Pony Dressage Saddle

[sue_ellen]

My daughter would like a dressage saddle for her Welsh b - he's a medium fit and will take a maximum 15 1/2"in length.
Who makes them? Can only find Wintec, is there any other makes? And what are the chances of finding a second hand one - very much doubt I will be able to afford a brand new one.
Any suggestions/experiences will be very gratefully recieved, she has been very ill this year and her pony is the one thing that has kept her going, she loves him so much!
I would love to treat her to the one thing she would love for him, so any help would be wonderful.
Thanks in advance.

 

[jrp204]

My daughter had a wintec for her pony, not a bad little saddle for the money. I held back spending too much when she was going to outgrow the pony. I did spend more when she moved onto a horse.

 

[Herts05]

Martin Wilkinson does a Pony saddle - I think it is called a Cygnet. You can sometimes find them second hand on the BD classifieds page (or via his website too)

 

[sbloom]

If you search for companies that makes saddles for ponies you should find some more, we certainly fit them quite a lot. I would suggest though, that if you need second hand, that you consider a not too flat showing saddle - I find that many smaller riders find they haven plenty enough support for dressage. Do be sure that they are well fitted flocked saddles though, so many showing saddles are very close contact and designed for the show ring and not for every day, I see the damage they do to ponies' backs

The saddles mentioned so far may work well if the pony isn't flat backed, they may rock (lift at the back) on anything that is flat as they are quite curvy trees.

 

[holeymoley]

I had a 16" wintec for my welsh c cross coloured. It was a great saddle. I only stopped using it when it was apparent that even in the Xwide gullet it wasn't fitting him anymore. As sbloom has said, they're quite a curvy tree. I now have an Ideal show saddle - more of a working hunter type which is great as still gives you support but its also straight cut. My main reason for having the dressage saddle was he has quite a big shoulder and anything remotely forward cut would slip back. Should add we do focus mainly on flatwork , but in the dressage saddle I did manage to clear a jump over 3ft! Was a shame about the shape of it thought or I would probably still have it. My ideal is fab though pretty much the all rounder .

 

[Sunshine]

Bates do make a 15in pony dressage saddle, in leather as opposed to the wintec fabric.

If you are prepared to pay for full leather Ideal and Albion can also make their pony dressage saddles on smaller trees. I had a chat with Ideal about changing my 15.5 WH into a dressage saddle and they said it was possible but probably as cost effective to order brand new. If you are looking to spend an enormous amount on the saddle then you can buy the Equipe monoflap in pony sizes.

There is a great saddler in North Wales who travels widely and has designed her own Francesca pony dressage in conjunction with Ideal, but she also supplies and fits the Equipe and others as an independent saddler. PM if you want her details.