synthetic saddles? CAIR or flock? opinions please!!

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alfirules

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hi,
to cut a long story short i am looking for a saddle to buy for a friends horse that i ride and i thought id just get a synthetic one as they're relatively cheap so basically i wondered which synthetic saddles anyone recommends as i have only ever had leather saddles.

I have no idea what to choose over cair or flock
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could someone please fill me in on which is best?!

thanks
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The Cair ones are air filled, i have had a Cair Isabell Werth dr saddle and also a Wintec Wide flock and i prefer the one that has normal flocking as the air filled one had no give at all and was to hard on the back,IMO.
I've been pleased with my Wintec Wide,feels like the padding is a lot more comfy for my mare than the other one.
 

I have a Wintec 500 saddle. They're about £240 - £300 but well worth it. My horse has had back problems in the past & I have to be careful about her saddles etc but she goes really well in this one. It's also the comfiest saddle I've ever sat on! It really is lovely well worth the money. I got mine secondhand (literally was used 3 times then the owner changed their mind) for £200.

It is flocked, not Cair so can't advise you on that as I have no experience of Cair saddles.

One word of warning though, don't go for a Maxim saddle. They are horribly uncomfortable, my horse hated it even though it was the correct size & they feel very 'cheap'. Not nice at all. Could have just been me & others may say different but I honestly didn't think it was all that. Guess it's just personal preference but I highly recommend the Wintec 500
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i know a lot of horses with the wintec 500 & it doesnt fit any of them, all different shapes & sizes of horses.

i have a flocked T4, much prefer the thorowgoods to the wintecs
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the saddler recommended not to get cair for my synthetic, you cant adjust it at all so if your horse changes shape you dont have an option to get the saddle reflocked, as you would a conventional flocked wintec.

didnt end up mattering much as I walked out the shop with a cliff barnsby leather! but I've had wintec 500s for the past 8 years - they are so comfortable I would really recommend them!
 
I have a Wintec 500 cair for my youngster. Very comfy. I agree with the cair not having much 'give' but it suits my horse fine. My friend has a flocked one and seems to sit a lot wider on the back compared to my cair one, so it really depends on the horse too!

I agree with chestnut_mare85 too, Thorowgoods may apparently 'fit' your horse but they are the most uncomfiest things ever!
 
I hate Thorowgood saddles too, they are hard, uncomfortable for horse and rider and they forced my leg into a weird jutting out forward position like you see on riders on antique photos and pictures!

I have a Wintec CC with flock and I love it, it doesn't slip back on my mare like my old leather saddle did and I find it comfortable. I chose the flock over Cair as my saddler said that some saddlers won't touch the Cair saddles as you can't really refit them.
 
I've had both but preferred my Thorowgoods, didn't find either of them hard at all. The Cair isn't a good example of air flocking because as some have already said it isn't adjustable and apparently the way the bags are set in the panels they don't spread the weight well and can still cause pressure points. Would you not be as well to get a saddler to fit whatever you buy anyway as the tree may not suit the horse anyway so a secondhand leather might be just as affordable?
 
My mare has a wintec 500 with cair she had a few back problems a couple of years ago and I was recommended this by the vet, she really likes it my saddler did adjust it slightly by putting a thin layer of flocking on top of the air pockets.
Absolutley hate the Thorowgoods we used them in the riding school I used to work at and found that over time the tree would splay and on a couple of the saddles the tree even snapped!!!. I would definatley buy a wintec x.
 
Recently got my horse re-fitted with a new saddle. Tried both the Wintec and Thorowgood. Didn't find the Wintec comfortable and the saddle fitter recommended the Thorowogood with Flocking as she doenst really like the cair. Not easy,if not impossible to adjust and can be more difficult to 'adjust' to.
 
Prefer Flock to Cair. Had a Wintec Isabell Dressage saddle with Cair. The Cair panels where just to hard on my boys back caused a lot of problems for him Especially when i was trying to work him at a higher level. I now have a WOW saddle with Flair & that been fab.
 
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