THOUGHTS ON HM SADDLES FOR A CHUNKY COB

[ApacheWarrior1]

Thoughts please. Pros and cons.

 

[soloequestrian]

I just answered your post about Vogues! I have a very broad and flat-backed warmblood. I also have an even broader and slightly dippy-backed WBxTB. Both have Flexee saddles - the warmblood in an old style one with Owen panels and the WBx in a newer version with French panels and the massively wide gullet plate (purple one) - I'm finding the width of this one challenging but getting used to it. Both horses are comfortable and the saddles are easy to source and not expensive. They're also well designed to put you in a nice position. The only thing I don't like is that they all come with long girth straps. I've changed them both to short though.

 

[MiJodsR2BlinkinTite]

I tried both the HM Vogue and the Phoenix a few years ago. This was for my old boy who was very chunky, short-backed and low withered. I wasn't used to treeless saddles in those days (I am now), so found the experience very different!!

Of the two, I found the Vogue was the one I would have gone for. However, after riding in a treeless saddle for the first time - especially on a chunky wider horse - I was struggling to walk for a day or two after!!

I did, much later on, try the Flex-EE for both my Welsh D mare and my cob. I had one of the earlier ones. Hated the damn thing!! It never seemed to sit right, not on either horse; and apparently the thing you had to do was accept the thing wouldn't feel right for the first 10 mins and THEN after that apparently it would after the horse's back had warmed it up!! Not helpful on a nappy Turbo-Cob with a corkscrew buck when you're riding out on a chilly morning and waiting for the dang saddle to sit properly!! Not exactly a helpful experience shall we say.

Are you interested in treeless saddles generally? Or just the HM ones??? I have also tried Barefoot (both the London and the Cherokee) on a wide cob (found it placed my hips too wide!! also it wasn't stable and tended to roll); also have tried Torsion (MUCH better!). I can also really recommend the TreeFree Exmoor or Tor as well: nice little hand-crafted saddles which have a really nice narrow twist, ideal for wider horses!

Hope this helps.

 

[PapaverFollis]

I use Vogues. I love them. They've sat perfectly on everything I've put them on, wide maxi-cob, wide, dippy backed Anglo Arab, teeny tiny TB and a pretty standard shaped ISH... plus a whole load of friend's horses having a borrow... ,apart from my current lad. I'm not sure why he's different, he looks completely normal, but it moves back on him. I need to play around with shims. Tried a couple of things that didn't work so have given up and gone back to his treed saddle for now.

Riding in them feels quite different at first and some people don't like it at all.

Physios have always been very happy with my horse's backs.

 

[MuddyMonster]

I tried a friend's HM saddle and liked it but was put off by the customer service. I heard not so great things about their head office but personally had issues trying to get hold of a HM saddle fitter - both appeared to be really keen to appear to be helping on social media but actually getting email responses was hard work and involved so much chasing, I didnt bother in the end!

I tried a few other treeless saddles (there are lots of places that do trials) - from memory I trialled two Barefoot saddles, a Ghost and an EDIX - before settling on the one that suited us both the most.

 

[ApacheWarrior1]

I tried both the HM Vogue and the Phoenix a few years ago. This was for my old boy who was very chunky, short-backed and low withered. I wasn't used to treeless saddles in those days (I am now), so found the experience very different!!

Of the two, I found the Vogue was the one I would have gone for. However, after riding in a treeless saddle for the first time - especially on a chunky wider horse - I was struggling to walk for a day or two after!!

I did, much later on, try the Flex-EE for both my Welsh D mare and my cob. I had one of the earlier ones. Hated the damn thing!! It never seemed to sit right, not on either horse; and apparently the thing you had to do was accept the thing wouldn't feel right for the first 10 mins and THEN after that apparently it would after the horse's back had warmed it up!! Not helpful on a nappy Turbo-Cob with a corkscrew buck when you're riding out on a chilly morning and waiting for the dang saddle to sit properly!! Not exactly a helpful experience shall we say.

Are you interested in treeless saddles generally? Or just the HM ones??? I have also tried Barefoot (both the London and the Cherokee) on a wide cob (found it placed my hips too wide!! also it wasn't stable and tended to roll); also have tried Torsion (MUCH better!). I can also really recommend the TreeFree Exmoor or Tor as well: nice little hand-crafted saddles which have a really nice narrow twist, ideal for wider horses!

Hope this helps.

 

[ApacheWarrior1]

Thanks for the info MiJods… will investigate the treeless ones you recommended.

 

[GoldenWillow]

I find the Vogue a lovely saddle to ride in, in warm weather but didn't like how the memory foam took so long to soften in cold weather. The problem I found fitting it to a fairly short backed cob that the smallest size was a 17" which had a fairly long footprint and was therefore too long.

 

[ApacheWarrior1]

Ah yes that happened to my previous little cob, and this one is even shorter backed

 

[ApacheWarrior1]

Thanks that's really helpful as I found flexee and vogue to be off the list of potentials for the same reasons - you don't hear much about the Tree Free ones Exmoor and Tor - but what I do hear seems positive.... wonder why they aren't more popular???

 

[Nudibranch]

I think your other post was about Vogues?
I've been using Flexees since the pre gullet days and am using the one I have now without the gullet bars as my Dales is pretty wide. I find them very comfortable and they work well on fairly standard shaped horses even with some width, if that makes sense. What they don't work with is really barrel shaped or flat topped types.
I use the recommended pad (Griffin shim pad) and the Professionals Choice girths, and get good stability. Horse seems to be very comfortable and I just prefer the better feel you get with the flexible tree.

 

[Melandmary]

My horse is very chunky XXXXwide. She is a 14.2 short backed traditional cob. I really struggled to get a saddle that fit her, she came tome with muscle atrophy from a too tight saddle that had been specially fitted. I found the old style pregullet flexee works best for us, I find them very comfortable and I have never had any problems with her back. I did try the newer gullet version but it slipped to the side so I just keep replacing them with pregulleted ones. They are getting harder to find now and mine is ready for replacing. She is so wide that over time they overstretch ?