WOW Saddles - do you love em or hate em? Opinions pls

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SunshineTallulah

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Hello All,

Am thinking about getting a diff saddle.

Currently have a Black Country GP.

Prob I have is that the stirrup bars are a bit too far forward causing me to not be able to really get my leg underneath me for flat work.

Fine for hacking / jumping SJ & XC.

Horse is pretty stiff and tight on his left rein - the right rein he has more flexion for sure. I like the fact that WOWs can be adjusted to suit the horses confirmation / muscle developement etc. Am not sure about the air side of things though.....

I do like Jumping so may keep my BC and invest in another saddle for dressage.

Do you think a WOW saddle is a good investment or not?

Or do you rate any other saddles for dressage that I should know about?

Thanks in advance...
 
I bought mine to event. Has the standard GP flaps. For stressage I have a longer set of leathers I put on the back stirrup bar and move the knee blocks down and back. For SJ xc i use shorter leathers on the fornt bar with blocks moved up and forward.
Absolutely love the Wow and so does the horse
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ive got a WOW for my dressage horse. Its fab - i love the fact it can be adjusted and you can change the headplates etc. My horse loves it and goes really well in it, never had any problems at all.

Ive got the extra deep seat and the new style knee blocks which are slightly bigger than the giant ones.
 
a very experienced saddler told me that standard gullet width has been 3 fingers for over 100 years. WOW have 4 fingers' width.
the metalwork, bolts, joins worry me too. i think these can transfer through to the horse's back.
some horses go great in them, i know. but some horses went brilliantly in old stubbens with panels like rolling pins!
Barrie Swaine semiflex, or his Madonna saddle if you can get one (i've got one, love it to bits) or Ideal Susannah, imho.
 
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a very experienced saddler told me that standard gullet width has been 3 fingers for over 100 years. WOW have 4 fingers' width.
the metalwork, bolts, joins worry me too. i think these can transfer through to the horse's back.


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I think the OP should give very serious consideration to the above comments.
I can't comment further because no matter how I word what I want to say it sounds defamatory. Draw your own conclusions from that.
 
I've not ridden in a WOW saddle, but from things I've heard and seen, I don't really like them.
I've got an Ideal Jessica, and think it's lovely. Anyone who's ridden in it has really liked it, and the horse goes beautifully in it. Although it's leather it's not ridculously heavy.

I think I echo Kerilli's thoughts on the WOW saddles.
 
I've ridden in Tempi's WOW saddle and loved it. Lovely saddle, really stable and secure on the horse.

I have ridden in an older WOW and didn't like it so much. But her one was lush!!!
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I don't own one but rode in YO's a couple of times on her very big-moving horse. Certainly helped me sit to him (I wouldn't stand a change otherwise) and I found I was sitting much deeper and more upright than I do in my Albion.

I hated the look of them at first but if I could afford one and G was happy in it i'd have one in a flash.
 
had my wow for 2 years, horse loves it, I love it. use it on a very sensitive horse and get saddle checked every 6 months. I have an older Wow and its quite heavy but that doesnt seem to affect him. I cannot see how the metal work etc can affect the horse on a properly fitted wow? and because 3 fingers width is traditional automatically means its the ideal?
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like everything, they arent for everyone or every horse-hire one for at least a couple of weeks to be sure its for you.
 
I have had mine coming up 2 years and to be honest i don't like riding in the dressage version (too much saddle) but that may also be because i hjave long legs and did not fit into my flaps particularly well. However i have the jumping saddle and thelady who does Digby's back said how good it is since i have been using the wow.

My friend and my instructor bought two at the same time as i did and none of us have had problems.

It depends entirely on the fitter.
 
For what I wanted the WOW for I can't fault it- I bought it when I was having problems mounting my young horse, he was very difficult to get on and was very difficult with any movement from me when I was on (he would go ridgid everytime I moved a milimeter). Within days of having the WOW he was a hundred times better. I went for a deep seat and huge knee rolls which at the time was ideal as it was so secure. He has developed nicely underneath it, muscling up over his wither and behind his shoulder and being able to adjust it every few months has been a god send as it has grown with him, saving me a fortune.

Now he is more established I find it a little bit too much saddle, maybe with a different set up (shallower seat and less on front) I would be OK but found a conventional saddle he goes very nicely in so have stuck with that.

