Prize saddle woes - any legal eagles/saddle fitters out there?

Birker2020

Birker2020

Well-Known Member
Joined
29 October 2008
Messages
23,596
Visit site
Apologies for long post, tried to abreviate it as much as I could .

You may remember I put a post or two on here earlier this year about the prize saddle I'd won through a horse magazine publication.

The saddle fitter came out and took a template of the horse (he was not standing square but said it didn't matter). Due to bad weather it took ages to get the saddle and it had to be made to the template. This was an £1800 saddle, top of the range GP with special this and that features, which I can't really go into without giving the name of the manufacturer away which I don't really want to.

Anyway saddle comes, saddle fitter (same one that did the template) didn't want to stop and watch me ride. Plonked saddle on horse, didn't see it girthed up but declared it an excellent fit. Rode in it within ten mins of him leaving the yard, walked, trotted, cantered and jumped in it in the swirling snow that was falling, no problems, horse went so nice in it I rang him after I'd ridden to say thank you.

Following day horse did a little tail swishing, but I didn't really take any notice. Next day, didn't work him. Following day horse plunged forward in canter and followed this up by a small buck - presumed he was in high spirits as hadn't gone out much due to snow. Following day rode in saddle again, horse did another buck. Now this was a horse that had only ever bucked twice with me in 8.5 years, and here he was bucking twice in the same week, so the alarm bells started ringing, but the saddle felt okay when I felt it on him and looked like it fitted fine.

Next time I rode in it was for a jumping lesson with a new instructor. He asked me to canter over some placing poles before popping a fence! The horse landed and then violently fly bucked and I came off, landing hard on my back. I got back on as I didn't want to lose my confidence and trotted and cantered and he was fine but I refused to jump him. I had to cut my lesson short as my back was in such bad pain. When I tried to lead him back to the stable I could hardly walk, the pain was unbearable and I was in tears. To cut a long story short I ended up in A&E with xrays, and CT scan. Fortunately I was okay and I got away with bad bruising but if I had of landed differently it could have been another story.

After extensive bruising to my back (and aggravating my already slipped discs) I had the boss of the company out, who agreed about the saddle fit, said it was a little tight here, and there and needed flocking, so he took it away and brought it back a couple of weeks later. He tried it on the horse and this time watched me walk, trot and canter and jump. He said my horse had prominent spinous processes, which my physio says is rubbish. Anyway the horse went well and seemed to be relaxed and happy in the saddle. He advised in 8-10 weeks to get it reflocked. So about 7 weeks ago I had it reflocked (this was a free reflock due to it being a new saddle). I had it reflocked, and its been fine ever since, horse going really well in it, jumping 1.05m and dressaging in it, everything and its so comfortable and puts my legs in a good position, etc, etc but then the other night to my horror I noticed it was coming down on his withers again. When I stand in the saddle I can't get more than one finger under the pommel and I know this can't be correct.

So here we go again, it needs reflocking number 4! Since about Feb when I first had it.

There is no way this is right. Does anyone know what I should do now? Do I insist it gets reflocking again? Should I cut my losses and sell it and get something that DOES fit, - I already have a lovely Jeffries Falcon Event saddle and could use the money for this saddle for a 2nd hand dressage saddle and have money left over.

I suspect that the tree isn't the right tree for my horse but I am unsure how to approach the company. Do I have the same rights of redress that I would have it I had bought the saddle?

PS horse hasn't lost/gained weight significantly.


So sorry for long post. I am really fed up and disillusioned with the saddle.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I have absolutely no idea regarding your rights etc with a competition prize, but I think in the first instance I'd try calling them again, being polite and reasonable :wink3: despite the frustration this must have caused - and just see what they say.

If you don't think you're ever going to be truly happy with the saddle then you may as well sell it :) and get something you actually want.

It's a funny situation for a company sponsoring a competition like that because they can't possibly guarantee their prize will suit every single horse that might be the winning recipient. It's not quite the same as a saddler coming out and helping you choose a saddle, though you would expect them to comment if it was seriously unsuitable :confused4:

Around the same time as you won that, I won a dressage saddle which I was a little skeptical about at first, so I hung on to my old one while testing out the prize saddle. Lucky for me it has worked out brilliantly, but I would have said 'thanks very much for the prize', smiled sweetly and then flogged it if it hadn't suited my horse.
 
