WOW saddles - opinions please?

catembi

catembi

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As title, really.

I was thinking of buying 2 sets of flaps, dr & sj. Does the same seat shape 'work' for both disciplines? Is there too much padding between you & the horse? Is the seat padded? One reason for my current saddle choice is that they've got a Heather Moffatt seatbone saver built into the seat, cos my sacroiliac joint is wrecked from being rolled on, & it stops me getting backache.

I've just had both my saddles, Barry Swain sj & Heather Moffatt dr, reflocked by a master saddler & they've both come back worse, despite her watching me riding in the finished product. I think the jumping one is now 100% 'right' for the horse, having watched vid of lesson, but now it's 100% 'wrong' for me! Ditto dr. Time to start again.

So I don't want to make any more mistakes!! Any help / advice appreciated.

T x
 
You might fine the info. you want on this previous post.
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http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/forums/sh...rue#Post2190094
 
The fitter for our area is Fiona, she is excellent, a qualified saddler and also a human physio i believe. She has a great understanding of how the balance of the rider affects the horse. I can PM you her details if you want. She has all the demo stuff you can try.

She also rides competitively herself when she has time.
 
See other post for my positive opinions!!!

Just wanted to add that I have lower back pain caused by being thrown off on tarmac in my other saddle!!! The wow has helped and I no longer get pain but it may be that this would have happened anyway, in time!

I also think the seat doesnt matter, its what you are comfy with. I have a deep seat (but only have dressage flaps at the mo) mainly because I was being chucked off regularly and wanted as much security as I could get! You could always go for a shallow seat rather than flat or deep. It depends what you like jumping in.

I also find the flaps fiddly to change but I am dexterously challenged! So if I was eventing and wanted different flaps I would fork out for another whole saddle!!!
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Absolutely fantastic...the best investment we have ever made...

Have tried all manner of saddles but none come near to the feel of a WOW.

Your local fitter will be Fiona Reddick and she is possibly the best around (former eventer and a superb person toboot!).

Pm me if you need her number

Cala
 
Thanks for posting that other post - I had a bit of a rummage to see if anything had been asked recently but just tried looking a few pags back rather than searching.

I'm rubbish at searching for threads - always seem to end up on google somehow.
 
Love my wow... would never ever be without one again
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In regards to the seat styles... that kinda depends...

http://www.wowsaddles.com/wow/wow%20seatstyles.htm

I always preferred jumping in quite a flat seat as I found it terribly hard to get a decent jumping position when so "locked". Since moving to purely concentrate on dressage, i find a deep seat much better. My horse has massive paces and again, I cant get my position just as i want it in a flat seat... its just not secure enough for the dressage for me.

However from what i understand, you're pretty much a jumper anyway? If so, id go for whichever seat you prefer for jumping and "deal with it" so to speak. Im sure the seats run to around £450 and switching seats as well as flaps starts to get a bit of a pain.

The good thing is that the wow comes with two stirrup bars by default which helps with the transition from jumping to dressage. However id still try, if you can, to stick with one seat.

The flaps arent hard to switch. It'll probably take you half an hour or so at first but you can get this down to 10 minutes with practice. Do remember though, again, that the flaps can be rotated to a forward or backward position. If you're primarily a jumper, id personally try and go with this to begin with and then add dressage flaps after if you think its necessary. I used the standard fixed block rotated forward on my horse as im very long from hip to knee. The giant dressage blocks were far too restricting imo. Again the cost of spare flaps is around the £450 mark.

The seats are very different to conventional saddles imo. Its not so much the seat area, but the part that joins down to the flaps. The human body has a hollow at the very top of the thigh... the wow therefore has a filled area here to allow a more secure position. This can feel extremely odd to people coming off conventional saddles. It should also be noted that the twist in the wow is quite wide. For me, the wows are a million percent more secure (again, from a big moving warmblood point of view), but i do appreciate they give quite a different feeling to other saddles.

In regards to your back... I really dont know but talking to first thought would be a good idea here. I know my lower back problems have vanished since i switched saddle last year. I would urge you to discuss this with the saddler though as the wow can be altered so much to address rider issues. I had the flair in mine altered slightly when i had my first saddle fitted to address a problem i had with a collapsed hip when riding. This has since been rectified and the new saddle didnt need any alterations making on my part.

Good luck in your search, they're great saddles and fabulously well designed.
 
could you not by a set of vsd flaps, and rotate them slightly back for dressage and forwards an inch for jumping?
 
WOW seems to be like Marmite - some people love it & some hate it!!

I'm worried now by the fuss involved in changing panels. I've only got one bridle & I think it's enough hassle swapping the bits over for jumping/hacking & dr. I do ride in my dr saddle all the time unless I'm doing a jumping comp/lesson.

We're scraping the barrel atm cos we're about to pay for my manege, so o/h might make me ride bareback til we've saved up...

Thanks for all your opinions!
 
Changing the panels is easy - I have my dressage flaps on one week, and my jumping the next - I don't do a lot of jumping at home as madam can ping anything, its the flat work that needs the work, so this forces me into good habits
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I hack and do fast work in my dressage saddle with no probs.
 
i change my flaps once as week at least and its not probolem i can do them in under 10 minutes now..i think the fastest i have timed is 6 mins!! hehe (sad i know)
 
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