sbloom
Well-Known Member
The photos won't show here but....green marks aren't parallel, I'm sure they're supposed to be, but they close in slightly at the bottom, the tree is fractionally too narrow, the white marked one is better. The one with the gap lower down has a ton of flocking in at the top, look at the shape of the panel, can you see the bulge in it up near the wither? We can't really see the tree points but that's a nasty flocking shape IMO and could be the sole cause of the flap kicking out.
Thank you for such a detailed response- it’s really appreciated! It sounds like my best option is to sell it or I was looking into getting one of these wintec pads to lift it at the front (attached). Don’t know if you think it could help?
I had been using a thick sheepskin half pad, but the saddle still came up a lot at the back jumping and I could tell my horse felt uncomfortable so soon got a (not so helpful) saddler out. Thanks again
The photo shown is indeed a rear riser as someone else commented. Those pads are super thick, lifting the whole saddle a lot, as well as the further lift front or back, so they can be way too much pad.
Asleep (even saddle fitters have to sleep lol)
And yes, narrowing a saddle is sometimes necessary to stop the back lifting and stop there being too much pressure up near the wither. If the saddle is only a little too wide then changing the profile of the flocking can be enough, equally a half pad or front riser may work temporarily, or the horse might even prefer than set up long term.
So, too wide at the wither yet not wide enough for the shoulders....a whole minefield and I'd say it's a rare scenario. Generally taking the tree points of a jump saddle a little wider than the horse, flocking up but lower down to support the tree points, can work well for prominent shoulders, it all depends WHERE the shoulder is more prominent than the ribcage. There are many different solutions depending on exactly what the issue is, but a jump saddle can cause more issues than straight cut in this regard. The flaps however are flexible, the tree points less so, so it's sometimes less of a problem than people think.
I do wonder if the problem here is actually more the issue that the saddle won't stay back, you don't have the right girth straps attached to the saddle, your comment about the girth being in the wrong place. A good saddle for a wide horse should really have a point strap so you can drop the girth further forwards. However this always means the fit must be really good at the front, and the tree flat enough or the front of the saddle may be pulled down, or too much pressure exerted on one area. You could try an anatomical girth if the horse has a forwards girth groove.
So, your issue bay be tree shape - a lot of shoulder freedom comes from T10-13, under the middle of the saddle. It may be the width and/or the flocking at the front. it may be that the saddle won't stay back.
I would always say to ask a saddle fitter to show you exactly what they mean, we all use terms differently, but you need to FEEL what the horse is feeling and understand what's going on. The keys are spreading pressure evenly and avoiding pressure points (for instance the photo with the white lines on will have a lot of pressure where the bulge in the flocking is, right up at the wither), and facilitating movement. The first is generally the easier one to fix, the second is sometimes down to a horse's preference.
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