Wintec 500 on a 4 year old?

why not just buy the horse a good engish saddle that fits now? review every 6 months for fit. buy on an exchange basis? a good english second hand wont drop much in value, a second hand plastic one will drop in value or trade in big time. a good english that fits now will probably be re stuffed to fit in 6 to 12 months. a plastic one probably doesnt have the flexibility to do that. buy cheap buy twice or more
 
Ok i only said about a wintec for the reviews,I will buy an english leather saddle eventually but would prefer to pay good money once shes older and up and competeting,at the moment shes not doing much apart from hacking and a small amount of schooling to get her fit after a recent injury,and i like the idea of either a wintec or a thorowgood as i know in the past that some people with youngsters tend to use these saddles due to the changing shape principle.All this saddle hunting and researching is giving me a headache,ha,ha,no offense to anyone. And i am going to consider both saddles.Has anyone got any reports from a back specialist as to whether a wintec or a thorowgood has given their horse a bad back?And what it was caused by?cheers everyone.
 
ofcourseyoucan said:
a good english that fits now will probably be re stuffed to fit in 6 to 12 months. a plastic one probably doesnt have the flexibility to do that. buy cheap buy twice or more
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I totally disagree. Firstly because flocking just fine tunes the fit, there is a limit to what it can do and many people think saddles can always be flocked to fit when they cant. The tree width and profile have to be correct and ditto the panel type and if the horse has changed by a width fitting then adjusting the flocking is not enough. Ive known horses to change by a width fitting in a month, let alone 6 or 12! Secondly, you can flock a synthetic saddle just as easily as a leather one. Unless its cair, which cant be adjusted at all.

It doesnt matter to me what a saddle is made from as long as it is well made and it fits the horse. And imo Thorowgoods are as good if not better than many leather saddles twice their price as they are designed and made in england and both are done very well.
 
Ok i have been to my local tack shop and i have spoken to them at length,as they have a saddle fitter there,she advised me to try wintec 500,wintec 2000 and a thorowgood and see which one fits her and me the best.So looks like i get to test all,i will be curious to know which one does she also explained about the flocked and cair system and did recommend that the flocked is more recommendable as it can be adjusted to her but also not to rule out the cair as she may get along better with this,so going to try all.So i will update and post about which one will suit her better.So if anybody would like to take a chance and guess what she ends up with then please do,lol,i will post the results.
 
I bet an easter egg that you will get a Thorowgood. I also hope you get a Thorowgood too!:)
(Although your fitter sells both so she obviously thinks wintecs can fit some horses, even though i am yet to see it!)

Some things you can see for yourself though- 1) lay the gullets of both makes over the withers so the bottom of the gullet sits a couple of inches behind the back of the shoulder. The gullet should be parallel to the body, not looking like it goes into the body or coming away from the body at the bottom. When parallel that is the correct width for your horse. Once the gullet is fitted in the saddle the saddle seat should look level and the pommel clear of the withers.
2) Make sure the panel doesnt extend beyond the last rib when saddle is girthed up with the tree points behind the shoulders.
3) Without a numnah and with saddle as in point 2, lead the horse around and see if the back of the saddle lifts up off the horses back.

If you do all that i expect you will owe me an easter egg;)
 
My 7 yo has been in a Wintec 2000 (cair) since the age of 4 and it has been an absolute Godsend. She has changed shape over the growing period so much that she's varied from a medium to an extra wide gullet with the fit being checked every six months. It is also incredibly comfortable for me.

If anything happened to the saddle, I would have no hestitation in buying exactly the same again.
 
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I am not a big fan of wintec now. I bought my 5yr old Holstein in June and had a master saddler out I had a budget of £400 and needed a saddle that could be changed as my horse had a lot of maturing to do. I wanted the thorowgood but he didn't have any in and assured me the Wintec would be a better fit. He then said I needed the vsd as my horse has huge shoulders.
My BF said he would buy me a leather dressage saddle for xmas and when a different master saddler came I also got him to check my wintec as I wanted it for hacking and jumping. He said it didn't fit - the gullet was a size to small the pomel had been lifted using an insert to clear his high withers which threw the saddle out of balance. When I asked if he could make it fit he said I shouldn't as the shape of the saddle was totally wrong for my horse.
A friend also had the problem with the back lifting on her cob.
I haven't heard a bad word about thorowgood and wish I had got one of those.
 
Our saddler recommended a synthetic for my 4yo, I got him a Wintec 2000. That was 7 years ago and I've now got it on Dylan, it's a cracking saddle.
 
Saddler is coming on the 13th april at 12.30pm so i will update this post and let everyone know the results.Thank you everyone for all the advise i do appreciate it alot!!
 
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