Two horses- one saddle...would you? Do you?

I know a well respected dressage judge who had "his saddle" whch 90% of his horses used, with some adjustment or another
 
Baby horse has outgrown hers and is filling out quickly. Shoe filled out and hers is not good and beau is not happy in hers. Baby's seems to fit everything well enough so riding all in that while we get them new ones. Regularly all ridden together though so do need 1 each.
 
My YO has a close contact jumping one that seems to fit everything-from her 15.3hh TB through to my 17hh IDx! She regularly uses it on two horses who "share"-which makes going to competitions fun! ;)

Her Stubben dressage also sat quite well on my horse, but he got his own eventually anyway as I'm a bugger for not wanting to borrow too much.

As long as they fit, why not...I'm able to borrow a friend's shoes because she's the same size as me, so why not a saddle, which has more padding? :)
 
I have three saddles that fit most things (I do breaking and schooling), a kieffer munchen GP medium, an old thorowgood gp meduim/narrow and a very old american jumping saddle that is supposedly meduim. They all get padded out accordingly, I have gelpads, sheepskins, risers polypads ect. They are all lovely saddles to ride in (although imo, no saddle compares to my munchen, it's like an armchair:D).

The racing yard I worked at before, had three/four exercise saddles, and just shoved about 10 polypads underneath them! The norm apparently.

I don't see anything wrong with it, as long as if the basic fit is correct, and any adjustment that needs doing, is done by risers, sheepskins etc.

The only horse who I am having issues with is a section c, whos shape resembles a barrel, and nothing (including her saddle she came with) fits her, she's too wide and has too much shoulder.
 
Yes I have a wintec 2000 which i orginally used on a cobby type, now I use it every day on my 2 ID youngsters, had the saddler out and she said fitted fine.
 
PonyIAmNotFood said:
Depends on the two horses. A tb and a cob arent going to be able to share a saddle but say a highland and a cob might. Whatever combo, id get them both checked by a saddle fitter. I personally wouldn't do it as if i had 2 horses i would want to be able to take them out together with friends etc.
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Funny you should say that. My cob and my (older) highland share two saddles - I have four, but only routinely use two - one saddle technically belongs to the pony, the other to the cob, but if I'm showing the pony, he wears the traditional brown saddle belonging to the cob, and if I'm jumping the cob, he wears the highland's gp. They fit each other fine, though with the highland being young and maturing, it's constantly something I keep an eye on. If they fit well and the horse is happy with it, why not?
 
We sell horses so we get all shapes and sizes coming and going. We have 3 saddles for the yard and use which ever fits the horse the best. A medium wide, a medium and a medium narrow. We have half numnahs and pads to help make them a better fit. We couldn't possibly have a saddle for every horse we get! :p Obviously we make sure the saddle fits as best it possibly can but they are only in for sale for a short period of time so no damage (if any) is done.
 
Mine currently have their own saddles as they are different shapes.

However, over the years, I have mixed saddles between lots of horses without any issues.

Every pro I have worked for has had their 'own' saddle which goes on 90% of the horses on the yard- horses went well and had no issues.
 
PonyIAmNotFood said:
Depends on the two horses. A tb and a cob arent going to be able to share a saddle but say a highland and a cob might. Whatever combo, id get them both checked by a saddle fitter. I personally wouldn't do it as if i had 2 horses i would want to be able to take them out together with friends etc.
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Ha Ha!! I have a xxxw cob and a med/narrow tb. They can share the same saddle!!!! And no its not treeless!! They are both the same type of panel in my wow saddle and both a very standard 5 pumps front and back and although one is a size 0 headplate and the other is a size 7, the headplate is the only change required!! Its a faff though so I don't so it very often but I can!
 
I use my medium Wintec 2000 on FB and any other horse I ride that it fits - adjusting with riser pads/numnahs or sheepskin as necessary. Bigger horses I use Ari's medium wide 2000 and do the same. Most of the Spanish horses on the yard have backs like hammocks, so the Wintecs are a pretty good fit. I also have a VSD that is good for the flatter backed ones. If you saw the eye popping state of the saddles they usually wear (cheap Indian rubbish) you would know why I use my own saddles.
 
I wouldn't do it now but have ridden at places where horses aren't properly fitted with saddles (I'd view it differently if a saddler had checked fit for all horses sharing). Never had so much trouble with bucking...

There were other factors, but looking back I think that will have been a major one.

In OP's circumstance I'd get (another) saddler out to check the fit of the 'shared' saddle (and probably end up getting a totally new one/the existing non-shared one adjusted, both due to 's*d's law that there will be /something/ about it that isn't right for both and due to wanting the horses to be able to go out together and both be comfortable.)
 
Luci07 said:
Not regularly as I was always told that the saddle is a bit like a pair of shoes and moulds to the horses back. I have done it with various paddings etc when in a spot but day to day? no.
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Same. I think it's pretty disgraceful, actually, unless your saddler has told you it's ok.

A girl at my yard deals and just chucks on whatever saddle then wonders why a horse misbehaves. :mad:
 
Occasionally. I use my saddle if I am riding my husband's horse, as it also matters if the rider is balanced. However both horses have the same make and size of stubben, just the seat size differs. He goes better in my saddle with me than in his own saddle, so this is why I choose to do this. There are also numnahs gel risers etc to account for depending which horse is wearing it, which all change the fit to some extent.
 
Yup, all of our saddles have been used on everything that we have had, mind you we've had that many different shapes over the years we have something to fit just about anything! I want to try a treeless saddle on the TB that I ride as he's underweight atm (ex racer and not up to the condition I'd like him in) and would like to try something more comfortable for him until he has more muscle.
 
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