Welsh Section A - saddles

melle

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Hi

I just wondered what saddles you all have on your section as? Do the little synthetic saddles tend to fit well?

My daughter is 3 this year so will start off in a cub saddle. I would just like to know what sort of budget I might need for when she needs a proper saddle.

Thank you
 
A cub saddle will fit anything. My slim tall 4yr old is still riding in one. I expect it will still be ok for her when she starts riding her section A.
 
Thank you - thats good to know. I just didn't know if when start learning to trot and canter if there would be enough support there? But sounds good to me :)
 
My section A is due to be backed next month, he has been wearing a cub saddle for in hand work but whoever will school him on will have a bigger bottom than the saddle can cope with so he now has a Thoroughgood Pony Club saddle which is 14 inches and wide fitting and this fits him well
 
Cub saddles really don't fit in the truest sense, are fine for tinies but not ideal after that - I find they often sit down at the back and those panels are narrow and hard, you don't want weight all at the back on them! A rear riser of some kind to get correct balance can be useful.

I fit a lot of Welsh As, they tend to need pretty small seat sizes (often a 14" even if they can take a 15") and flat trees. Some of them look scoopier backed but as soon as you stick a decent seat size on, and make it scooped so it doesn't bridge, it will either or both lift at the back liek crazy in rising trot (a well fitted saddle should not lift at all) and could move forwards up onto the wither (again a well fitted saddle should stay back behind the scapula. Others will, like the cub saddle, sit down at the back. I see a lot of small Welshies with damage under the rear panels, almost "holes" where the weight has been digging in.

They aren't easy to fit.
 
Saddle Company make a saddle to fit - you can either buy a standard made one or contact a local saddle company saddle fitter and have one made to measure, they are not that expensive either and are light. http://www.thesaddlecompany.co.uk/downloads/Saddle-Co-Brochure.pdf. I had one on my Section A which then moved onto a section B and purchased another one made to measure for my very cob type welsh part bred
 
We had real fun and games trying to get one that fitted well. We had the problems SBloom describes.
Unfortunately the Thoroughgood (15 inch) didn't work for ours and we tried many others.
Luckily the 14 inch XW Barnsby did fit well. The next step was M2M, which was just going to be too expensive.
 
Both my sec a's are in Thorowgood pony club saddles (wide fit). Others we tried seemed to fit fine then move forward. Low withered, round natives are often a problem. After we bought the first Thorowgood new I then got the second in 'as new' condition from ebay for £80.
I love the look of the Fylde and Native Pony saddles though!
 
My friend bought a really neat little Kent and Masters saddle for her sec A. It has changeable gullet and girth straps.
 
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