Caol Ila
Well-Known Member
Thanks all for the thoughts and advice.
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Update: I tried a Barefoot treeless and it didn't suit myself and my horse at all. My horse has big, shark fin withers and I guess these don't work very well for that sort of horse. The first day, she tried to be forward. The second day in it, she was just like, "No." In the meantime, I took my Orthoflex to a local saddler, who wasn't positive he could fix it but gave it a go. Then my ex-yard owner saw me whinging on Facebook and said she had a Thorowgood high wither T4 that might fit my horse (when my horse was at her yard, she'd ride her for me when I was out of town, so she had a good sense of what the horse looked like) and she didn't want a stupid amount of money for it. Which isn't something I can say for the Reactor Panel saddles. The horse went well in the T4 so I decided to buy it, thinking it doesn't hurt to have something like that sitting around. I used to have a little jumping saddle that fit lots of horses that I had to sell when I moved to the UK, and it was a handy wee thing.
Then saddle fitter contacted me to say he'd fix the Orthoflex. He's solved the problem of having too much movement in the panels, but I'm concerned it's gone the other way. The panels are now quite rigid and don't pivot at all anymore. Not his fault. If you've never worked with one before, you have no idea how much the panels are *supposed* to move so you're pretty much operating in the dark. That was always the risk of getting it repaired by someone unfamiliar with that sort of saddle, which in the UK, is most saddlers. I haven't tried it on the horse yet, so we'll see. Meanwhile, she seems happy enough in the T4. I never thought I'd go back to a traditional treed saddle, but there you go. Whatever works.
.
Update: I tried a Barefoot treeless and it didn't suit myself and my horse at all. My horse has big, shark fin withers and I guess these don't work very well for that sort of horse. The first day, she tried to be forward. The second day in it, she was just like, "No." In the meantime, I took my Orthoflex to a local saddler, who wasn't positive he could fix it but gave it a go. Then my ex-yard owner saw me whinging on Facebook and said she had a Thorowgood high wither T4 that might fit my horse (when my horse was at her yard, she'd ride her for me when I was out of town, so she had a good sense of what the horse looked like) and she didn't want a stupid amount of money for it. Which isn't something I can say for the Reactor Panel saddles. The horse went well in the T4 so I decided to buy it, thinking it doesn't hurt to have something like that sitting around. I used to have a little jumping saddle that fit lots of horses that I had to sell when I moved to the UK, and it was a handy wee thing.
Then saddle fitter contacted me to say he'd fix the Orthoflex. He's solved the problem of having too much movement in the panels, but I'm concerned it's gone the other way. The panels are now quite rigid and don't pivot at all anymore. Not his fault. If you've never worked with one before, you have no idea how much the panels are *supposed* to move so you're pretty much operating in the dark. That was always the risk of getting it repaired by someone unfamiliar with that sort of saddle, which in the UK, is most saddlers. I haven't tried it on the horse yet, so we'll see. Meanwhile, she seems happy enough in the T4. I never thought I'd go back to a traditional treed saddle, but there you go. Whatever works.
