17" equipe jump saddle much better than her previous 17" K&M GP saddle, where the panels came back too far. I'm 5' 10" tall, and whether I can shoehorn my diminishing but still size 14 bum in the equipe is another matter ;).
 
Yep, sometimes it's a circle that just can't be squared. There are upswept panels, some just have short, low gussets but some such as the one I fit has a plain panel that literally sweeps up with the cantle. There are also larger seats on smaller panels, but ultimately they are all a compromise and must fit your horse. If the panel is made shorter you CANNOT get the same amount of height/lift at the back, so you can't just assume that if a 16.5 fits that a 17" with a shorter panel will also fit. Bear in mind that a flatter seat ie flatter tree will always give more room, for instance the TG and K&M Compact, IMO, gives no more room than the next size down of the Cob models, and the tree shape is curvier which is less likely to work on flatter wider backs. And one 16.5" model, even if the gussets look the same shape, will have a different footprint to another. I get very annoyed when fitters or back people say that there is only ONE seat size that will fit, or not to go over a certain seat size. They vary so much.

We have posted on Facebook more than once about trying to shop for a horse that can take the size of saddle that you need :)
 
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