Saddles for Haflingers/Round Types

[black beauty 1]

Hi All,

I’m looking for any recommendations of saddle brands / styles which have worked for Haflingers and/or round barrel shaped ponies!

I’ve tried a number from: Albion, Fairfax, Ideal, Kent & Masters but they either don’t make sufficient contact or are thrown to the left / right.

Would appreciate any recommendations of saddles for the rounder shaped horse.

 

[Merlod]

Anything that can be made on a hoop tree. Ideal (h&c), black country, chunky monkey, andrea hicks. If you want adjustable gullet Cavaletti are geared more towards natives and made with a 'U' shaped gullet compared to the usual 'V' shapes on wintec etc.

 

[Northern]

I have a Haflinger training medium dressage. She's not as wide as many Haflingers, but is built typically downhill and doesn't like to use her core abdominal muscles at rest (luckily different under saddle).

I have tried:

- Black Country Eloquence: Was ok with pads, but generally too long for her back (saddler made do for a while as she was young and growing and I got it as a bargain!).
- Thorowgood T4 cob: We both hated it, sold quickly.
- Loxley Dressage (hoop tree): Fit her well but I hated it.
- Erreplus Connect: Rode in for a few years, just was never convinced. Pony struggled in the canter. Too long for her back in hindsight and I sold it when she ended up with a white patch on her wither (now resolved).
- ErgoX2: Current saddle. Not perfect but the "best" so far and canter has improved out of sight. Still playing around with optimal balance with saddler. This saddle has a smaller panel length and is generally a more "minimalist" saddle without big blocks etc.

Most of these had a U shaped gullet.

My advice to you is to try (ride in!) as many as you can get your hands on. I was lucky to have her at a place where the owner kindly allowed me to try all her saddles (pretty much every possible brand you can imagine). That was very interesting and gave me some direction of where to look.
You should also concentrate on ensuring even muscling from the ground as well as under saddle. Regular body work/massage has really helped mine do the job her brain is perfect for, but her body isn't

 

[Vodkagirly]

Fiona cork, AH saddles, pony cob & horse, chunky monkey. Im using a heather moffat flexee

 

[cremedemonthe]

GFS used to make Haflinger saddles specifically for their shape.
I fitted a few and they were good but that was a while ago, have a look on their website to see if it's still available
Oz (Saddler)

 

[sbloom]

Hi All,

I’m looking for any recommendations of saddle brands / styles which have worked for Haflingers and/or round barrel shaped ponies!

I’ve tried a number from: Albion, Fairfax, Ideal, Kent & Masters but they either don’t make sufficient contact or are thrown to the left / right.

Would appreciate any recommendations of saddles for the rounder shaped horse.

None of these have open heads of wider, flatter rails (though I know Albion do have some more "specialist" offers these days I've not seen them or felt the rails.

The challenge, with the very wide ones, especially if you're narrow in the pelvis and/or hips is that to correctly fit very wide flat backs with a tree you need wide, flat rails, which is basically the twist. Also the traditional construction (sewn in sweat flap) can make the saddle more bulky immediately below the twist (the waist) which pushes the thighs out.

You have some good brand recommendations, I used to fit AH for many years, and still check them etc, and they're beautiful saddles, and can fit many wide shapes extremely well, it's just that any of these standard types of saddles are hit and miss as to how well you can sit in them, once you find the saddle that actually fits the horse. And the fit for you is important to the horse, not just to you.

I used to fit ErgoX2 but they're super rare. They have a good rail shape up to about XW, the occasional XXW, and do focus on the rider. I learned all my rider fit stuff from them. Not a saddle for everyone, not cheap and there's a high commitment to straightness and posture, which is never a bad thing.

I moved to a treeless brand where I can lift the rider a little, helping them sit "narrower", and prefer a saddle that allows the rider to sit in a more forward balance which means you're closer to where the horse can carry you most easily (base of the wither) and correspondingly sitting on the narrowest part of the ribcage.