Saddle for short backed no wither barrels !

C

canteron

Well-Known Member
Joined
15 October 2008
Messages
4,153
Location
Cloud Cockoo Land
Visit site
Any ideas .... there is a company that is often recommended on here, but I can’t find the threads!

saddle fitter has nothing to offer - surely can’t be that strange a problem?
 
I am in the same boat, we have bought a highland for my daughter that has done little work for the last two years and are struggling to find a saddle. I think we may have to go down the treeless route to start with and start saving for a new saddle. I do have a small ideal h and c that may fit her eventually and if I could find a 16.5 xxwide h and c that would do the job but when they are short backed as well, it does make it tricky.
 
I have an old Cliff Barnsby on my Welsh D who is short backed, no wither, barrel shape & a tank! Its a hunter cut but sits far enough back not to restrict his shoulders. Very reasonable to buy second hand & fits really well - only one I've not had issues with slipping.
 
there are a few makes of saddles that have specialist trees to fit these types. However, they are not easy to find second-hand as those who have them tend to hang onto them, and you may have to search out a few different models to find the right one for you (short backed wide natives still vary quite a lot - a Fell, for example, has a different shaped back and can need a different tree to a Section D).

Saddles that worked for mine:- Section D had an Ideal, ancient GFS showsaddle and a Freeform treeless. Fellboy has a Black Country working hunter saddle and an old-style Ansur (US version of Solutions).

ETA Just to add to the fun - you may have to look closely at girths too as these ponies can have forward girth grooves (and you can bet they like the fancy-schmancy spendy ones best ;) )
 
Last edited:
Ideal saddlery can make a saddle to your exact requirements. I have had my past 3 saddles made to measure from them for wide, short coupled native ponies.
 
I had (still have technically, it’s with the saddler to sell!) an ideal saddle that was built on the FWB tree (which is flat and hooped) - I got it in a monoflap style to keep the width to a minimum for my poor hips.
My cob mare was basically barrel shaped, very flat, no wither, and short (the panels were shorter too). And we *needed* a fair fax girth too...
Good luck
 
I had a similar problem and my saddler suggested a 16.5 kent and masters pony jump saddle as it takes the silver gullet which is as wide as you can go. It's also compact for short backs but as it's a jump saddle gives me enough leg room, I don't have the longest of legs though.
 
Moogleberry said:
I have an AH Saddle for my flat backed no wither barrel and it fits him beautifully, had it a couple of years now a couldn’t be more pleased ?
Click to expand...

Thank you :) and everyone else who's mentioned AH :cool:

catkin said:
there are a few makes of saddles that have specialist trees to fit these types. However, they are not easy to find second-hand as those who have them tend to hang onto them, and you may have to search out a few different models to find the right one for you (short backed wide natives still vary quite a lot - a Fell, for example, has a different shaped back and can need a different tree to a Section D).

Saddles that worked for mine:- Section D had an Ideal, ancient GFS showsaddle and a Freeform treeless. Fellboy has a Black Country working hunter saddle and an old-style Ansur (US version of Solutions).

ETA Just to add to the fun - you may have to look closely at girths too as these ponies can have forward girth grooves (and you can bet they like the fancy-schmancy spendy ones best ;) )
Click to expand...

Yep they do vary in shape (tree and panel, so never be conned by one "cob" tree that's meant to fit all wider, flatter horses) and can be rare second hand, ours certainly are but we run this group https://www.facebook.com/groups/1641386762817197/ (and moderate it heavily) to try and match people up with our saddles (other cob suitable saddles are also allowed). Girths can indeed make a big difference and will vary depending on your pony and the saddle you have, I don't tend to use curved girths but other fitters at AH do, and we find that elastic (strong) at both ends makes a big difference. And yes, most natives and cobs have forward girth grooves, it's par for the course. They're also short backed, so make sure any fitter is keeping the front edge of the tree points three fingers' breadth behind the back edge of the shoulder blade, so many are fitted onto the shoulder, meaning you get a larger seat size on, but it's not right. Sometimes a quart into a pint pot just won't go!

They're hard shapes to fit which is why many generalist saddle fitters have few options to offer, and why we specialists exist :)
 
I use a heather Moffat flexee on mine. It’s a leather treed saddle so not completely treeless and I really like it. I also read lots of good things about AH and Chunky Monkey but they were out of my price range.
 
I use a WOW on my mare who is an Arab x and is basically a barrel shape with no wither and short coupled. I had issues earlier in the year of the saddle slipping but turns out the gullet was too narrow!! Sorted and its far better now. Ive got a 17" seat (for me) on 16" panels (for her) which works really well. I could find absolutely nothing else to fit her!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top