Saddles for Haflinger

Jacobby said:
One saddle to consider is the Haflinger treed Big Horn. Not saying it will absolutely work, but worth trying. I use it on my two - but they are not as wide as some Haffies I have seen. It is hard to find a decent saddle for the truly wide, witherless Haffies.
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yeah it is, hes not truly wide luckily but it is an awkward one. Of course without actually trying some out who knows what will be best, or even stay in place so just trying to get some ideas before looking into it further so thank you:)
 
They generally need a super flat tree, if he's not wide then you'll need a relatively narrow pommel, twist and seat, unfortunately most cob saddles are too much saddle, and not flat enough, for this type of shape.
 
If he's anything like my 14.2hh section D, who's extremely wide chested, big barrelled and flat withered, it's worth putting the money aside for a custom made saddle. When I bought him as a 5yo he came with an extra wide but it was designed for a much bigger horse so was totally unsuitable, had a saddle fitter out who replaced it with another extra wide but this also started to slip, friend of a friend had a 14.2hh Welsh who passed away so lent us her saddle to try, we called out a different saddle fitter to try that and it was far too narrow. Also the extra wide we had been supplied by the other saddler was too narrow and too came up too high at the back, hence why it was slipping! Saddle fitter had just measured him as extra wide and put an extra wide saddle on him! After the new saddler tried various other saddles on him she announced she had nothing suitable so we paid about £600 to have one custom made, it was well worth it as it was measured to me as well and takes up my leg so well that I look smaller on him (as I am pretty tall for him heh), and it's sooo comfy! I have never seen such a wide, flat looking saddle in my life though :P

Whatever you do, just make sure you get your saddle properly fitted, I never understand why people just go out and buy any old saddle and plonk it on their horse :( It still shocks me to this day that when I advertised my boy with a MADE TO MEASURE saddle, people rang up asking for a reduction in his asking price without tack as they 'already had a saddle and didn't need it'... er no, you cannot and will not use your retired 16.2hh warmblood's saddle on my 14.2hh Welsh cob!
 
Your made to measure saddle (which was v cheap at £600 as the ideals mentioned here are +£1000 new off the peg) could well not fit the new rider though. I would always rather sort my own tack. There is also nothing to say that a saddle will not fit both a warmblood and welsh cob.
 
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