Nightmare with prize saddle

Birker2020

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Some of you might remember me putting various posts about my prize saddle I won in Horse & Rider competition last year.

Well its been nothing but trouble for me, as I've been bucked off and ended in A&E and its been reflocked three times now since Feb this year and it needs doing again now! It still doesn't fit correctly and I am thinking that the tree doesn't fit my horse in which case no amount of reflocking will work.

The saddle fitter is coming out again. I asked them to reflock my previous saddle a lovely Jeffries Falcon Event Saddle but that has also gone down drastically also. I've been riding a lot lately in the prize saddle and my horse has been going quite nicely but last night he was really playing up, a lot of tail swishing, going hollow, rushing and at one stage he took off with me and I nearly came off. He was not happy at all. I think its the saddle and because its gone down at the back its pushing my legs foward into a crazy hunting position which means my aids are really ineffective. My riding has gone downhill and I feel my position in continually being compromised. I wonder if there will ever be light at the end of this saddle tunnel and I am beginning to think I would be better off to part with it (its a lovely ITree 18" GP, a really smart looking saddle that many people have commented on). But at least then I could get a dressage saddle that DOES fit me and my horse and I can have proper knee rolls and a correct position in the saddle with a saddle that fits.

I am going to ride with a rear riser pad tonight to see if this makes any difference as I have a combined training competition tomorrow. I know front/rear risers are only a temporary solution but if this can make my horse more comfortable until the saddle fitter comes out (yet again) then it will be worth it. The saddle is going to be sold if the saddle fitter cannot remedy this.

HELPPPPPP!!!!
 
Fitting a saddle is like fitting shoes you wear everyday, it has to be perfect in order to be comfortable, IMO.

I know which saddle it is you have and it really is lovely, but some saddles are just not meant to be. In your situation, I would sell the saddle and then use the sales funds to buy you and your horse one that fits perfectly. Aimee at Southam had a load of lovely saddles when she last posted them for sale on her Facebook!

Ps. Is it the SRC comb. training you are doing?
 
If your horse works ok in the old saddle then use that and sell the prize one. You may never know why your horse doesn't get on with it but if it operates ok in something else you should just respond accordingly. If the horse is tricky in its old saddle you need to bear in mind that the problem might be the horse and its just a coincidence you changed saddles the same time the horse went wrong.
 
Sell the damn thing and use the money to get a saddler out. Get them to bring lots of different saddles and try them until you find one that suits you both. That's the trouble with winning a saddle; when I was younger and naive I was given £1000 from my grandparents and decided to buy a saddle, told the saddler what I wanted and they fitted it to her. Few weeks later my instructor came up and told me it didn't fit and looking back it clearly didn't; pony was a round welsh D and saddle was a falcon pony saddle more suited to a much finer breed, got the saddler back out and he gave me about 3/4 saddles to choose from that would suit my horses shape. I think the saddler should have told me that it wasn't suitable but that was the one I had asked for not really understanding how it worked and I was pretty much waiving the money at him!
 
you're obviously unhappy with the saddle, if it's making you feel this bad and is affecting your riding then just sell it and move on!!!!
 
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