saddle advice for VERY wide boy

sqippa

sqippa

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Well my boy is now officially so wide that even with his Saddle Company saddle on maximum width will no longer fit. Saddler has given me 2 options which she considers to be possibles:

1. Treeless, ie the Heather Moffet fhoenix saddle
2. Wow saddle.

Both options she believes are the only ones left to me so as these are both rather costly I would really appreciate your advice, comments, experiences etc so that I can try to make my mind up about which to go for.

Cheers folks,

Sqippa
 
I've got a Humphries & Swain saddle which at the time of it being fitted to my big lad was the widest fit the saddler had ever had to deal with. Neddie's back was practically like a table at the time. It fitted him a treat and still does.
 
What about an Ideal H &C saddle? There made for broad types. Can't beleive your saddler only gave you two options though!
 
Does he have a wither?

I liked the look of the Ideal Highland and whatever it is but it's too flat and my boy, oddly has a wither as well as his wide frame!

Sqip
 
You have to see my boy, he really is awkward. He is not flat backed like your typical cob but just 'normal' shaped only bigger. When he out grew his wintec I went for the Saddle Company option and he had his set at a 7 with 10 being the max. A year on he had it widened to 10 but that still wasn't enough.
So, unless I can widen it further which my saddler was not able to do, then she suggested that the only treed saddle that would work would be the WOW, otherwise to try treeless.

I do like the Ideal H and C but it seems sooo flat, there just would not be the clearance there for his withers unfortunately otherwise I'd jump at it.

Sqip
 
have you tried a Wintec Wide? The gullets are equivalent to XXwide XXXwide and XXXXW compared to a standard Wintec?
 
I went treeless recently with my barefoot london saddle which I use on my 16.3 clydesdale- who has never gone so well and my 3 year old 15 hand gypsy cob.

Personally I love the treeless - very comfortable, light and I know will not be outgrown in 6 months. I really cannot see me changing from treeless on my hairy boys now.

I went for the barefoot as it was the best of the cheaper range - saddle (london dressage model), dressage girth and leathers, specialist saddle pad (very important) and saddle cover with postage came to £550 from Horse and Harmony.

The do a money back return if you don't like the saddle. The Phoenix is a lovely saddle, more conventional looking than the Barefoot, but more expensive.

The London is great for hacking, dressage and small jumps, but if Chancer does well at showing, I will look probably at the Phoenix. I know people who show in this with cobs at county level successfully.
 
I had a call out for a saddle fit this week the customer has a 14hh 5 year old `gypsy` cob and although I sell new Thorowgood saddles, I knew he would out grow it within a few months, I suggested a Torsion treeless as he was already flat backed, they have tried several of the cheaper treeless saddles but were not impressed by them.
 
Part of it has to come down to whether you like treeless or not :P

Personally i despise them so that alone would make the decision pretty simple for me.

The wow, imo, has much higher technically spec and you should certainly be able to accommodate his width in one. At least if you look:-

http://www.wowsaddles.com/wow/wow%20fitting.htm

you can see the range of headplate widths that they do.

You could (assuming you wanted a tree'd saddle of course), go with the wow club saddle which knocks about £500 off the price of the competitor model.

What do you do with the horse? Personally for me, it would be a tree'd saddle everytime.
 
we just do a bit of everything, no specific discipline or high level competition. I just want to have him in a saddle that doesn't make him sore. I went to the WOW stand at hickstead yesterday and they certainly are high spec. Don't think I'd go for the club as it seems to lose so many of the WOW features that it almost just becomes an expensive normal saddle (although it would be wide enough). Lots of thinking still to do.

Sqip
 
Thanks,

I had the feeling that you would need to pay up to get a stable design.
I am trying a Fhoenix tomorrow as a friend has one so I'll know if I like them or not then. Should narrow my choices I hope.

Sqip
 
He is on my avatar but not sure how I'd post a bigger one...
If you can let me know then I'll take some to show his fine figure. He is a cutey; just imagine a Highland then make it 16hh!

