Tekna saddles - thoughts? Do they suit "banana backs"?

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Haz:)

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After I found my Wintec GP has been bridging I've decided to sadly sell my Wintec instead of going for a reflock / flock with Cair combination.

I was looking into Tekna, a Tekna jump saddle to be exact, as I love the look - still synthetic but really nice convincing leather look, they're light like my Wintec, and affordable.

(If your interested it's an older style brown GP, message me for details, great condition - not been used much)

What kind of back profile do Teknas suit best? Are they good for the banana back TB? I wouldn't call it a bad case of "banana back", regular honestly.

He's got medium withers, possibly med - low, some TBs like my friends seem to have mountainous withers!! Not sure what to say about his shoulders, I'd say they are quite big??

He's medium to medium wide gullet, do Teknas come up wide / narrow / bang on?

Lastly: are they durable, quality, easy to clean and safe? Opinions? Experiences good and bad? :p

Here is the back profile of horse in question, sorry pics aren't the best:


Sorry for the odd angle on this one... Hopefully it's still helpful?

 
I've got a tekna gp for my welsh d. It was fitted by a saddler who says he's a unusual shape for his breed. He's got fairly high withers is wide and short backed. Saddler says he has a curvy back.
I like the saddle a lot. It looks good, is light and easy to clean. Only thing I don't like is putting the stirrup leathers on and doing up the girth is a bit fiddly.
 
003_zpsbkuccrf0.jpg


This is a banana back ! I used a normal saddle with numnah with various pockets for inserts.
 
My friend had one, it squeaked really bad! I couldn't ride with her as it drove me mad!

For a good cheaper saddle look at the shires range or the new thorowoods are t4/8's
 
Haz:) said:
After I found my Wintec GP has been bridging I've decided to sadly sell my Wintec instead of going for a reflock / flock with Cair combination.

I was looking into Tekna, a Tekna jump saddle to be exact, as I love the look - still synthetic but really nice convincing leather look, they're light like my Wintec, and affordable.

(If your interested it's an older style brown GP, message me for details, great condition - not been used much)

What kind of back profile do Teknas suit best? Are they good for the banana back TB? I wouldn't call it a bad case of "banana back", regular honestly.

He's got medium withers, possibly med - low, some TBs like my friends seem to have mountainous withers!! Not sure what to say about his shoulders, I'd say they are quite big??

He's medium to medium wide gullet, do Teknas come up wide / narrow / bang on?

Lastly: are they durable, quality, easy to clean and safe? Opinions? Experiences good and bad? :p

Here is the back profile of horse in question, sorry pics aren't the best:


Sorry for the odd angle on this one... Hopefully it's still helpful?

Click to expand...

NOT a banana back... that is what I like to call "muscle wastage" back from a too narrow saddle! A normal, better fitted saddle will suffice!
 
I'm only going on what others have told me. These pictures are on the older side from when I first got him about 3 months ago and he's looking better.

I'm at a loss. I don't like Thorowgoods, I rode my friends TB in it and it put me in a strange position. Just not keen on them.

So his saddle is too narrow? Bless him ): what do you class as a 'normal' saddle?? I thought Tekna was normal? :0

I just don't know >_<

Just seen your post SelinasSpirit, that's what I thought but I just got so confused. Thank you :)
 
Teknas are great saddles, excellent value for money and better than other synthetics I've sat in which were more expensive.
 
Teknas are normal synthetic adjustable saddles. Mine was fitted by a fully qualified and well respected saddle fitter.
I didn't go looking for a tekna, in fact I'd never heard of them. It just so happened that it fits my horse well which is the most important thing.
I'd get a saddle fitter out to see what they recommend.
 
There are a couple of styles of tekna saddle, a few years ago I had a dressage saddle which didn't have changeable gullets but you could send it off to be heat altered. That one was too banana shaped for my horse. I now have a tekna gp for both my horse and my little welsh but I have the club versions which are a flatter tree and have the gullet change system.

Maybe if you get one of the normal (not the club ones) jump saddles then it might suit his shape and if he has muscle wastage put a wider gullet in and use half pad/shims as you need them but best to get a saddle fitter.

I will say though that for the price they are good quality and not that horrible hard kind of synthetic that you get with wintec/thorowgood!
 
Haz:) said:
I'm only going on what others have told me. These pictures are on the older side from when I first got him about 3 months ago and he's looking better.

I'm at a loss. I don't like Thorowgoods, I rode my friends TB in it and it put me in a strange position. Just not keen on them.

So his saddle is too narrow? Bless him ): what do you class as a 'normal' saddle?? I thought Tekna was normal? :0

I just don't know >_<

Just seen your post SelinasSpirit, that's what I thought but I just got so confused. Thank you :)
Click to expand...

I meant any saddle, doesn't have to be "tekna" or any other new fangled design/make/take on a saddle.

I didn't mean to confuse...

Your horse has a really nice back, it lacks muscle from a saddle that is very clearly too narrow. You see many horses with whithers this shape and people call tem "high-whithered" when actually, they literally have no muscle there where there should be.

What needs to happen is either build up muscle there gradually without a saddle, or, get a saddle that will allow for muscle build up rather than impede it. You can use shims and pads temporarily underneath. Worked brilliantly with my old "hi-withered" horse and his topline built up very quickly. He was fitted in a medium when he was actually an xx-wide!
 
tallyho! said:
Your horse has a really nice back, it lacks muscle from a saddle that is very clearly too narrow.
Click to expand...

You can't necessarily say the saddle was too narrow, though I agree there is some muscle wastage. A too wide, too curvy or otherwise unstable saddle can cause these issues, and an old hard panel will make it worse, even Wintec panels, having very hard "leather" will make any instability cause more problems than a softly flocked leather panel.

I would recommend finding a really good fitter, and being prepared to use a good quality shim pad, Mattes are the only ones I recommend for many reasons, and be prepared that he will change shape fairly rapidly if you get the fit right and he's working correctly (and there are no other issues!).
 
sbloom said:
You can't necessarily say the saddle was too narrow, though I agree there is some muscle wastage.
Click to expand...

True. I'm sure you can have the best fitting saddle, but if someone sits like a sack of potatoes - a horse could still have muscle wastage due to the way it has to carry you.
 
I have x 2 Tekna's, Jumping and a Close Contact both changeable gullet but I have had one of the older versions too - my horse has no withers and large shoulders, strangely the dressage version did not work out.

.............I love these saddles but I do not think they would be great on a horse with high withers ( but I am not a saddler )
 
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