Saddles with adjustable stirrup bars? Or can they be repositioned? Help pls!

catembi

catembi

Well-Known Member
Joined
12 March 2005
Messages
13,254
Location
N Beds
Visit site
Oh dear, I'm in the saddle doldrums today! I had a thorowgood T4 dressage & T8 jumping saddle fitted to Summer recently. She is totally fine with them, but I haven't been able to work out what's gone wrong with my jumping. I am bouncing in canter more than I should be and I don't feel secure. I nearly fell off yesterday just because S did a balloon jump when usually I'm pretty fair at sitting tight. I got o/h to video me today (will NOT be sharing as the results are NOT flattering...!) and I am leaning forward & my lower leg is swinging forward.

I have belatedly remembered that after years of changing saddles repeatedly, I got on really well with a Heather Moffatt dr saddle which had adjustable or better placed (can't rem which) stirrup bars leading to an instant better position. I sold it when I changed horses, and ended up with a Wow which had 2 stirrup bars. Total revelation, instant security jumping, never had to think about my position. It totally looked after itself. However, I never completely trusted the air bags, had some faulty ones, was never 100% convinced that they were properly inflated & have heard since that you are supposed to have them reinflated every month or two...!

i am now not sure what to do. I am 5 ft 1 and slight, whereas Summeris ID and solid, so she does really need a 17.5" saddle. I am fairly sure from cringing over the videos that the stirrup bar is in the wrong place for me. I am wondering whether to get a 2nd hand Wow & get it flocked? Are there other saddles with movable stirrup bars? Or can you get them moved on any saddle? All suggestions appreciated. Aarrrgghhh, I **hate** saddles!
 
Does the saddle have moveable leg blocks? My instructor moved both the front and back blocks and that made a huge difference as they were allowing my leg to sit correctly.
 
Oh yes, it does. Knee rolls and thigh blocks. I tried moving the knee rolls higher, & when I got off I tried moving them back a bit but haven't tried the new position yet. I will keep tinkering! :-)
 
If you have someone with you, get them to move the blocks whilst you are mounted. You can then have your leg in the right position and they can put the blocks in the right place. You can then try the new position immediately and make any minor (or major!) adjustments.
 
WOW now sell stirrup leathers which go right over the twist and down the other side, positioning the leather further back than direct from the bar. Worth a try?
 
Wow do also sell flocked panels now (though I've never had an issue with flair and certainly don't pump mine up very often at all 😉)
 
There is more to rider leg position than just the stirrup bar placement, I know some manufacturers would have you believe otherwise but there ya go.

If you liked the wow then might be worth looking for a 2nd hand one.

You could buy a pump kit and do learn to check it yourself for peace of mind?
 
17.5" is what the saddle fitter said she needed! I am small & light & could fit into a pony saddle, i.e. 15", but wouldn't a small saddle make a pressure point on a big horse, even if it was the right width?

I really wish I hadn't sold my Wow as it was perfect - I had fixed block jumping flaps & giant block dr flaps. But I got fed up with the whole deflating bag thing. I don't trust my judgement on saddle fit as I'm not one of these people who is good at visualising in 3D. It was an original Wow though, so v heavy.

Lots of suggestions to work through! I need to do *something* as I have competed to 1 m 15 BS so I shouldn't be feeling insecure over a cross pole...
 
catembi said:
17.5" is what the saddle fitter said she needed! I am small & light & could fit into a pony saddle, i.e. 15", but wouldn't a small saddle make a pressure point on a big horse, even if it was the right width?

I really wish I hadn't sold my Wow as it was perfect - I had fixed block jumping flaps & giant block dr flaps. But I got fed up with the whole deflating bag thing. I don't trust my judgement on saddle fit as I'm not one of these people who is good at visualising in 3D. It was an original Wow though, so v heavy.

Lots of suggestions to work through! I need to do *something* as I have competed to 1 m 15 BS so I shouldn't be feeling insecure over a cross pole...
Click to expand...

No, a smaller saddle can be fitted to a larger horse. A male judge at a show may not be able to fit into it, but that's a separate issue.

I know I feel like a beginner in hubbys gorgeous saddle, but when I tried a smaller version on my Connie it really was a lovely saddle.

I'd honestly borrow a pony saddle and see how you feel in it...

Then get the saddler back.

Fiona
 
I have been hunting on the Wow site & haven't been able to find either flocked panels or up & over stirrup leathers, despite the fact that the stirrup leathers are mentioned in the description of one of the dressage saddles... V frustrating...

I think I may have to buy a Wow jumping saddle. I'm actually getting on okay with the T4 dressage saddle for the time being. I wish I'd just kept the Wow, but at the time I was v annoyed with it deflating all the time. I was wondering why Trev was being such an a**e, stuck my finger under the pommel out of interest & found that it wouldn't fit, despite the saddle having been checked not that long ago. **sighs**
 
New Wows are over 6kg lighter than version 2, probably 10 kg lighter than the resin version.

To stop air bag deflation all you need to do is cut a tiny bit off the tube. If that doesn't work, the airbag or tube inside the saddle is leaking and needs replacing. (Actually they glue really well with superglue if you take them out and test them in water to find out where the leak is! )


I've got a size one shallow seat variable block VSD nearly new for sale if it would help.
 
catembi said:
17.5" is what the saddle fitter said she needed! I am small & light & could fit into a pony saddle, i.e. 15", but wouldn't a small saddle make a pressure point on a big horse, even if it was the right width?

