Saddle Fitting

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Piglet

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Advice needed please,I have bought a 16.2hh TB/Cob who has a wide backbone, a high elongated wither, at the momentioned I am riding her in a changeable gullet saddle but the points of tree seem to be tight either side of her wither and in behind her shoulder. I have put shims in to try to distribute the pressure. The problem I have is that the wider the bar I put in the tighter it seems to be on her shoulder!!! Any ideas on what saddle would be best maybe a Thorowgood T4 Cob changeable gullet would be any good? Due to having to buy a new wardrobe for her a she came with nothing, I am on a limited budget.
 
It sounds like the points of the tree are completely the wrong angle for this horse - it's likely it won't be possible to shim it to fit.
You'd be best getting a saddle fitter to come out to you as they can see the horse and the shape she is, and maybe bring some (second hand) saddles to try on her.
 
Piglet said:
Yup it is well behind the shoulder, I know what you mean, I cringe when I see saddles sitting half way up the neck!!
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that's okay then I just thought I better check I am shocked at how many badly positioned saddles I see!

maybe it is just the wrong shape could you try some different saddles on him just to get an idea on how the different shapes sit, some fellow liveries may be able to help out with a lend of there saddle, I don't have much knowledge of the ones you mention so can't comment sorry.
 
Are you sure you're not inadvertently making it too wide for her? If it's too wide then it will drop at the front and will feel tighter at the top of the panels than a saddle that's the right width. As it's a changeable gullet you can pretty much guess the right width to use by putting the headplates on her back and seeing which one best mimics the angles of her back. If you do that and the tree points are actually pointing into her shoulders though then I agree that it's probably the wrong saddle. Best then to try and find a saddler with a range of second hand ones for you to try I think.
 
I have a sports horse with a huge wither that goes on for ever, but then he goes incredibly wide behind. He is an absolute nightmare to fit saddles to, and typically, nothing cheaper fits him. He completely outgrew a made to measure saddle so I had decided I wanted to stay cheaper this time, but no such luck. Nothing under £1000 went near him, annoyingly, and we must have tried everything on the saddlers van.

But we found a prestige VSD that fitted him like a glove. Unfortunately my bank balance has never quite recovered!
 
i agree with the comment about making it too wide :( unfortunatly thats what happens.

Especially with a horse of your state build, i imagine with large shoulders that probably move the saddle quite a bit.

Have you considered looking at treeless? that way the shoulders can move without being impeded by the tree ... ?
 
Saddles feel the tightest when they're too far forwards with the tree actually on the shoulder though obviously you've ruled that out. If in the right place and the upper edge of the panel feels really tight then the tree is likely too wide, if the top of the panel gapes and there is more contact at the level of the points then it's likely too narrow but it's too easy to harm your horse if you get it wrong, please get a fitter out if you possibly can.
 
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