Saddle for bad hip/back, treeless, western ??

H

hugotheboss

Member
Joined
8 September 2014
Messages
17
Visit site
I have a ****** of a pony who is intent on spooking and throwing a woo hoo buck, problem is I have a bad back (disc herniation) and suffer a lot of hip pain. I am finding my current wintec saddle uncomfortable to ride in, its a shame as it fits him. So my dilemma is, would I be better getting a seat saver and flexi stirrups of some sort or changing the saddle. I have a very small budget around £300. I only hack so thinking an endurance saddle or western type might be comfier and more secure???

Any experiences greatly appreciated!
 
I have a herniated disc too, not nice is it, I use a trekker treeless, it's made with lots of memory foam do is mega comfy. I can get on in pain with my back and it's gone when I dismount!
 
I have had a hip replacement and rode for years in pain before it was done .
I had to have saddles that where narrow in the twist .
Western saddle crippled me ( I found this out on day one of three week holiday in the middle of no where ) and tree less hurt as well .
But pretty well anything in my size that's narrow in the twist was the best answer .
 
This is a difficult one OP.

I find Wintec's incredibly uncomfortable for wider cob type horses; my traddie cob has a Wintec wide simply because its all my budget can reach to at the moment, but I'm looking to change it when funds permit.

Andrea Hicks does some very nice saddles but unfortunately they're a bit beyond my (and no doubt your) budget at the current time. Worth looking on Facebook tho' coz there's a group where people sell her saddles used and/or secondhand.

I've tried various treeless saddles. Barefoot are tricky to fit, either too big for the horse or too small for me, so I've given up on them!!! I did have a Freemax Evo; it was very soft and comfy, but in fact it was TOO comfy as on rides of over an hour I found I was getting a lot of lumbar back pain, simply because I suspect there wasn't enough support there.

I've got an Exmoor Tree-Free at the moment; find this does both of my horses, one a Welsh D the other a trad cob - that is the only tree-free saddle I've found is anything resembling comfortable.

But really, what you need IMO is to find a good chiropractor or back person that can look at both you AND your pony - as it is just possible, and indeed very likely in fact, that YOUR back problem is translating down to the pony in his back, which is why the way that I would tackle this problem would be to work in conjunction with an expert. As you say your pony is bucking - that is an indication of discomfort - which is why I would suspect that it is highly likely that your pony has back issues as well as you, and this needs to be sorted at the root, THEN you could work with your back specialist plus an experienced saddle fitter, to find something that will suit you both.

This is the ONLY way forward IME......... because otherwise you'll find that you're going to go in a vicious circle of unsuitable saddle = your back pain; both of which causes/aggravates pony's back pain = bucks; and so on.
 
I have had my pony checked, I have had teeth done, back done and saddle fitted so ruled out pain issues. My pony tends to buck if he is either excited or deciding he doesn't want to do what I am asking, ie go though a puddle!! My next option now is to get myself sorted, im currently under doctors treatment so hopefully things will sort themselves out pretty soon! I had the saddle fitted with a sheepskin gel eze pad to soften impact on both our parts but while he seems ok with it, it doesn't make any difference to me :-(
 
This is why I only ride side saddle now as my back and hip can't take too much astride riding. Barring going the side saddle only route like me, look for a saddle with a narrow twist in the seat (that middle part of the seat where it goes in narrow). You want 1"- 1 1/2" wide twist, narrower, the better (mostly found on flat seated close contact saddles). I find narrow twisted saddles don't throw my back and hip out as much for those times when I have to ride astride, I have a Stubben Artus close contact saddle for normal riding. I rode in my friend's Ideal saddle and that had about a 2" wide twist and it just about killed me. Western saddles are a no go for me due to how wide the seats are and I can imagine a treeless saddle would be about the same so I wouldn't go there either. Good luck and I know how you feel!!!
 
Have you thought about an Australian Stock saddle - I have both a wintec and a bates version and they are both like armchairs to ride in.
I have a couple of degenerative discs. I tried western and apart from the abhorrent weight to lift the damn thing it was exceptionally wide to sit in too, whereas the stock saddle is more like an English in style, but armchair in comfort. OH and I often hack out for upto 8 hours and I can still walk when I get off :-)
 
Someone I know runs a Western trail riding centre, and says the reason she went to Weatern saddles is that they were much more comfortable on her hips.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top