Lenticular Cloud
New User
We bought a new saddle in September/October last year for a full up 148 five-year-old pony we bought a couple of months previously, due to none of our existing saddles fitting her. The pony is a show-jumper, with high-class eventing parentage, and is liveried in a 20+ horse yard. We got a reccommended saddler in, who made several visits, measured her up and fitted her with a 17" saddle.
Over the intervening months, she lost weight, noticeably, such that we changed her food to try and put a bit more muscle on her. At the end of January, the saddler came around for a follow-up visit, and told us that the saddle did not fit properly due to her weight loss, which would explain why she was not jumping well, and that she needed a 16" saddle.
The saddler offered us £350 for the old saddle, and to sell us a new one for another £650 (what we paid first time round). Now, I can see a horse getting thinner may well affect the saddle fitting, and may even make the original of no use because of her shape whatever, but I cannot for the life of me see how she could shrink lengthwise requiring a change from a 17" to a 16". Am I being naive, am I missing something here?
Does this sound reasonable? We consulted another saddler, who said in their opinion the first one can never have fitted her. As it stands, we turned down the £350 and asked for £400, which has been rejected by the saddler. As I see it now, our options are now reduced to a small-claims court to try and get the money back as we consider we were sold an incorrect saddle, but that only holds true if a pony can't shrink lengthwise. If that is a known trait, then we're a bit stuck.
Would appreciate any thoughts on the length issue (rather than issues with saddlers - I think everybody has problems at some time or other with them!). Do ponies ever shrink like that?
Over the intervening months, she lost weight, noticeably, such that we changed her food to try and put a bit more muscle on her. At the end of January, the saddler came around for a follow-up visit, and told us that the saddle did not fit properly due to her weight loss, which would explain why she was not jumping well, and that she needed a 16" saddle.
The saddler offered us £350 for the old saddle, and to sell us a new one for another £650 (what we paid first time round). Now, I can see a horse getting thinner may well affect the saddle fitting, and may even make the original of no use because of her shape whatever, but I cannot for the life of me see how she could shrink lengthwise requiring a change from a 17" to a 16". Am I being naive, am I missing something here?
Does this sound reasonable? We consulted another saddler, who said in their opinion the first one can never have fitted her. As it stands, we turned down the £350 and asked for £400, which has been rejected by the saddler. As I see it now, our options are now reduced to a small-claims court to try and get the money back as we consider we were sold an incorrect saddle, but that only holds true if a pony can't shrink lengthwise. If that is a known trait, then we're a bit stuck.
Would appreciate any thoughts on the length issue (rather than issues with saddlers - I think everybody has problems at some time or other with them!). Do ponies ever shrink like that?