Last edited:
Have you got a copy of the terms and conditions of the comp and the actual competition page? Without these its hard to say what your rights are ...
 
I remember what company. I have to say I have had a really disappointing experience with them too at the end of the day. Saddle has never properly fitted and is not fit for purpose. Good luck with yours. They have seriously gone down in my estimation, so disappointing.
 
blitznbobs said:
Have you got a copy of the terms and conditions of the comp and the actual competition page? Without these its hard to say what your rights are ...
Click to expand...

This is probably the key thing! Mine certainly didn't come with any rights spelt out in the ts & cs - I just couldn't believe my luck so would never have thought that far tbh :biggrin3:
 
To be fair after initial poor service when the saddler basically just dumped the saddle and left, they seem to have dealt with all of your problems.

You had the saddle fitted to a horse coming out of the winter and now late summer the saddle no longer fits.It is possible that both the flocking has compacted down with use and that the horse has changed shape.

I would try contacting the saddle company again and see whether they are able to help. If their response is poor then contact the competition company and inform them how your dream new saddle has turned into a nightmare and is there anything they can do to influence the saddle company's service.

Once you have done this you can then decide where to go from there
 
ester said:
I'd just get it re flocked, it's not completely surprising that it needs doing again since new.
Click to expand...

I think its very suprising that here we are, about to embark on reflock number four since FEBRUARY, i.e six months.

Who else has had their new saddle flocked four times in six months???? :(

Yes, I was damn lucky to have won it, (I did come up with the verse they wanted though in order to win it), but I expected to have it reflocked in another twelve months. And I have to pay £80 for the privilege which I obvioulsy don't mind doing in twelve months, but not now when it was only done a couple of months ago.

I ride in it for a total of approx 7 hours a week, if that.

To be fair the company have been good and understanding, but so they should do as they received advertising space at a vast amount in order to advertise their products int his magazine, so saving them many thousands.

I will attempt to ring them today and see if I can get any joy. Otherwise it will go on ebay. Such a shame as its such a lovely saddle.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
If you don't think the tree is right you can spend time and money getting an independent saddler to check (but will you be convinced even then?) or you can just sell it. Once people loose faith in things it's hard to get it back tho, so every time he has an off day or bucks you'll still be thinking "that stupid saddle doesn't fit!"

I personally would sell it and find something I was happy with - less faff and worry.
 
I'd sell it then if you aren't happy with it. Iirc there are others on here who have had trouble getting said make to fit even when M2M.

I do wonder if it can go that low after a flock a couple of months ago that it may be too wide? /is horse still in similar condition to when template was taken (if not perhaps you may need to pad in the summer months sort of thing).
 
Even though the item was free I would still expect it needs to be fit for purpose and therefore you would have the same rights as if you purchased the saddle.
 
Hi...I think you are in a very difficult situation; you have a new saddle but I believe you also have on-going issues with your horse re hock arthritis/lameness. We had an exchange of posts on your thread of 30/7 re the ethanol fusion 'failure'.....back issues are often secondary to hock issues so I wonder (playing devil's advocate for a moment!) whether it is fair to blame the saddle and the fitting 100%. Subtle changes in your boys way of going/hock/back will no doubt have been building for weeks/months and this may be the reason why you are having issues. It may be that due to those changes it is correct to have a reflocking/fitting now for the fourth time. Not making excuses for shoddy service, just trying to put another spin on it. Hope you get both horse and saddle sorted! :)
 
^^^ agree with this. I went thru no end of saddles with my boy. And he always had a sore back and bucked. Turns out he has DJD of the hocks. I spent a fortune on back people and saddles when I probably didn't need to.
 
mrsbt said:
Even though the item was free I would still expect it needs to be fit for purpose and therefore you would have the same rights as if you purchased the saddle.
Click to expand...

