Saddle problems, what to do...

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ChestnutConvert

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My mare has a bit of muscle wastage under her saddle. She has a wintec GP which admittedly feels a bit hard as they aren't the 'softest' of saddles.
I have been advised to make it wider, fine i can do this, and raise the front but although i maybe should get a new a saddle i just can't afford to at the mo.

Are there any tips on wintecs and making sure they fit? She is in a white gullet at the mo.
Any suggestions as to making her current saddle better for the mo would be great. I'm really not a bad owner but sometimes you just can't get everything at once! I know you see people that never get things checked but when i see their horses backs i wonder how they get away with it!
 
If the saddle doesn't fit, then it could work out more expensive, perhaps running into vet/physio for back problems, professional help for behavioral problems from pain etc. And its also not fair to ask the horse to tolerate it. It could be that your saddle can be made to fit short term with a raiser & a gullet change. If not though, I'd sell current saddle & ride bareback till I found another second hand the right size.
 
If she is in a white gullet, then that is the widest that saddle is going to go. There are Wintec Wide saddles and their trees are designed to take the wider than extra wide gullets but that would involve a new saddle.
Imagine sitting on a kids swing (one thats too narrow for your hips) and moving around attempting to swing as high as you can go... No matter how much padding you have over your hips and the sides of your legs, the metal chains or ropes are still gonna hurt like all buggary. Same goes for your horse... Padding could even potentially make the problem worse as there is less room for the muscles and tissue under the gullet.
 
There is no way to make a saddle that doesn't fit, fit unfortunately.

I would stop riding in it too, altogether, and then when money is less tight, investigate your next step, after you have sold or part exchanged yours.
Waiting will give the muscle a chance to build up again too.
 
You cannot put a wider gullet than the white one in Wintec unless it is a Wintec Wide. Even putting a wider gullet in the Wintec Wide causes other issues - as I have recently found out! I need to get a different saddle for my horse due to back issues caused by an ill-fitting Wintec (first saddle fitter assured me it fitted and just needed re-flocking)and have looked at buying a secondhand saddle through a different saddle fitter (though in my case we have admitted defeat in getting one to fit him and are looking at treeless!).
 
Where is the muscle wastage? Is it behind the shoulder? If it is the saddle is too narrow even if you put a wider one on you have to have the lift in that area or it will just sit in the hollows and make it worse, I know as my horse had the same and saddle fitter kept saying his saddle was too wide when it was too narrow, I got Lavinia Mitchell out and I now have a much wider saddle with a shim numnah to help fill the gaps until the muscle returns, google her and have a look on her website, my advice would be get a saddle fitter who deals with this kind of problem as many will just fit you a narrower saddle to fit the muscle damaged back, if you cant afford to get a new saddle dont ride it will make it worse and its very painfull for the horse, I can really recommend Lavinia she travels all over the country and is well worth the money.
 
The problem with wintecs and wide horses is that they may be made to fit at the front, but the panels are wrong at the back. I am kicking myself for selling my lovely pessoa saddle that fitted my mare beautifully, thinking I would never ride her again. I only got £400 for it on ebay and can't find one in the same fab condition for that price now. I only have a wintec that fits her at the front, but not at the back. So will have to shell out more dosh to get her one that fits well. My advice to you would be to sell your wintec on ebay and look for a wintec wide or a throwgood cob saddle if you can't afford to have one professionally fitted. Personally, I prefer to fit saddles myself, as I have had problems with poor saddlers in the past. But would not recommend this to anyone unless they had a vast amount of experience in it!
 
I'm a fitter who fits mostly wide horses and I'm no fan of Wintec, even the Wintec Wide, I think you may be on a hiding to nothg here. If the saddle has caused muscle wastage, padding it up after widening it MIGHT work, it's a standard remedial fitting approach, but it might not, and, as I say I have some fundamental issues with the Wintec design, the biggest is:

http://saddlefitter.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/changeable-gullets-details.html

But the harness of the panels, the tightness at the bars, the curve of the tree from front to back, all can be big issues when fitting wide horses (or narrower horses in many cases!)
 
amymay said:
Who's given you this advice?
Click to expand...

A back person did.....

I completely agree with what you are all saying, will get someone out, when i find one that's trustable and see what is said. Maybe she was speaking waffle and the saddle just needs tweaking, we shall see.
She was ridden in a Wintec when i bought her, problem is you put your trust in people et get different answers all the time and feel lost!
 
ChestnutConvert said:
A back person did.....

I completely agree with what you are all saying, will get someone out, when i find one that's trustable and see what is said. Maybe she was speaking waffle and the saddle just needs tweaking, we shall see.
She was ridden in a Wintec when i bought her, problem is you put your trust in people et get different answers all the time and feel lost!
Click to expand...

Yes, get a saddler out....
 
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