Saddle fitting problems, is it the fitter, saddle or rider??

poiuytrewq said:
Ah ok, sorry was being a bit dumb!
How incredibly annoying.
I wonder what GFS are like as a company? Wonder if it may be worth running all this past them in a nice friendly way of course ;)
Just see if they can give any advice or thoughts?
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I meant to ring them today but just didnt get round to it. I want to know which saddle I actually have as it doesn't have the XCH logo on the cantle, and it cant have the foam in that they are supposed to have, unless its been flocked over the top of that?!
 
I wasnt going to update this yet as I am absolutely furious! But it might help to get it off my chest as I have spent far too long tonight working out how to commit murder and get away with it :lol:

The cob had my back lady out yesterday. Hes gone from being totally straight and even in August when she last saw him, a couple of days before the saddle was flocked, to being totally crooked and sore :( One shoulder is now huge compared to the other one and he was tight from just behind his shoulder and up his neck, where he has been bracing. When we put the saddle on the crooked flocking corresponds exactly to his back/shoulder profile now. It was explained and shown to me in great detail, but thats the important edited highlights

I trust my back lady implicitly and I questioned her at length as to whether he could have caused the unevenness in the saddle, but she feels strongly that even if there had been some sort of catastrophic incident with him causing himself some sort of injury, he just couldn't have caused the saddle to be that uneven, unless he had pulled a couple of cms of flock out of one side himself!

I am beyond angry! With myself as well as the incompetent fitter, as I shouldn't have let this happen, but I was so, so, so ill at the time I was barely functioning and I stupidly assumed it had been done properly :( So now I have a slightly less crooked and much happier, but still wonky little cob who will take ages to get back to the lovely straight even little cob I had in August :(

I have another fitter coming out tomorrow. The one I previously mentioned. Shes a Master Saddler but has the fitter qualification, not the making saddle qualification, so I really hope she can either fix my saddle or write it off. I have the day off work and will be there asking a LOT of questions!
 
Good luck for tomorrow, hope saddle fitter lady can sort you out...

Not surprised you are annoyed, I'd be incandescent with rage :(

Fiona
 
I was cross when he had his back done, but in the last 24 hours I've gone from cross to murderous! I'm almost hoping the saddle cant be adjusted to fit him as I honestly just want shot of it now as its been nothing but hassle and my poor little cob has born the brunt of it :( The only good thing to come out of this, is that when I KNEW he wasn't happy, I was right and there was something wrong, not just me obsessing and being ridiculous as I was off work with too much time on my hands! I wont make the same mistake again!
 
Been following this and I feel for you, I really do. No helpful comments other then I'm in Northampton as well and trying to find a decent saddle fitter is ridiculous! The amount of awful fitters I've had is beyond belief!

I hope it goes ok with the other fitter today. I've heard good things from the link you posted, a fellow livery had them and said they were very very good!
 
ycbm said:
Once you've got the saddle, unless it's a WOW, it can't be changed to fit the rider, can it? Given a saddle the owner already has, the only option is to fit it to the horse. Surely it makes no difference if the rider (who in this case is one of several anyway) is there or not?

OP I'm another who doesn't understand how flocking settling can cause bridging. Bridging is either caused by too flat a tree, or too little stuffing in the middle. I can't see how settling at the front can cause a saddle that wasn't bridging to bridge.
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The rider can affect the saddle fit a lot - a taller rider sitting on the cantle, a crooked rider making a saddle twist etc.

Bridging is seldom too flat a tree, if it is then the fit is really off. It's more often too narrow or overflocked at the front, or too long or deep gussets at the back, especially on croup high shapes.

FrankieCob said:
I have another fitter coming out tomorrow. The one I previously mentioned. Shes a Master Saddler but has the fitter qualification, not the making saddle qualification, so I really hope she can either fix my saddle or write it off. I have the day off work and will be there asking a LOT of questions!
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A Master Saddler is just that, qualified to make saddles. Your fitter is probably a member of the SMS but is a QUalified Saddle Fitter.

I don't agree with asymmetric flocking, in mild asymmetries the right tree, panel and symmetrical flocking can be enough, on other cases I'd use asymmetric girthing or shimming, not flocking. Often as not trees are too curvy to give a stable fit, flocking up the front can stabilise the front but if the tree or panel is wrong it will cause other issues.
 
They can be really useful but they by no means show all changes in the horse's shape. I always say that if you're working them progressively, and most of believe we're improving our horses, then if their way of going is changing so is their shape, even if the workload and diet stay the same. The very best thing is to keep an eye on the clearance at the pommel (check it when still girthed after you get off), check the front to back balance, look for ruffled hairs when you remove the saddle, and get a back person to show you how to palpate the back to pick up early warning signals that the saddle isn't quite right.
 
sbloom said:
Bridging is seldom too flat a tree, if it is then the fit is really off. It's more often too narrow or overflocked at the front, or too long or deep gussets at the back, especially on croup high shapes.
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It was this, first incompetent fitter flocked it at the front, second incompetent fitter just rammed a load of flock in the middle. She used the wrong sort of flocking, which was why if felt lumpy. And just to really compound it, flocked it much more on one side, for reasons no one can fathom as the horse was straight.

The current saddle does not fit, could not fit and clearly has never fitted! It had been flocked horrendously, as I thought, so the fitter taken all the extra hard, lumpy, wonky flock out, and checked the tree etc. It will now be a lovely saddle, just not for my boy. Its also at least an inch too long. I had thought it might be too long when I got it, hence specifically asking the first fitter. At one point I will learn to trust my gut instinct, because it usually ends up being right in the end!

So now I have no saddle, a wonky horse and need to somehow try and find the money for a new one. Typically the ones that will probably be suitable are all in the over £1300 price range and dont seem to come up second hand. My OH suggested it would be cheaper to sell the horse :lol:
 
The fitter knows you Sbloom, well Andrea anyway, apparently shes been working with you and recommended one of your saddles as being suitable. She also works with Heather Moffet and has taken photos of my old HM Thorowgood dressage saddle to show Heather as not many were made. That doesnt fit either! Its not been a great day!
 
sbloom said:
I don't agree with asymmetric flocking, in mild asymmetries the right tree, panel and symmetrical flocking can be enough, on other cases I'd use asymmetric girthing or shimming, not flocking. .
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Would be very interested to know when you would use asymmetric girthing over shimming please? Thank you.
 
I know who you're working with OP, we don't have an arrangement yet with her but I met her at YHL.

I would use asymmetric girthing before shimming, it's the easiest thing for the owner to reverse but only works if you have point and balance straps of course. When I won't use it, as an example, would be when a saddle wants to go slightly sideways and forwards, you need point and third to stop a saddle going forwards with the way we fit. Using the back strap on one side, or another asymmetric arrangement, could correct the sideways movement but would probably encourage the saddle to move forwards. In that case I'd use shimming. Also where there is an obvious visual asymmetry in the horse when asymmetric girthing is unlikely to do the job alone.
 
sbloom said:
I know who you're working with OP, we don't have an arrangement yet with her but I met her at YHL.
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I probably misunderstood what she said then, but I am really happy with her and she was very complimentary about your saddles. If I can sell a kidney or limb or something similar then I will be straight on the phone for one of your supercob saddles :)
 
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