wow saddle yay or nay?

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ScarlettLady

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Have had problems finding a saddle for my boy, he's rising 5 but has muscle of a 3 yr old as have so many problems getting a saddle that fits, mainly due to living on a little rock in the Irish sea!
However on recommendation from a local instructor I have started using, I tried a wow saddle..
I had my lesson in a friend's on Monday and he went amazingly, much more forwards, active and attentive.
Would you bite the bullet and go for it, or are they more hassle than they're worth?
Toffee popcorn and hot vimto on offer :)
 
They have saved me an absolute fortune buying new saddles for young horses as they change shape.

My horses adore the shoulder freedom from the flexible carbon fibre joint in the twist of the tree.



Minus points -

1. There's no getting away from it, they are heavy.

2. Many horses feel the airbag overlap and I would not ride on one without a wool lined cloth or a gel-eze.


I don't ever put any othr saddles on my horses.
 
I love mine. You do need to know what you want though in terms of what fits your horse.. I spoke to a lady last week who's daughter said she wanted "a wow" so the lady bought her a second hand wow saddle thinking they were "totally adjustable", and of course it was made up of totally the wrong bits for her horse!

You need to know what seat depth and size you want, what length and style flaps you want, what panels the horse wants, what shape the horse wants (curved or flat) and what headplate the horse wants.

You can find a lot second hand now, but you need to work out which bits of the second hand one will fit, and what you'll need to buy to go with it. E.g. if you see a saddle that's perfect for you and your horse except for the panels, you could buy it and buy new panels from wow, but that little exercise will probably still cost you £1200 odd...

I found this webpage recently which is for people buying, swapping and selling wows, might be worth a look - http://www.wowsaddles.proboards.com/
 
No - I cut my losses and sold it on ebay.

Supposed to be a saddle for life with all parts interchangable - couldn't even get it to fit the horse I bought it for and had to have it checked every few weeks which cost me a fortune :(
 
No - my horse went well in it to begin with but after about a year he started broncing. I had his back checked and he was very sore under the saddle even though the fit was checked regularly.

I ended up selling mine and went back to wool.

I love the idea of them but in practice not so good for my horse.
 
I have my own pump and make all my own adjustments.

The people whose horses were unhappy in them - did you use a thin gelpad or a wool pad? I do think that the airbag overlap is quite a problem if you don't. I have had a raised lump on one horse before I started using a gel-eze.
 
Mine has been a god send! My horse was miserable in his saddle and we could not repair the atrophy behind one shoulder until I swapped to the Wow. 9 months later he is a different horse and yes agree with cptrayes he is better with a half wool lined saddlecloth under it.
 
Im just about to have a wow fitted to my boy as I just can't find a DR saddle he is happy in - flocked ones are ok but I have to have them adjusted every 3 months or so and he just can't get on with adjustable ones like the Bates with Cair - he can't seem to canter in them, it's like his shoulders are locked down, but he's fine in a Bates GP! Weird!

Would a sheepskin thin layer like the Escadron underlay work under a normal saddle cloth? Or of gel ease - do you use the square one between the saddle and cloth? Thanks x
 
I've actually got a wow half pad - it has pockets that the panels fit in which is a brilliant idea - fits perfectly. I also use the eskadron underlay, but the wow half pad is easier as it is as if it is part of the saddle
 
Tiffany said:
No - I cut my losses and sold it on ebay.

Supposed to be a saddle for life with all parts interchangable - couldn't even get it to fit the horse I bought it for and had to have it checked every few weeks which cost me a fortune :(
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Exactly my daughter's experience. Also the only saddle I have ever had to cut short a hack to come and change as it was so uncomfortable - the flaps kept riding up.
 
My experience of wow's has been pretty positive. I have had mine now on two horses, main reason for buying it was my old mare was very hard t fit and was then only thing that was right for her. I am now selling it but not due to not liking it.
 
cptrayes said:
I have my own pump and make all my own adjustments.

The people whose horses were unhappy in them - did you use a thin gelpad or a wool pad? I do think that the airbag overlap is quite a problem if you don't. I have had a raised lump on one horse before I started using a gel-eze.
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Ditto, have my own pump, and probably play with the air every 2-3 months on average.

I use a 10mm Limpet pad under mine.

Cptrayes, when you say the airbag overlap, do you mean the stitchline or something else please?
 
If you open up the panel (it's on velcro) then you will see that there is an overlap of about 2 inches where the front and back airbags are both covering the same spot. It's a necessity of the design, otherwise with one airbag the air would not be adjustable independently, and without the overlap there would be a ridge or a hole. You can feel it, and so can quite a few horses.

I think WOW should advise the use of a thin gel pad, like your limpet, my gel-eze or a half wool pad (which is what I use now), but I suspect that they are unwilling to put the idea into people's heads that the overlap might cause a problem. They're caught between a rock and a hard place with this one really, marketing-wise.
 
