Owners of cobby type horses - saddle advice please!

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Tayto

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So - I am about to enter a whole new world of pain.... my horse needs a new saddle.

She currently has a wintec but it isnt the right shape for her. It slides to the side when schooling etc and I just dont like it.

She is a clydesdale x cob and has low withers with a pretty flat back. She is also bum high (a confirmation thing not an age things as she is fully grown) which I have been told may make it difficult to fit a saddle.

I have been looking at the Kent and Masters saddles and the Thorowgood saddles - any reviews on these?

In your experience what saddles do you find fit your cobby beasties best?

Thanks :D
 
I have a beast sounding very similar to yours. She was very difficult to fit, as she is wide, huge shoulders, slightly dipped back and short backed too. And I have long legs, so we're not a great combination, but we manage!! She is fitted with a Farrington dressage saddle and it's lovely. Super comfy and is really good at freeing up her shoulder. We do everything in it, hacking, schooling, dressage, xc. I love it. before this one we had a Farrington show hunter saddle, which was VSD, also very nice but some bu**er stole it!
 
I've also owned a Farrington saddle for previous horse and loved it. For my current boy - a chunky highland - I've had a Black Country Eloquence dressage saddle made to measure and have a BC GPX for hacking etc. The best thing about BC is their wide range of tree styles so one of them will fit. (not cheap though, sadly!)
 
my boy has a Kent and Masters Cob GP saddle and I love it, very comfy and fits us both. We've done everything in it from dressage and showing to SJ and XC quite happily. The Thorowgood and the K+M are based on the same tree I think, so if one fits, they both should (or neither will!) and you can change the headplates so if your horse puts on or loses weight, the width at the front can be adjusted.
good luck with finding something
 
I have a Saddle Company Cob saddle which was made to measure. I forked out on it because the whole tree is adjustable so can be changed as and when my boy changes shape.
Brand new Made to measure start around £600 I think - leather on top and synthetic underneath. When I was saving to buy my made to measure I kept an eye on second hand sites but the Cob saddles rarely came up and when they did they sold for around £450.

Good luck in your search for the perfect saddle, I know how frustrating it can be :)
 
ok other than the treeless route, i think you need to bite the bullet and find a saddler you trust, for me i found an ideal worked well, but every weird shaped pony is different

happy shopping
 
I use a Samber Working Hunter saddle on my short backed, high bummed, wide barrelled cob.

I also had a Farrington which seems identical (if not the same saddle). They are very versatile saddle's and have fit my 13.1hh Connie, a 15.2hh Shire x cob and a traditional coloured cob and now an ID x cob.

This one...(this is not mine btw)
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/17-Farrin...t=UK_Horse_Wear_Equipment&hash=item53fdb993ee
 
Thanks guys, given me a few to think about. Perhaps a made to measure one might be the route we have to go down. The saddler is coming out on 7th oct. they have a good rep and I have spoken to a few people who have used them and been very happy so fingers crossed they can help :)
 
I feel your pain! I too have just upgraded my wintec and now have an Ideal 1350 gp, which is really comfy for both my chunky cob and myself.
 
Another vote for Ideal. My MW Ideal GP fitted my table top back cob very well, and now it's gone onto my young (more steamlined version!) cob, and the old boy is in a Nathaniel Underwood Optimum performance saddle - I much prefer the Ideal.
 
Native pony saddles (aka native pony and cob saddles) by Andrea Hicks (look for Andrea's name as there are a few companies with similar names). I spent 5 months searching for a saddle for my fell and had exhausted all our local options when I found these guys. Cannot recommend them enough in terms of quality and customer service, I totally blew my budget but it was worth every penny.
 
Another vote for native pony & cob, fitted our conny brilliantly, previous saddler used a thorowgood & it was hopeless.
For the right shaped horse thorowgood does work - elderly cob has one - but I don't find it very comfy.
 
Ideal Highland and cob, native pony, comfort saddles and lavina Mitchell all good, try 2nd hand if needed. My hipo saddle was £400, sat on twice!
 
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