Wintec CAIR system I am SHOCKED !

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horse.love92

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So basically my irish cob has been having trouble with saddle sores for quite a while , a few saddlers later and we find a good one ...

As soon as she turned up she said , I know what the problem is , it's the CAIR panels .
So anyway she took them out and oh my god they are literally cheap plastic wrapped pieces of foam that over lap each other in the middle of the saddle followed by 2 roughly cut pieces of foamy thin material . I was absolutely shocked . The CAIR was pretty hard considering it was meant to be foam , no wonder my poor horse had been suffering !!

Anyway she reflocked the saddle , also is coming back next week to fit new girth straps as of the dreadful breaking Wintec ones !!
 
Yup, they're hideous aren't they? I've seen examples where they overlap which would cause awful pressure points and even where one side's panels were both smaller than the other!!
 
As with everything, it depends on your horse as to what suits them best.

It also depends on your saddle fitter. If they are not skilled enough to correctly fit your equipment then you will end up with sore horses and saddle problems.

I have flocked saddles and CAIR saddles. I have never had any problems with fit or sore horses. My saddle fitter is highly acredited and also comes from a massage/soft tissue work back ground. She has extensivley studied bio-mechanics, movement and saddle manufacturing and does not work for a manufacturer or store... she is not interested in making sales, she just wants the best fit for rider and horse.

I would not hesitate to buy another CAIR saddle, and yes I am fully aware of what the CAIR & FLAIR systems look like as well as flocked saddles. If not properly packed, flocking can do just as much damage and a CAIR pannel.
 
Is that not true of many of the modern latex panelled saddles though too Ester? Re non adjustability I mean?
I've never had either - always stuck with traditional wool flocked and whilst have had my fair share of saddles sagas have always been fit related rather than related to paneling problems - but it does interest me as I'm looking into all options ATM and one saddle I found was flair panelled.
 
NaeNae87 said:
As with everything, it depends on your horse as to what suits them best.

It also depends on your saddle fitter. If they are not skilled enough to correctly fit your equipment then you will end up with sore horses and saddle problems.

I have flocked saddles and CAIR saddles. I have never had any problems with fit or sore horses. My saddle fitter is highly acredited and also comes from a massage/soft tissue work back ground. She has extensivley studied bio-mechanics, movement and saddle manufacturing and does not work for a manufacturer or store... she is not interested in making sales, she just wants the best fit for rider and horse.

I would not hesitate to buy another CAIR saddle, and yes I am fully aware of what the CAIR & FLAIR systems look like as well as flocked saddles. If not properly packed, flocking can do just as much damage and a CAIR pannel.
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This. Although cair can't really be adjusted it is pretty easy to feel when it starts to go off and develop hard spots, in the same way as it is quite easy to feel when flocking goes lumpy or rock hard - you don't need to be a qualified saddler to realise that it's going to cause your horse sore spots.
 
ecrozier said:
Is that not true of many of the modern latex panelled saddles though too Ester? Re non adjustability I mean?
I've never had either - always stuck with traditional wool flocked and whilst have had my fair share of saddles sagas have always been fit related rather than related to paneling problems - but it does interest me as I'm looking into all options ATM and one saddle I found was flair panelled.
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Oh yes def, it was just that someone had said they are fine, it depends on the quality of your saddler - but there isn't much a saddler can do with the cair apart from take it out (obv the same with latex but at least smooth foam to start with). I have had a flair saddle and we got on with that really well - although I think some have commented about a possible crease occurring with the bags on those too.
 
i use cair saddles on all of my ponies with great benefit, they all go absolutely beautifully in them. i am fully aware of the cair system and read into it all before buying :) i have never once had a problem with any of the cair bags, they overlap yes, but are tapered to fit neatly and are completely flat along the panel (in my saddles), whereas a lot of the flocked saddles i have seen are not! (probably just been badly done though!) and also, the panels are now adjustable in the cair saddles using their new riser system, that gives you as much adjustability as is possible, very easily :) but every horse and rider is different i guess :)
 
NaeNae87 said:
My saddle fitter is highly acredited and also comes from a massage/soft tissue work back ground. She has extensivley studied bio-mechanics, movement and saddle manufacturing and does not work for a manufacturer or store... she is not interested in making sales, she just wants the best fit for rider and horse.
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OK so that's it.......... I'm emigrating. Perhaps the only place to find any decent saddle fitters is Down Under???:)
 
LiffWee93 said:
i use cair saddles on all of my ponies with great benefit, they all go absolutely beautifully in them. i am fully aware of the cair system and read into it all before buying :) i have never once had a problem with any of the cair bags, they overlap yes, but are tapered to fit neatly and are completely flat along the panel (in my saddles), whereas a lot of the flocked saddles i have seen are not! (probably just been badly done though!) and also, the panels are now adjustable in the cair saddles using their new riser system, that gives you as much adjustability as is possible, very easily :) but every horse and rider is different i guess :)
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Only the foam is shaped so they are hardly tapered to fit! 4 layers of plastic at one point, they are just taped together and so cause a section to be of a different composition to the rest which is fundamental flare.
P1150419.jpg


and just a bit of foam inside the plastic bags
P1150418.jpg
 
Clava said:
Only the foam is shaped so they are hardly tapered to fit! 4 layers of plastic at one point, they are just taped together and so cause a section to be of a different composition to the rest which is fundamental flare.
P1150419.jpg


and just a bit of foam inside the plastic bags
P1150418.jpg
Click to expand...

Mine did not look like this it had black plastic wrapped foam pieces roughly joined together . No tape and no foam inside just thin bits of card board/foam type things .
 
horse.love92 said:
Mine did not look like this it had black plastic wrapped foam pieces roughly joined together . No tape and no foam inside just thin bits of card board/foam type things .
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Eeek that sounds awful as I think even they type I posted are not something I would put on any horse's back.
 
my cair panels look nothing like this :O mine (and every other cair saddle ive seen) are all black pockets, very soft filled with air... and are all of the demo models of the cair system i have seen? hmm.. have you emailed wintec with that picture, just because i would is all, i am shocked at the above! :O xxx
 
LiffWee93 said:
my cair panels look nothing like this :O mine (and every other cair saddle ive seen) are all black pockets, very soft filled with air... and are all of the demo models of the cair system i have seen? hmm.. have you emailed wintec with that picture, just because i would is all, i am shocked at the above! :O xxx
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The saddler who took the Cair panels out said they all look similar to this.
 
As with anything made by hand, it is only as good as the hand that made it. It would be nice to think that there was some quality control assessment, 'tho.....
 
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