JAMESTOWN said:
Exactly my daughter's experience. Also the only saddle I have ever had to cut short a hack to come and change as it was so uncomfortable - the flaps kept riding up.
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How could the flaps ride up? It's a monoflap construction and the girth straps hold the flap in place. :confused:
 
They're very marmite - some horses love them for a long time, some love them for a bit, some don't love them at all. As a rider I loved mine but the mare it was fitted to (who wouldn't ever have a bad thought in her mind) did her only ever attempt at broncing in it after 2 weeks... very eloquent. She's never said a word about any other saddle, including some which were not a fabulous fit but were padded up for her etc. She's the sort you can get on after a year off and she feels as if you were on her yesterday, so for her to react so negatively was a big deal, imho.
The airbags overlapping is a huge problem in my mind, as that is under the area with the most downwards pressure from the rider, I think (happy to be corrected though). They are heavy but if they fit well and are very comfortable I don't see that as being a problem.
You do need a very good fitter, at the very least for the first fitting(s). I have heard a few horror stories about less-good fitters.
I think it's trial and error, like most saddles, but that can be very expensive. Sorry, that's not very conclusive!
 
Absolutely right Kerilli.

There are some deep and shallow (not flat or XC or extra deep) seats that were made around 2004/5 that had far too much padding in the seat for a lot of people - not enough dip in the middle. I had one and had to send it back for reprofiling, because I found it excruciatingly uncomfortable and two others I had were completely different. My friend still has two made at the same time as mine which I hate. They seem to have been more consistent in the years since, but if you buy a second hand one watch out for any with too shallow a dip to sit in.
 
zoon said:
I've actually got a wow half pad - it has pockets that the panels fit in which is a brilliant idea - fits perfectly. I also use the eskadron underlay, but the wow half pad is easier as it is as if it is part of the saddle
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Never heard of wow half pad

Have you a link??????? Sound really good!!
 
I bought a second hand WOW dressage saddle about 6 months ago and I am honestly in love! It has made a huge difference to not only my horses way of going but his muscle development and it has also greatly helped my own position. I had an excellent saddle fitter out to fit the saddle and she will be back out soon to check it again before the season gets underway. Like some said its a love/hate idea but I have had numerous comments of how fab my saddle is!
 
cptrayes said:
Absolutely right Kerilli.

There are some deep and shallow (not flat or XC or extra deep) seats that were made around 2004/5 that had far too much padding in the seat for a lot of people - not enough dip in the middle. I had one and had to send it back for reprofiling, because I found it excruciatingly uncomfortable and two others I had were completely different. My friend still has two made at the same time as mine which I hate. They seem to have been more consistent in the years since, but if you buy a second hand one watch out for any with too shallow a dip to sit in.
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Ahh, now that is interesting. I have a newer seat which I find super comfy (it's a deep dressage one), but when i said to my mum what I was buying a Wow (she's also horsey) she said she'd sat on one at an equine event, and felt like she was sitting on a draft excluder! It would have been about 04-05 that she sat one one, so may may explain a mystery!
 
cptrayes said:
If you open up the panel (it's on velcro) then you will see that there is an overlap of about 2 inches where the front and back airbags are both covering the same spot. It's a necessity of the design, otherwise with one airbag the air would not be adjustable independently, and without the overlap there would be a ridge or a hole. You can feel it, and so can quite a few horses.

I think WOW should advise the use of a thin gel pad, like your limpet, my gel-eze or a half wool pad (which is what I use now), but I suspect that they are unwilling to put the idea into people's heads that the overlap might cause a problem. They're caught between a rock and a hard place with this one really, marketing-wise.
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Ah, I never knew that, thank you for explaining.

The first horse I had mine on was a chunky ID cross, and she loved it just with a normal thin numnah. The second horse is a more sensitive warmblood, and with him I felt he was blocking thro the shoulder a tiny bit. I put the limpet on, thinking it was perhaps just him being cold backed (he's a terror to mount and girth) and hey presto, he's been fine ever since. Now I know that about the air bags that may well be the reason... (I must add it was altered correctly for the new horse before anyone points that out!)
 
How funny this thread has just come back up as this morning I had my 2nd hand wow fitted! (By the local fitter) I only paid £500 for it so fingers crossed! X
 
Always loads on eBay and preloved! Had some more on watch in case this didn't work out. And if it doesn't work out in a few months I'll just sell it on again :-) x
 
I had a Wow for four years (on the esame horse), and gradually replaced all the parts except the panels as they were the bit that suited him. I even splashed out on a lightweight seat to try and get the weight down as they are so bloomin' heavy to lug around!

Horse had last summer off, and when he came back into work I suddenly realised that the saddle wasn't doing me any favours. I had spent the summer riding my youngster in a Barrie Swain saddle and it was only the break from the Wow that made me realise that I was out of balance when I got back on it. I had it set back up for us and I still wasn't happy though I thought the horse was fine.

However, I borrowed a friend's Ideal Jessica and tried it, I loved it and my horse's canter instantly improved! So, in the end I sold my Wow and bought a Jessica. Horse is going very well and he has discovered a surprising turn of speed going down steep hills instead of picking his way down as he used to in his Wow :-0

I suppose I am still a fan in principle, though I wonder how long the effect lasts for those horses who initially seem to like them.

I would also say that having bought a fair few components over the years I did get frustrated by the variation in both quality and sizing, and I suspect that a huge amount of their stuff is done as a special so you can never be sure what you are getting if you buy second hand/ex-demo.
 
I am a fan in principle, but I would never buy one as I find them terribly uncomfortable to ride in, no matter what combination of seat and knee rolls is used... like marmite, definitely not for me!
 
I brought a new one last October. Personally I'm not keen on riding in it. I tried a different saddle last week which I loved, an Ideal Grandee, I felt I could ride so much better in it. Unfortunately my horse seems to like the Wow. He was tense in the Grandee with his head in the air. So I will have to learn to love my Wow. Which is probably a good thing as I spent over 2 grand on it .....
 
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