What would you do?

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nagseastsussex

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Just had my daughter's horse visited by a very reputable physio as she was sore through her neck, shoulders and back:confused. Physio says the saddle is the wrong shape for the horse as trees are based on an A frame from the days when only TB's were used as riding horses and natives, WB etc were carriage or cart horses. She described the natives, WB etc as being oval hence the usual A frame of the saddle does not fit properly over the wither area which I total get BUT the saddle was fitted by a master saddler not more than three months ago and he has been back and checked the saddle and says if fits perfectly. The physio says our horse needs a flexi saddle or treeless. Saddlers are trained to fit saddles and physio are trained to deal with muscles etc. I want to do the best for our horse but I'm totally confused. Any advice or guidance would be much appreciated.:confused:
 
Not sure on an answer, is be confused too!
Maybe talk to the saddler, explain the horse seems to be sore, maybe he could take a look and maybe have some ideas as to changing the fit of the saddle.
 
Wintec saddles are only suitable for TB shaped horses, no matter how wide the gullet is. If your horse has a flatter type back then the tree would not be an ideal shape. I would change your saddler. I have seen two different master saddlers fit inappropriate saddles. One horse was crippled and had severe muscle wastage as a result.
 
Can you ask the physio to give you a written report, then speak to the saddler and ask him to review the saddles again with the information from the physio at hand. Was the new saddle bought and fitted because of the identified physical problem ? Or has the problem arisen after the saddle fitting ?
 
I'd be getting another saddler out. The physio has no reason to claim it's the saddle - from their point of view it would be better if horse needed lots of physio treatment, rather than a new saddle! So if they are saying it is the saddle, I would be getting a second opion on the saddle fit - see if someone on here can recommend a good saddler in your area maybe?
 
I am a qualified equine physio, and I only advise people to get their saddle checked if I think it may be contributing to the horses problem - we are not qualified saddlers!
If the saddler was a master saddler then you have a professional guarantee I expect! Not really sure on this one... Did you get a full report from the physio?
 
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