Saddle suggestions

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DebP

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22 February 2013
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After some suggestions for a jump saddle and dressage saddle for my horse. He's 15.2hh but very short backed. He's in either a mw or wide and has a small wither. His back is quite wide and barrel shaped so my biggest issue has been keeping the saddle central. It is such a pain trying find something and be confident that it's right as saddle fitters always seem to be pushing one manufacturer over the others.
 
If you can bear not looking modern, he'd probably suit older style saddles. They often have a larger seat on smaller panels, so you can have the room you need, without huge panels sticking out the back and compromising your horses loin area. You won't find huge dressage knee blocks on them, there might not even be a knee-pad on the outside of the saddle flap either. You can get a bit more support for your legs by choosing a full panel saddle rather than a half panel one. A lot of the GP saddles are fairly flat seated and forward cut, so unless you're jumping huge they'll be fine for jumping in. Brand doesn't seem to make that much difference from what I've seen, it just seems to be a difference in style between most modern saddles and most older ones.
 
Thanks I'm only tiny at 5ft nothing so can fit in a 16.5 to 17" saddle (my 17" gp is too big for me). My current dressage saddle is an ancient Barry Swain one I've had for 20years nearly but even that seems to be moving about.
 
Have you tried thorowgood/Kent & Masters/Fairfax?? Same makers, just different ranges for different price brackets... found them to be fab on flat back types, and they also make cob trees which would likely suit even better :)
 
My homebred short backed 15.2hh sports mare is a similar sounding barrel shape in an XW. We have just got her an ex demo Black Country Dante jump saddle direct from BC, it has slightly upswept panels so surprisingly she can take a 17.5" in it.

The Kent and Master s series GP she had before wallowed around on her.
 
My gp saddle is Kent and masters but the original one with a standard (rather than cob) tree. That seems to sit off centre. To be fair with his shape it's hard to know where the middle is!
 
I have a horse with a small whither and what made the difference was making sure I bought a saddle where the gullet is really wide and if poss wider at the whither. No slipping problems. As she is young, I have had to shim up/shim down as she grew but so far so good.

Can recommend Kent & Masters, Lavinia Mitchell, Balance Saddles...
 
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