Saddles...!

Lintel

Lintel

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I have a saddle dilemma.
I have a highland- not your tabletop type, he does have a some wither and his current saddle in my opinion is between a medium and wide.
His saddle he has is fine but I'm looking for something with a bit more "stability" as his current is WH cut and a bit straight for jumping and going for a gallop!
Not wanting to spend a great deal looking about the £300 mark, saddle fitter has nothing around that price and I'm happy to fit his saddle but my dilemma is...
Do I buy a synthetic with an adjustable gullet which "should" fit him with a bit of adjusting? Thinking a T4 cob?
Or do I buy a older leather saddle, which "might" fit him?

Any advice on how to judge if a saddle will fit through advert pictures would also be greatly appreciated(as well as any recommendations saddle wise!)
 
If you're at a livery yard, then try everyones saddles on him, and note the make/model of the ones that fit, and measure the distance between the D rings across the front (might give you a rough idea of what width of tree they are if it isn't stamped on the stirrup bar etc)

I'd rather have leather but others may disagree...

Fiona
 
Fiona said:
If you're at a livery yard, then try everyones saddles on him, and note the make/model of the ones that fit, and measure the distance between the D rings across the front (might give you a rough idea of what width of tree they are if it isn't stamped on the stirrup bar etc)

I'd rather have leather but others may disagree...

Fiona
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Sounds like a plan- hadn't thought of that!
 
I'd rather have leather as well but some of the synthetic saddle look just like leather ones, much nicer than the old synthetics, IMO. Plus most are adjustable so more likely to be able to be fitted to your horse.
 
Well you can get adjustable leather saddles but maybe not in your price range. We got an adjustable Kent and masters one for 600. I would do what others said though, check sizes and brands of other saddles on the yard. Would say be careful with ideal saddles. I got a medium one for my horse and it was way too narrow so check sizes carefully for those in particular. I like the saddle I got him but its just a shame it didn't fit. Would send you pictures of it but it wouldn't fit your boy either I imagine. Good luck finding one though.
 
Surely a WH saddle is made for jumping and galloping?

I like the idea of trying on every saddle on a livery yard. My mare has worn 4 different saddles that we happened to have in the tack room as she has changed shape since I got her.
 
WH saddles are showing saddles that you CAN jump in, not everyone would want to jump in one! I'd say proceed with caution with the K&M/TG cob saddles, they really don't fit every horse or rider by any means. They can tip forwards, especially on very flat or croup high backs, don't have large flaps for long legs and sit you up off the horse.
 
I have a Thorowgood T8 cob gp for my cob and it fits her really nicely and suits me well (My horse is a 15hh cob, she currently has the wide gullet in it. She has a 17.5 inch saddle although could get away with a 17 inch as I'm only tiny. The flaps would be useless if you were tall though. My 5'9 instructor has ridden in it and her knees were very close to creeping over the knee rolls!), however as sbloom said, they really don't suit every horse. One of my friends tried a T4 on her Connie and it did the most almighty buck and would hardly move forward. She now uses an Ideal saddle on him and he goes beautifully.
 
Personally I hated my T4 Cob saddle (sold it on within 6 months). You can get other saddles that are changeable, depends how much you want to spend though - I've got a WOW which is great, it was (IMO) very expensive but in theory I'll never need to sell it as I can just have it changed to any horse I ever have (and also change the knee rolls, flaps etc. to suit). It's also very handy for short coupled horses (which your Highland might be?) so I have 16" panels for the horse on a 17" seat for me!
 
Perhaps try an older Jeffries Falcon event saddle? My retired old lady sounds a similar shape and that's what she has. I love that saddle, so comfy and fitted us both so well and I always felt really secure.
Whereabouts in Scotland are you? If anywhere near me you could have a shot of it if no-one on your yard has one? I don't use mine but would never sell it as it's sentimental :)
 
I would always prefer a second hand leather saddle to a synthetic. Plus we have had nothing but fit issues with both the leather and synthetic changable gullet saddles we've had (different makes so not just one brand), as we've found the tree shapes of these sorts of saddle are just not right for our quite straight backed horse.

Saying that about synthetic, I have got a Tekna synthetic dressage saddle for my youngster that I'm very impressed with so far!

I bought a Lemetex jump saddle for less than your budget that did us very well until we switched to dressage so no longer use it... So if you can get an idea of what might fit (width, seat, tree shape, brand of saddle, etc) I would search for a second hand version and then get the saddle fitter to fit it, or at the very least check that it is sound to use (tree is intact etc).

Good luck saddle shopping x x
 
teddypops said:
I use saddle company saddles as they can be adjusted to any width by a saddle fitter (around£40). I love them!
Click to expand...

I'd love someone to be able to explain this to me, as the tree adjuster they use is just like the ones that are used to adjust just the headplate in wooden treed saddles. My thoughts are that they can actually move the panels outwards to widen the gullet, I'm not sure they can actually change the shape of the whole tree as I can't see how that can be done.
 
I had just despaired of getting anything to fit my traddie cob. I'd spent a flippin fortune on saddles, and unfortunately had been badly ripped off by one particular concern.

I'd tried a Wintec Wide on him. It was frankly AWFUL. Slipped around like a turd on a dungheap and felt really unstable.

Tried a Thorowgood T4 and was so uncomfortable I had to get off and walk home after just half an hour on top.

So in the end, I took a template myself of his back, well two templates basically, the width (pommel) and also the dip across the back, as accurately as I could, and armed with this, went to a horsey car boot sale.

Managed to pick up a really nice little Lovett & Ricketts for £50. Got it home, and it seemed OK, then got the saddle fitter out and she just needed to do a few tweaks and re-flock it, and hey presto, sorted!

I also tried the Treeless. The best being the Tree-Free Exmoor Saddle.
 
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