saddle - perfect fit but horse not happy

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I bought an excellent condition second hand dressage saddle for my horse last year. The saddle was fitted by a well respected local fitter. Horse had to have some time off during the autumn with a minor injury and lost some condition and we didn't have a chance to use the saddle much. He's in full work and fit again, back and teeth have been done and with a friend having a (different one, not local but very highly recommended) saddler fitter coming, I booked for him to check my saddle whilst here. Again he confirmed it fitted perfectly and "I couldn't have made him one to fit any better". So why when my horse wears it he doesn't seem to like it? I am now competing at dressage in my GP saddle as he goes nicely in it. is it possible to have a perfectly fitting saddle that your horse just doesn't like? My GP is a Kent and Masters, second saddle fitter checked that as well and confirmed a good fit. Would it be an idea to buy a new Kent and Masters dressage saddle, would that fit him like the GP as same make. Don't have a big budget or money to waste on swopping and changing but would really like to have a dressage saddle to compete in and one that he likes!
 
Listen to the horse. Could you try him in a K&M or look out for one second hand at a good price. They aren't my fave brand of saddles but if you are happy and he is happy then that is important.

Having been through utter hell at the start of this year when I was told among other things that my saddle couldn't be a better fit (and it *was* made for her!) despite the fact the horse had severe rub marks and went terribly in it, nothing would convince me to listen to a saddle fitter over my horse again in the future. My new saddle has the most important seal of approval in the world and that is from my horse!
 
A few years ago, I took my 5 yr old Dutch horse to Solihull, to Horsesense Saddlery. I rode him in 5 different makes of saddles, several different models of those makes, and different widths of each model.

Several saddles seemed to fit, and I would have bought them for him without question. He went well in them, and the saddle fitter approved. The last one we tried, he loved - he went the best he'd ever gone - lifted his shoulder, his trot improved, his canter was lush - the horse picked the saddle. Sadly, it was the only one I found uncomfortable, but I bought it anyway, because of the way he went in it.

Listen to your horse!
 
Must be something about Dutch horses and saddles. My old mare was Dutch wb and was quite definite about which saddle she liked or disliked despite them fitting correctly. One of my current horses is a Dutch wb. According to the saddle fitter the saddle he goes best in doesn't fit him - it is the least comfortable to ride in - and the one that is supposedly a perfect fit he dorsn't move so well in.
 
Thank you FfionWinnie, I think that is the road I will take, I am worried about losing money on more unwanted saddles, I've had a few and sold most of them now but lost money on them. I bought the K & M as I was struggling with getting a good fit in anything i tried, he has a Connie's flat back, and i could afford a new K & M, which was then fitted, with a return if not happy guarantee, as i have used fitter for many years and bought a lot of saddles from them over time
. He goes really well in it and if he's happy, I'm happy! He is quite sensitive about things,and can get his knickers in a twist, so I always have to 'listen to him'! He is not the sort of horse that you can 'power through' with, he loses the plot and gets very stressed, so its very important to work with him. It took me a while after I got him to understand him but we have an excellent understanding now I listen to what he's telling me.
 
FfionWinnie said:
Listen to the horse. Could you try him in a K&M or look out for one second hand at a good price. They aren't my fave brand of saddles but if you are happy and he is happy then that is important.

Having been through utter hell at the start of this year when I was told among other things that my saddle couldn't be a better fit (and it *was* made for her!) despite the fact the horse had severe rub marks and went terribly in it, nothing would convince me to listen to a saddle fitter over my horse again in the future. My new saddle has the most important seal of approval in the world and that is from my horse!
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Out of curiosity, could you PM me who was the maker of this saddle? I suspect I may know but just want to confirm so I know to avoid!
 
I had 7 saddles in one year for our boy and he wasn't happy in any of them. What he ended up liking was an Ideal GP that was actually too wide but padded out. Happy horse...... finally!

(My husband prefers baggy over-size clothes too so they are well suited!!)
 
I used to have two "posh" saddles, but Jay did not like them. I duly booked the "posh" fitters to fit him another. Despite it apparently fitting, he still did not like it, and it made him sore.

I then had a nice one, it seemed OK, but he was not free on the left rein in particular, and he did not like drop fences. I put that down to schooling....

I then rode in a Christ Lamfelle bareback pad, and he was very different on the left rein, and TBH in general on the school. A bareback pad was no good for eventing though, so I set off on a quest of saddles, both with a tree, without a tree, with a flexible tree, you name it, we tried it.

In the quest I volunteered to be a subject for the Saddle Research Trust, where we were fitted up with markers and filmed to see his action with each saddle, and had the "Pliance" computer system under the saddle. Each saddle was set up so as to fit, and it was surprising (well, not surprising really, but I went with an I know best attitude) that Jay Man gave an instant readout that agreed with the computer each time.

