saddle problems

S

SarahRicoh

Well-Known Member
Joined
2 September 2010
Messages
1,105
Location
Cheltenham, England
Visit site
Right so i have pelo my horseca 14.3hh ish & recently iv got 2 new ones to bring on/back & sell (although i might keep one when iv seen how they turn out).
Pelo has a 16.5" wintec set to a white gullet(wide) but it doesnt sit right on.his back. It tips up & moves whilst hes working. He could take a 17" max.
Other 2 horses are a 15.3hh warmblood & a 15.1/2hh french cob whos unbroken.

My issue is i cant afford to fork.out for 3 decent saddles when ones a baby & will change shape & both of the last 2 will be sold.
I wondered if there were any saddles around i could multi fit? Iv seen top class riders school other horses & bring their own saddles and they are riding lotsa different horses so how can they use one saddle?
My thoughts are wintecs/thorowgoods or treeless saddles? But can you jump in treeless saddles & also iv been told theyre unstable & not always good for youngsters.
Any ideas guys? :)
 
Top riders do often just have one or two favoured saddles but their horses are often of a similar type, level of fitness and they will be having the best of care to ensure they are comfortable, the saddles are also usually top quality and will be fitted with appropriate pads to ensure the fit is right. They may also just use it for a short time on a horse.

If the saddle on your horse is tipping and moving it does not fit and needs checking it may just need a different gullet.
With your young ones it is important that they have a good saddle when they start work a poorly fitting saddle can cause real problems that could impact on your work with them or worse cause an accident to you.

I would find some good second hand saddles and get them fitted, you may find one does two horses with a pad, I had an Ideal that fitted 3 very different types really well but they were all at a similar stage of work ie fit and muscled up on the topline. A good quality leather saddle is usually more flexible and forgiving than a synthetic one.
I have never used a treeless and dont think I would want to on a horse I was bringing on.
 
The old style wintec's are horrible saddles and rarely fit anything well.

A thorowgood cob saddle is a good fit on many horses but the gullet takes a bit of faffing to alter and you'd need pads. They're also not particularly cheap.

A GOOD QUALITY treeless might suit (there's a lot of crap saddles around cheaply) but they would need to be similar shaped. Not all treeless suit all horses.

Why not look at getting a cheaper good quality saddle fitted to each.
 
If the gullet is the right width and the saddle is lifting at the back then the tree and/or the panel is too curved - I specialise in fitting wide and flat horses and find that in many cases synthetic treed saddles are just not flat enough.

I think you need to really know what you're doing to have one or two saddles and know how to shim them to suit various horses especially if they're NOT similar shapes. Something like a ReactorPanel can work really well when horses aren't too different and if you have different horses over long periods of time you can adjust them for each horse and they will fit al ot of different horses without changing the tree but you'll need to be prepared to replace the velcro plates quite often. Still will be cheaper than having to buy new saddles every time!
 
www.reactorpanel.com - if anyone is interested in trying one DO contact the owner of the company in the US before sourcing one - she will advise on the current agent situation in the UK. If you go for a used one I'd be happy to advise on model etc and adjust it depending on location :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top