I would have one again if I had another horse who I felt would benefit from one
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Agree with kerilli comments

never ridden in one myself nor have my horses had them on them.

Ive seen another ride in hers and on two different occasions ive seen the back panels decompressed(i would guess?!?) and back gullet of the tree sitting on the back when the person positioned their weight back when turning round to talk. Another friend of mine has noticed this on another occasion also.

Ideal jessica is a lovely saddle spec for the price!

I personally have a prestige event (jump) and prestige optimax (dressage) these can have the trees adjusted and dressage tradsionally flocked. Can be adjusted completly. Horse completly different in the new dressage and i find it fantastic to ride in.
 
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Ive seen another ride in hers and on two different occasions ive seen the back panels decompressed(i would guess?!?) and back gullet of the tree sitting on the back when the person positioned their weight back when turning round to talk. Another friend of mine has noticed this on another occasion also.


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then it doesnt fit or there is something very amiss obviously.
 
I have two and have had teething problems, however they definitely fit the horses very well.

I do find that mine doesn't help me that much with my position (jumping saddle), but might be because I chose the flattest seat!
 
I test rode the whole available range (4 or 5) from the saddler for a client for dressage, and I hated them. The saddler was so determined to sell us one, that she mixed and matched the seats and tha flaps for me. The best was the jumping seat with the dressage flaps, but even that was too much. We were also trying some hefty priced conventional saddles the next day as well, and the horse was better in those than the wows.
My personal hate for the dressage one was the impression I was sitting on a spacehopper. Comfy, yes, but too much space between the horse and my seat. I didn't have the instant response from him that I was used to.
I have an Ideal Jessica, and a posh Barnsby with a seriously softly padded knee roll that I got a deal with second hand, and depending which horses they're on I love them both.
 
I've only ridden in a dressage WOW - didn't like it much at all I'm afraid. Very bulky saddle that really made me feel a long way away from the horse - didn't do a whole lot for my position either - I sat better in my old cheapy wintec than I did the wow. It was being used on a very wide irish draught, so it just made him impossibly wide, and therefore very difficult to sit the trot (and he wasn't even big moving!) Might find it better on a little TB type, but wouldn't want to spend that much on something I probably wouldn't like.

I know that I wouldn't like them for jumping, as I greatly prefer close contact flat seated saddles - and the WOW flat seat is hardly flat in real terms.

Best dressage saddle I have ever sat in, and also great for the horse, is a Barry Swaine Semiflex.
 
I love my WOW - I'v got jumping flaps & dressage ones with giant blocks. My horse goes well in it, I've had virtually no back pain since I got it (sacro iliac joint mashed in a fall) & I find it v secure jumping - been up to around 1 m 20 / 1 m 25.

[Got rid of my Barry Swains as he was unforgivably rude to my saddler when she sent one to alter & tbh would rather ride bareback than have anything of his.
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I have had a wow for 2 years, both my horse & I love it & he has progressed from Prelim - medium in that time & is also now much more advanced stuff at home. I am a heavyier rider & he has a very sensitive back but he swings along lovely in it.

He is very wide, and he has a wide spine, the traditional saddles (GFS ect) made him very sore so I was very thankful that the wow has worked,

I am currently getting one fitted for my youngster.

My wow can feel very diffrent depending how much air is in it, too much & I feel perched & not enough then the saddle sits too low so I suspect many of the problems above are caused by incorrect fitting although I do find that if the wings are not padded it hurts my inner thigh so my saddle has that option... not everyone gets that done. (the wings are the bit above the stirrup bar)
 
Hello there,
Thought I'd chip in. I had a wow for about 5 years, bought for my 3 year old, because I could have it altered as he grew. As we became more advanced I found it fairly restrictive, heavy and very far away from the horse.... When the horse was sold I was planning to get rid of the wow.
I subsquently bought a TB with the highest withers imaginable and we had no chance of getting anything to fit him... So I had the wow altered to the XC flaps and a flat seat for jumping. The horse loved it and so did I and we would have had a huge issue trying to find anything to fit him.
Unfortunately he went to heaven last year and I bought yet another horse. Due to her shape I felt the wow was too far off her back - felt there wasn't much of a connection between me and the horse - so sold the wow and had a saddle made to match the flaps and seat of the wow, but closer contact.
All in all, I think they are saddles which you either love or hate and you have to ride your horse in them first. If your saddler will lend you one, give it a go first.
I wouldn't recommend them if you want to change the flaps for disciplines. I still had 2 saddles....
Hopefully some use!
 