Sqip
 
Take a look at the Ideal VSD which they make into an XXWide, they have a pretty good wither clearance too. Ideal will customise saddles at little extra cost to the off the peg price - if you go for this option, you can also choose the leather for the seat & panels.
 
Ideal saddles are excellent, I have one for my very, very wide Welsh cob, who looks like a Highland
smile.gif
 
We have a couple of XXX wide saddles to sell. One is a Sandringham 18" GP which measures 10 1/2" from D to D & one is a 17" Kings which measures 9 " from D to D.
Do you want to pm me for more details?
cool.gif
 
Well I've got a Fhoenix and a WOW (just!) so can give you a good idea of what each is like...

Both are lovely saddles and would suit your lad. The Fhoenix is a lot cheaper (by £500) and doesn't need professionally fitting. Once you've got it thats it, whereas the WOW will need to be fitted and then changed whenever your lad alters shape. So a Fhoenix would be the cheaper option.

IMO the Fhoenixs are far superior to any other treeless saddle. They look like a 'normal' saddle and ride almost like a normal saddle. Extremely comfy for horse and rider and especially good for very wide horses. Your bum really sinks into the seat so you feel very secure as well!

The only reason I'm swapping from the Fhoenix to the WOW is because the Fhoenix slipped forward on my arab - as most saddles do. He's croup high with a forward girth groove and as we compete endurance we have to negotiate some very steep hills. The WOW has different girthing options to get the best stability for each individual horse, so hopefully no forwards slippage problems. Plus you can alter the fit so much to cater for any idiosyncrasies of the horse. The other disadvantage of the Fhoenix as an endurance rider is that often you have to get off to open gates then get back on from the ground - being treeless you have to have the girth done up very tight to stop yourself pulling the saddle over when jumping on.

I think your best option would be to try both. Both companies do saddle trials and then you'll know which works best for you. But either choice will serve you well and make your horse very happy.
 
Well...fatter than I'd like but certainly not obese. He is a big built chap and is ridden 6 days a week over the south downs so if he is fat, he sure as hell won't be losing it anytime soon without a stomach staple!

I'd post photos if I knew how to.

Sqip
 
Thanks ever so much for that. Luckily my boy has quite a wither so I can't see us having probs with a saddle slipping forward. I do have to say that if the Fhoenix is ok when we try out a friends tomorrow then I'll probably go for that one. Much as I love the WOW £1500 is just stretching me a bit too far.

Sqip
 
What about a Wintec Cob? I got one for mine because he was too wide for usual saddles. Its actually very comfy, really lightweight (with the Cair) and I can change the gullet whenever I like. Plus, not expensive at all.
 
Well your horse sounds similar to mine. I was told treeless saddles can put pressure in wrong place on horses back and my physio is booked solid sorting out bad backs from these saddles and riders sitting in the wrong position on them, so you might just want to investigate that?

On a more positive note we found that the straight cut types fitted my boy who is 3/4 connemara and 1/4 tb. Black Country do a straight cut GP which was nice, there are plenty of companies that do the same thing, they generally call them VSD's but I ended up with a dressage saddle as they allow my horse plenty of shoulder movement. Sadly the best fitting was the most expensive typically, which is the new Albion platinum which has an adjustment at the front so can be made extra wide. My horse was already to wide for any of the Kieffers to fit etc. It sits on him really well and give me a good posture, my only slight criticism is that the seam on the top of the saddle can cut into you a little bit if you are riding for a long time as it is very slightly raised. I don't notice it most of the time and my horse seems very comfortable.

Hope that helps
 
Which Wintec did you have before? My cob, very broad, huge shoulder, some wither, looks like a space hopper from the front, has a Wintec extra wide, we did have the white tree in it (normal XW, but have now gone up to the XXXW tree - the saddle looks like an aeroplane from the front - but it does fit. Worth a try, and they are coming up cheap on ebay these days...
Good luck
 
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