Saddle for odd horse!

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cookster1975

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Please help me! I have a very high withered but dippy backed horse. He does lack topline at the mo but is still that sort of shape naturally. If you took a spirit level from the top of his wither, he would need about a 4" back gusset on a saddle to make it fit levelly!!

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My saddler and I have tried an Ideal 1350, which is quite good but would need a deeper back gusset, a Jeffries Melton, which was good but MW too wide and not sure a medium would be wide enough. GFS didn't fit at all, Kent & Masters didn't fit at all! Arrrggghh!!!

She is going to try and get hold of a Black Country and an Albion to try.

Does anyone know of a saddle that suits this type of conformation, or has had this problem and overcome it themselves?

My feeling at the mo is that we need to go for an Ideal M2M, but he was girthy with the ideal but didn't bat an eyelid with the Jeffries!

Sorry so long, but would appreciate any input!
 
My mare always had very high withers, but acquired the dipping back with age. She has a very narrow fitting saddle due to her being like a pitched roof and to be honest, I didn't think anyone would ever be able to stuff the saddle adequately to accomodate that (the load bearing surface is so small compared to a wider built horse) so taking her age into consideration (24 at the time) I opted to retire her. Saddle panels are flat, a dippy back isn't and I'm not happy using thick numnahs. To me its like pushing a triangle shap into a circular hole.
 
My friend had a horse that was a very similar shape to your boy.She used a Barnsby high wither one ,then changed to a high wither treeless when he was older and doing less work.
 
I love the idea of treeless but know nothing about them. I did try my friend's barefoot on him but didn't fit at all because of his withers, without lots of padding, which I don't like doing.

Do you know if your friend's Barnsby was made to measure HH?

He is only 11, so not quite ready to be retired yet!!
 
There is an independent remedial saddle fitter called Lavinia Mitchell who travels around the UK. She is very good at fitting the awkward shaped horse and spends a lot of time assessing you both.

She fitted 3 horses for me and I wouldn't use anyone else now and, no, I'm not on commission!

It would be well worth giving her a ring or emailing her to discuss your problems. www.laviniamitchel.com
 
Hello again, I spoke to my friend about her saddle today,she had the barnsby custom made,and had it specially flocked for her boys shape.It was a great fit,and fitted well (with regular checks/re-flocking) for many years.
 
My horse had very high withers, dipped back and was a Medium width and I got an Albion Kontrol GP saddle for him that has a high head for TB type withers. It was the only saddle that didn't bridge on his back. I've still got it as unfortunately he had to be PTS earlier this year if you're interested?
 
Tammytoo said:
There is an independent remedial saddle fitter called Lavinia Mitchell who travels around the UK. She is very good at fitting the awkward shaped horse and spends a lot of time assessing you both.

She fitted 3 horses for me and I wouldn't use anyone else now and, no, I'm not on commission!

It would be well worth giving her a ring or emailing her to discuss your problems. www.laviniamitchel.com
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foxy1 said:
What about using a riser? Or a prolite sway back pad?
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hippo-horse said:
Hello again, I spoke to my friend about her saddle today,she had the barnsby custom made,and had it specially flocked for her boys shape.It was a great fit,and fitted well (with regular checks/re-flocking) for many years.
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Tonibird83 said:
My horse had very high withers, dipped back and was a Medium width and I got an Albion Kontrol GP saddle for him that has a high head for TB type withers. It was the only saddle that didn't bridge on his back. I've still got it as unfortunately he had to be PTS earlier this year if you're interested?
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Thank you for your replies. I had a chap out from The Saddle Co. on sunday who also does Bowen treatments. He was amazing, and everything he said made complete sense to me. He said he wouldn't even think about fitting a saddle to him until he builds up some muscle and topline, so he's asked me to work him every day on the lunge to strengthen his back, which is also still quite sore, even though I haven't ridden for a good few weeks.

Hopefully then he will have a made to measure saddle co. saddle!
 
I've been treated by a Bowen practitioner myself and can't rate the difference it has made to my back and pelvis area more highly so hopefully your horse will feel better. It might do him good to use a Pessoa training system to raise his topline and back quicker when you're lunging him though i would intriduce it gradually if he's not had it on before :)
 
I have just had all saddle solutions out to fit my mare, she specialised in awkward fits!! work a look on the website, allsaddlesolutions.com
 
Tonibird83 said:
I've been treated by a Bowen practitioner myself and can't rate the difference it has made to my back and pelvis area more highly so hopefully your horse will feel better. It might do him good to use a Pessoa training system to raise his topline and back quicker when you're lunging him though i would intriduce it gradually if he's not had it on before :)
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That's good to know, and interesting for me, as my pelvis/lower back is terrible! This chap does treat Humans too, so might get him to look at me when he comes out to see Basil next.

I've never really been a fan of pessoas etc, although I can see how they would work when used correctly. Norm (the Bowen chap) advised me not to use anything on him, just praise him when he lowers his head of his own accord.

Bss has been so chilled out and relaxed since Norm came, which is totally not like him. I'm sure he put a spell on him!!
 
miss_wilson said:
I have just had all saddle solutions out to fit my mare, she specialised in awkward fits!! work a look on the website, allsaddlesolutions.com
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Thanks will have a look. What did you go for in the end?

p.s. Just had a look. They look lovely (and expensive)! Do you know which areas she covers off the top of your head?
 
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I wouldn't say you need a high gussett at the back. It would actually dig in at the back due to the slope in his back. You just need something that has low set panels at the front to allow the pommel to clear the withers, and preferably a panel at the back that scoops away to allow for the slope.
 
cookster1975 said:
Thank you for your replies. I had a chap out from The Saddle Co. on sunday who also does Bowen treatments. He was amazing, and everything he said made complete sense to me. He said he wouldn't even think about fitting a saddle to him until he builds up some muscle and topline, so he's asked me to work him every day on the lunge to strengthen his back, which is also still quite sore, even though I haven't ridden for a good few weeks.

Hopefully then he will have a made to measure saddle co. saddle!
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Sounds like you should stick with the Saddle Co man.... he's totally right :) Your horse has muscle atrophy behind the wither, and the last thing he needs is narrow saddle to stop it from building back up again.

I'd go with a prolite front riser pad and a Saddle Co saddle, then you can reduce the pad down gradualy and eventually have the saddle widened. Saddle Co saddles have lovely soft pannals as well :cool:
 
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