Western saddles fitting and sourcing advice needed :)

hannahealasaid

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I'm thinking of getting a western for my boy.
Can anyone suggest a saddle that might be suitable for a high withered Hanoverian, somewhere between a medium wide and a wide (i'm guessing full QH bars?)
I thought about a wintec but there doesn't seem to be anywhere to get them in the UK?

Thanks
 
is there are particular reason that you want a proper western saddle OP i ask because they are really, really heavy for a good one and tricky to fit well, quite a few people ride western here in France and iv'e seen some very badly fitting saddles on trekking horses, not sure if this is at all helpful but there are some really , really nice treeless ones, Barefoot do 3, also Aussie stock saddles are great if it's a more relaxed deep seat that you are after, Wintec do one that's fab for high withers and super comfy. sorry if this does not help you!
 
Full QH bars varies a lot. I would say you want a Crates FQH W (wide). This site has a lot of info about how to fit and downloadable templates. http://www.horsesaddleshop.com/. There are a lot of saddles out there in the UK, most are too long and/or too narrow. It's not just the bars width that is important, also take into account the flare of the front to allow for your horse's (i'm guessing) big shoulders.

Hooves Western are very good and do sell Crates but I have imported 2 saddles using the Horse Saddle shops advice service where you describe size, build & weight & breed of horse & you can even send photos. Tax & duty on import is around £250.

Don't buy a cheapie off Ebay or similar, it will be cheap tat and will not fit your horse or you. Good luck.
 
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