Wide, high withered horses - saddles?!

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chestnuttyy

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Does anyone have a horse with highish, long withers, a short back (can't take anytihng more than a 17" saddle) but broad (wide fitting)?

My TB (below) fitted his Wide Ideal VSD last year, but as he's muscled up it's now too narrow. The last saddler I had out said the gullet was too narrow, but the overall width of the saddle was ok?

All the saddle fitters round us make their own saddles, which I just can't afford at the minute, so I'm going to have to go down the second hand route.

Can anyone recommend any particular brands this sort of shape is suited to?

Thanks :)

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You could try something like a Thorowgood in a high wither version with a wide gullet in it?

ETA FWIW your horses withers don't look that high to me in that picture, Have you tried just a generally wider saddle?
 
Cheiro1 said:
You could try something like a Thorowgood in a high wither version with a wide gullet in it?

ETA FWIW your horses withers don't look that high to me in that picture, Have you tried just a generally wider saddle?
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Tried the Thorowgood in a wide... tree was too curved, he's quite flat too. He doesn't have REALLY high withers, but they're eprominent enough to need a decent amount of clearance. The wide fit in the Ideal saddle fits him width wise, but the space in the gullet is too narrow and puts pressure on his wither. Quite hard to explain.
 
My TB is built like yours and I found Keiffer the best fit, as it has a cut back head.

I guess you could try anything with a cutback head, there is another similar post on here that may help
 
Your horse's back looks a bit like my boy's (although he's an IDx cob! He has a wide back but with a high wither too). I have an Ideal Event and I love it. It fits him and is really comfy for me. My saddler has a press that can widen or narrow the gullet so if your saddle is generally ok, it might be cheaper to find a saddler who can offer this service? Mine charges about £50 to do it.
 
annagain said:
Your horse's back looks a bit like my boy's (although he's an IDx cob! He has a wide back but with a high wither too). I have an Ideal Event and I love it. It fits him and is really comfy for me. My saddler has a press that can widen or narrow the gullet so if your saddle is generally ok, it might be cheaper to find a saddler who can offer this service? Mine charges about £50 to do it.
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That's definitely worth knowing! I'll look into this, thanks :)
 
My late welsh was built like that wide but with wither, I used a keiffer as someone else above suggested.
 
I have an Ideal Gazelle on my girl, which is designed to have a wider broader weight bearing surface than most, and it has a lovely wide gullet :)
 
I have an Albion K2 Jump saddle, got two horses that it fits, both with high withers, one with a flatter back and one not so much (though she's still muscling up). Lovely saddle too :D
 
My WB is the same, he's 17hh but very short in the back so can't take more than a 17'' saddle.

I got a Wow dressage saddle last year and it's been great. I get it re-fitted every 4 - 6 months as it has a flair system.

Here's my horse from the side. Please excuse his slightly dipped back (He's 21!)

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chestnuttyy said:
That's definitely worth knowing! I'll look into this, thanks :)
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Not sure where you are, but my saddler is Graham Butt, just west of Brecon. You take the horse to him and he'll do everything he needs to do there and then before watching you ride in it to check it's all ok. It's an all day activity by the time you're there and back but well worth it if you're anywhere within 2hours of there and you have transport.

He was the only one to get a saddle to fit my old boy and in 8 years the 8 years since he fitted my 'new' boy's saddle, I haven't had once had a saddle problem despite him appearing to be quite a challenging shape. We have it checked once a year and I'm lucky in that it doesn't ever need anything doing as he doesn't change. My share horse changes shape quite frequently so we just pop up and have it altered as an when necessary.
 
I have a welsh x tb that has prominent, high withers but flat backed and wide, though he is long backed. I had mega problems trying to find a saddle that fitted him and after 3 saddle fitters, I now have a GFS Genesis synthetic saddle, wide fitting. It had to be 'tweaked' by my saddle fitter to get the seat level, but now fits him really well.
 
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