Just cos it doesn't fit doesn't mean it's not fit for purpose - it depends whether you won 'a saddle' or a saddle that is correctly fitted for your horse... And that comes down to the t and c s
 
blitznbobs said:
Just cos it doesn't fit doesn't mean it's not fit for purpose - it depends whether you won 'a saddle' or a saddle that is correctly fitted for your horse...
Click to expand...

This is what I was kind of getting at earlier. It's a critical difference! :) though perhaps not spelled out in the actual competition blurb.

I can only speak from my own experience, which was there were no promises about it being a perfect fit, only that they would obv do their best :wink3: fortunately for me their best was good enough (for clarity, different company in my case).
 
4 flocks in 6months- for me that would have been great at 1 point I was needing more flocking after 1 or 2 rides in a new saddle!
From what I have learnt on my long & arduous saddle journey with my horse regarding re-flocks average for an off the peg model is 2 b done after approx 6wks then 6monthly thereafter
For M2M ideas or made to orders it can b much morw frequent. These tend to be very lightly flocked when made to allow for it to be exactly fitted to horse therefore the little flocking settles v quickly & needs done very often.
So for me 4 times in 6months doesn't seem excessive. But my view maybe by slightly skewed cos of my own ongoing saddle saga!
 
gunnergundog said:
Hi...I think you are in a very difficult situation; you have a new saddle but I believe you also have on-going issues with your horse re hock arthritis/lameness. We had an exchange of posts on your thread of 30/7 re the ethanol fusion 'failure'.....back issues are often secondary to hock issues so I wonder (playing devil's advocate for a moment!) whether it is fair to blame the saddle and the fitting 100%. Subtle changes in your boys way of going/hock/back will no doubt have been building for weeks/months and this may be the reason why you are having issues. It may be that due to those changes it is correct to have a reflocking/fitting now for the fourth time. Not making excuses for shoddy service, just trying to put another spin on it. Hope you get both horse and saddle sorted! :)
Click to expand...

There's no doubt about it Gunnerdog that the way the saddle was fitted at the beginning resulted in the horse bucking me off. As soon as this was rectified the horse was fine and has not bucked since. My physio checked the horse about five weeks ago and nothing untoward was found. I rode the horse in the saddle again last night (as I do every night) and there were no bucks or tail swishing, and we jumped over 1m without any adverse reaction.

The only problem last night was the lameness/stiffnes which shows as lameness which dissapears after a lap of the school, which considering he has arthritis in both hocks, and severe coffin bone arthritis (and vet said was sound in Oct after having both conditions for 5 years) he is doing very well.

Sadly its nothing to do with the horses way of going which is altering the fit of the saddle but thanks for your input all the same x
 
I have a new jump saddle with large panels. I was warned when I bought it that it was take a while to get the flocking established.

It needed flocking after two weeks and is likely to need looking at again in the next few months.

This is down to the type and shape of the panel and as I purchased this saddle through choice I was warned.

Your inital fitting sounds dreadful, but if you have been fine since then I would not let needing more flocking put me off the saddle.
 
i had a bates innova gutted of the CAIR panels and then wool flocked, it needed re flocking 4 times in 6 months to get it right , and i accepted that as it fitted horse beautifully at the end of it (and in between, until it settled i hasten to add, once it had settled 100% it was seen 6 monthly as i do with all my saddles)

if you and horse like it, i think tbh a few extra flocks is neither here or there..........
 
To keep needing to flock the front up does indicate a possible issue with either horse or saddle - if the saddle is fitted a hair wide and is moving at the back it could cause slight damage to the muscles at the front and the saddle will drop, even if the flocking hasn't reduced in thickness. I would consider temporarily padding it up to see if it helps if the horse's way of going is affected. You might need the tree narrowing but obviously you only want to do that if it really is the correct fit and isn't making up for a lack of panel depth/flocking, and you're narrowing just to gain clearance.

Equally, severe coffin join arthritis can affect how well the horse muscles up at the front, there just MIGHT be an effect, even if you can't see any lameness.

If I was coming out to top up flocking again and again in a short space of time I'd be concerned that I was missing something.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top