I really wish I hadn't sold my Wow as it was perfect - I had fixed block jumping flaps & giant block dr flaps. But I got fed up with the whole deflating bag thing. I don't trust my judgement on saddle fit as I'm not one of these people who is good at visualising in 3D. It was an original Wow though, so v heavy.

Lots of suggestions to work through! I need to do *something* as I have competed to 1 m 15 BS so I shouldn't be feeling insecure over a cross pole...
Click to expand...

No more pressure than it does on a shorter backed horse/pony! same weight, same surface area = same pressure, horse size irrelevant and you need something to fit you. Have never heard of someone suggesting a horse needs a bigger saddle than what the rider needs, I have a lot of slight friends that would really struggle if they had to size up to a 17.5
 
Yeah, extactly Ester, and *I'm* really struggling as I can't ride effectively over a x-pole when I used to be effective at Newcomers...! It's a really weird feeling. Come back, Wow, all is forgiven...
 
Another here that would say seat size is for you not horse. A saddle can be too long for a horse, but not heard of too short being an issue.
If it helps I had a thorowgood saddle for a while, but ditched it as I always felt pitched forward on it, saddler assured me it fitted correctly, changed saddle & problem gone.
 
I agree that the seat size is for the rider but I wouldn't want to go too short either as that may mean that the back of the saddle only goes as far as T14 or 15, we would really like it to go back to T17 or T18 as that is then the largest weight bearing area available for that particular horse. Too short a saddle also means the rider is sat further forward than ideal and therefore can cause balance issues for that particular horse and for the rider.

Some saddles have a larger panel than tree to counteract this issue, a Wow fitter might well use an extended forward panel for that same reason.

The up and over stirrup leathers for the wows attach to the underside of the seat with a bolt - there is a fixing within the newer saddles to accommodate this. But if you were previously happy with using the back bar then you probably don't need to use the up and over. If you do use it then you should use safety stirrups because the stirrup leather will not release if you come off and get your foot stuck.

Wow supply new panels with flocking or foam instead of flair or you can send older panels to them and they will convert them for you. Saddlers would also be able to do this. As the panels open up with velcro the flocking can be laid in flat but the beauty of flair is how adjustable it is whilst the rider is on board.

Once the air is adjusted then ends should be snipped off and Wow supply a tube of silicone that is then used to seal the ends before the stoppers are put in. Wow do advise the flair is checked every 3 to 6 months depending on age and stage of the horse (or sooner if it's a rehab case)
 
Wheels I don't think they use silicon any more? I've seen a lot of trouble with it blocking tubes and never use it myself, just snip 5mm off the end of any that lose air or look stretched.
 
Oh thank you W1bbler - glad it's not just me! Honestly, I feel so perched and out of balance. I'm sure it fits the horse & it should theoretically fit me, but I feel like the jumping equivalent of Bambi on ice.

Thank you also for the extra info iro WOW. Why did I sell mine...???!!! Although to be fair it was v v old & extremely heavy, so one of the newer ones might be better. I have joined all the WOW FB groups & will start keeping a lookout.
 
I have only skim read but agree the saddle is much too big for you, a horse doesn't need a bigger saddle than you need, unless aesthetics, or a judge riding, both applicable only to showing, are more important. You need security and rattling around unstable in too large a saddle is always a bad idea for the horse, not just for you. I doubt you need a set back bar, though you may find a flat seated GP, which would have a medium bar (most forwards for jump, furthest back for dressage, in between for GP) might work well.

PSI is PSI (pounds per square inch), sure, spread it further with a larger panel if you can, but that can have saddle stability implications. Small rider small saddle is fine, most 16.5"s would be plenty, 16" would probably be good too.
 
Trying to get my heart high enough to buy a fixed block jumping. Need it by Thursday as that's our jumping debut! Only a CR, but it would be nice to feel secure. Maybe I could borrow one. I should really put off our debut, but I've booked an overnight stable as I can't hack back in the dark & it was going to be quite an adventure.
 
I wouldn't rush into it catembi - take your time to get the right one with the right panels and get it fitted and the flair done correctly by someone who knows how to fit flair properly.

Do you know the constituent parts you need? Headplate size, panel type etc.?
 
Headplate size - not certain. Seat size is 1, panel size probably 2. I don't understand all the stitchline/no stitchline tabs/no tabs. I would like a deep seat with the jumping fixed block flaps.

The whole thing is in doubt now as she was awful hacking to my dr lesson, did a huge spook, I fell off, had to run up the road after her, she ran home & could get in as I leave the driveway gate open when hacking for precisely this reason, she did several laps of the property at speed jumping all sorts of things, then I had to get back on & have another go. Got to my lesson, did the lesson & hacked back but she was really, really silly & my husband has been trying to persuade me to get something else for ages. Arrrgghh, horses!
 
Oh dear, she can be a handful can't she?

But for future ref and for anyone else reading, you can have a size smaller panel but not a size larger so you could have a size 1 seat and size 1 or 0 panels or a size 2 seat with size 2 or size 1 panels.

As you are not really sure what she needs and assuming you go for a wow then it would be best to get a proper fitting. Most horses end up with a DWG panel (wide gullet) either with or without tabs and they are what come up for sale 2md hand the most but there are also times where a different panel would be optimum.

Then you need a size 1 seat but do you need curbed, semi curved or flat?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top