I am used to the Wow now but think there are other better dressage saddles available. However my horse has issues and the Wow suits her. I have also found my own back and knee problems have improved.

It does depend on your fitter though. I went with one who specialised in difficult horses rather than the standard fitter.

So for me they have been a lifesaver, literally as I really was heading for a broken neck!

But I dont think they are right for all horses/riders and if you dont have a problem then I would look at a wider range.
 
I think it all depends on your horse and what you like.
I have never sat in a wow so cant comment on what they are like to ride in but i know someone who has had some problems with the saddle moving. The saddler who she and I use is very experienced and is in fact friends with the guy who invented the WOW saddle and they were working on the girthing system and maybe creating a military style girthing system.

I have an ideal jessica which is flaired and it has been used on 2 of our previous horses, one was an idxtb with highish withers and the other was a SFxTB who was very narrow. It is now being used on my IDxTB who is a medium/wide and i really rate it as a saddle, its affordable and comfy
 
Can only comment on the jumping set up but in two words - 'hate them'. No contact and very perched on every horse tried. Much better saddles out there . . . for SJ at least.
 
I had a WOW VSD for two years, I loved it to begin with and felt very safe riding in it with a very nappy horse. However as time went on my horse started to show signs of not being happy in it, until one day he bronced as I was mounting and I ended under his feet being kicked in the head (thank God for my hat, it saved my life).

I had the saddle regularly checked for fitting by a recommended WOW fitter and I was very careful as I knew my horse was sensitive. However, I feel that he ended up hating the Flair flocking, if you think about it, if you had a lilo pumped up with air (but not to completely full) and you sat on it where does the air go, some of it moves from under where you are sitting and fills up the rest of the lilo, which then becomes hard, so think of this motion when you sitting and rising in trot or when you are bouncing around (some more than others!) in canter. The pressure is constantly changing, not good for a horses back.

I also moved to Sussex for a short while, used a recommended WOW fitter up there who damaged not only my saddle but my horses back by taking out too much air. Not good.

Plus there is absolutely no support from the makers of WOW themselves, I called them several times and although my message was taken, no one once bothered to call me back, not what I expect from a company who make £1,500 saddles.

I would not recommend them.
 
I've got a brand new one (xc) and love it and my horse loves it. I was told before I tried one that they were like marmite! And it does seem that you love them or hate them. The minute I sat in one for the first time I loved it, my horse moved so freely and loved it. Like everything else suits some people and not others. A month on with it and we both still love it. Did change to stirrup leathers as I wouldn't go xc country with what they came with and did once and bruised my ankles! No problems with normal stirrups though.
I have a bates innova for dressage and wouldn't change that to a wow because this one suits us both for dressage.
 
The word 'gimmick' best sums up the whole WOW operation for me. They have an excellent marketing campaign and sales pitch. However, the lack of qualified saddle fitters peddling these saddles is quite disturbing. There are some qualified saddle fitters acting as agents, however, there are many who's only experience of saddle fitting is the information offered by WOW. Those agents in particular are in it to make a sale - not fit you up with the best saddle for your horse.

I can't think of any other known saddle manufacturer which allows lay people to be agents.
 
I really wanted one of these after sitting on one at Burghley on the Wow stand: however the fitter that came really put me off. She built a saddle from scratch that she was adamant would fit, the horse hated it and the rider was complaining about it tipping him forwards which was clearly visible. Saddle was then removed and a completely different fit was built, again, horse very unhappy and shuffling underneath it and rider complaining about being a long way off the horse's back. The saddler seemed more interested in a sale than establishing a correct fit for the horse, and her benchmark on watching the horse work in with the saddle on was 'well, he's not exploded so that's a good sign'. Eh? Too gimmicky for me, I like saddles to have been around for a while and established as market leading brands before I potentially waste my money. It's great that lots of people like them and get on with them, but my experience wasn't a positive one.
 
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