Some saddles were a good fit, no high pressure points at halt and even walk, but once trotting, cantering and jumping the fit does change. I could see exactly where the pressure would build up, and at which point in the stride.

The outcome was that I now check every saddle against how they feel in a bareback pad, and if they do not feel as good or better in "their" saddle, then they need a change.

Personally I hate the saddle we ended up with. He is hard to fit, and we ended up with a dressage tree, with swept back points and a shortened cantle, with jumping flaps. It feels unbalanced to me, but Jay now bends right AND left, and wonders why I ever thought he had an issue with drops. I guess if he is happy, I can adapt.

I bought a Port Lewis pad, very low tech, not "accurate" but a fraction of the price of a Pliance hire even. TBH I have not used it on Jay, he decided on his saddle, but I use it for anyone who has a niggling doubt, as it will show pressure when working by the Plasticine moving.
 
I've had the same experience as Coblover63. Lots and lots of different saddle [Content removed], all fitted by a master saddler, all fitted perfectly, but she hated them. The one she goes in best and doesn't pin her ears back when she sees it is my other horse's Ideal. I listen to her and she wears it, even though it doesn't fit her conventionally. The only issue I have with it is that I can't ride her down our 25% hills as I end up on her shoulders b
 
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Saddles - the bane of my life!! I am considering having a trial on the total contact saddle as fed up of worrying about how my horse is going to react and why he's reacting so violently to a saddle!!
 
Your horse is saying something to you OP and you need to listen.

I bought a new saddle for my Welsh D mare; had it re-fitted and re-flocked at the appointed intervals, but I still was convinced she was "saying" something to me about the saddle. This saddle was bought, and fitted, by people I now know to be basically nothing more than cowboys, but I didn't know that at the time.

So anyway, I had a SMS qualified fitter in to check the fit/give an opinion/do a re-flock etc - and she said that the tree of the saddle had actually got a twist in it :( So the mare was right after all, the saddle wasn't right.

Listen to your horse, he will always be right.
 
Thanks for the replies everyone. Well we have competed at dressage this weekend in our GP saddle and come away with a 2nd and 4th in big classes. So, for now, I will carry on like this.
 
Red-1 said:
I used to have two "posh" saddles, but Jay did not like them. I duly booked the "posh" fitters to fit him another. Despite it apparently fitting, he still did not like it, and it made him sore.

I then had a nice one, it seemed OK, but he was not free on the left rein in particular, and he did not like drop fences. I put that down to schooling....

I then rode in a Christ Lamfelle bareback pad, and he was very different on the left rein, and TBH in general on the school. A bareback pad was no good for eventing though, so I set off on a quest of saddles, both with a tree, without a tree, with a flexible tree, you name it, we tried it.

In the quest I volunteered to be a subject for the Saddle Research Trust, where we were fitted up with markers and filmed to see his action with each saddle, and had the "Pliance" computer system under the saddle. Each saddle was set up so as to fit, and it was surprising (well, not surprising really, but I went with an I know best attitude) that Jay Man gave an instant readout that agreed with the computer each time.

Some saddles were a good fit, no high pressure points at halt and even walk, but once trotting, cantering and jumping the fit does change. I could see exactly where the pressure would build up, and at which point in the stride.

The outcome was that I now check every saddle against how they feel in a bareback pad, and if they do not feel as good or better in "their" saddle, then they need a change.

Personally I hate the saddle we ended up with. He is hard to fit, and we ended up with a dressage tree, with swept back points and a shortened cantle, with jumping flaps. It feels unbalanced to me, but Jay now bends right AND left, and wonders why I ever thought he had an issue with drops. I guess if he is happy, I can adapt.

I bought a Port Lewis pad, very low tech, not "accurate" but a fraction of the price of a Pliance hire even. TBH I have not used it on Jay, he decided on his saddle, but I use it for anyone who has a niggling doubt, as it will show pressure when working by the Plasticine moving.
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Did you ever try him in a solution? That's exactly the experience I had with my lamfelle pad but the difference being that the solution is as much to her liking (and mine!) as the lamfelle. Just a thought if you ever got the chance to it might be worth it.
 
FfionWinnie said:
Did you ever try him in a solution? That's exactly the experience I had with my lamfelle pad but the difference being that the solution is as much to her liking (and mine!) as the lamfelle. Just a thought if you ever got the chance to it might be worth it.
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I did. If the shims were exactly correct he liked it, if they were not, he really did not. I could not guarantee him that I would get the shims perfect every time. Even the fitter could not get them right every time with the various ones we tried.

His Barrie Swain Semiflex, however, I CAN get right every time, with a custom made sheepskin numnah under, all tailored to fit up into the gullet and no seams to rub. I do not like the balance, but I have to say that Barrie got the saddle right for the horse, even though he had to make two saddles to please the horse (first one had standard forward facing bars, he was the one who adapted a dressage tree).
 
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