Tricky saddle situation with a warmblood

[ihartgeegees]

Hi

This is my first post here so please bear with me as my story is fairly long. I had a T8 thorowgood saddle professionally fitted to my dutch warmblood about 1 year ago. During this time he was becoming harder and harder to ride, not going forwards etc. I have recently moved him to a new yard and the lady that runs it has shown me that the saddle does not fit him as it lifts up off his back at the back. She has also pointed out that the tree shape is wrong for him as the saddle sits too high at the back compared to the front. I have watched a few videos when I have been rising to the trot on him in this saddle and the saddle is clearly lifting off his back about 1", including videos of him trotting shortly after I bought the saddle. The saddle was fitted by a master saddler so I am really disappointed to be told it doesn't fit. I'm no sure what to do about this at the moment so I just wondered if anyone else has experience of saddles that fit very flat backed warmbloods about 16hh high with normal wither. Thanks all!

 

[be positive]

It may be that the horse has changed shape since the saddle was fitted, they should be checked regularly, usually need adjusting with some reflocking at least annually and when new need a bit of tweaking once they have settled.

The back of the saddle should not be lifting so it does not fit as it is, the first thing is to get a saddler out to look, it may be that it just needs some flocking and will fit him once done, otherwise a saddler can bring out some for you to try, there will be plenty that fit it is just a case of trying some to find what suits him.

 

[posie_honey]

maybe it did fit at the time - but saddles can stop fitting very quickly - its a good idea to educate yourself to the basics so you can check regularily.
when i got my M2M saddles for my mare (who'd had terrible fitting ones before inc muscle damage etc) i had my saddler out every 6 weeks for a while to refit.
i'd get a saddler to check now as - as above - it may just need a reflock - or you could need a whole new saddle.

 

[Bosworth]

if it is lifting at the back it is too wide for your horse, the front is dropping. So use a Wide Relief Prolite Pad underneath it to fill the size out. Better to be too wide and allow muscle growth than too narrow and restrict it. if it was fitted a year ago it should have been checked again as it is likely your horse has changed shape.

 

[sbloom]

Without photos, or perhaps even seeing it in the flesh, it is not possible to say what is causing the lifting - yes it might be too wide, but equally it could be too curvy from front to back. Lifting the front might help a smidge, but you need it looked at. Lifting at the back is NOT just caused by a saddle being too wide.

And the OP has said that videos taken just after it was fitted also show it lifting.

 

[ihartgeegees]

Thanks for all the comments I probably will get a saddle fitter out to have a look at it but get a different one to last time!