Wow saddles - what do I need to know? Also in CR

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black_n_white

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Also in CR.

I have been having ongoing saddle issues for the past year - I won't bore you with all the details but the upshot of it is that I'm in the market for a new saddle and have loads of questions:

I had a very good demo of the Wow saddles at Your Horse Live at the weekend and I'm pondering this as a solution. I love the flexibility of the modular system and the guy talked a lot of sense and explained things really well. I've not definitely decided to go down this route, but I have my local fitter coming out next week to see how the boy feels in it as a starting point.

So question 1 is: I know Wows are only as good as the fitter so would love to hear about your experiences good or bad with Ruth Walker please peeps!

Also I'm interested in a shallow or flat seat with the GP moveable block - any idea on a rough price? The brochure gives price bands for the flaps but no indication of what these equate to.

And finally, has anyone used Kay Humphries and the Barry Swain saddles? These is the other possible option I am investigating.
 
I purchased a WOW saddle as our horse had gone through numerous saddles over the preceding years and I too thought that this would be an ideal solution. In theory the WOW is a good saddle and I do actually like riding in mine but our saddle fitting problems have continued!

Within 6 months of purchasing a brand new WOW we were told that we needed different panels! We were somewhat shocked (especially as they cost another £400-£500) but she needed them and as we had spent quite a lot of money buying the saddle, we duly bought the new panels. The reason the saddler gave for the the new panels was she had lost weight ... she had lost weight but we had explained to the saddler that our horse constantly changed shape and with big shoulders this needed to be taken into account when she was fitting the saddle. We got the new panel and then within 3 months the air had gone down, saddler out again another 3 months air down again - so new replacement airbagas required.

About a year after getting the new panels the saddler then told us we needed new panels again!! We have now changed to the other WOW saddle fitter in area but the problems continued. The consistent problem we have had is that the saddle ends up eventually tipping backwards, it is fine for a few months after the saddler has been but then it starts again - it has taken 3 years for someone to suggest putting wedges into the panels to stop all the air shooting forward so causing the saddle to sink at the back! I think this is more of a problem with the flatter seat that we have. This problem now seems to have been sorted but as I have said it has taken 3 years and during this time we have been getting saddlers out 3 or 4 times a year. So although they are nice saddles they are not without their own problems! They are also quite heavy.

One thing to think about is if you buy a WOW and you don't like/trust the saddler you will have a very limited number of saddle fitters who you can turn to.

Hopefully other people have had a better experience.
 
They are heavy.

Some horses feel the airbag overlap and I would never ride in one without either a geleze or similar very thin gelpad, or a wool lined saddle cloth. (I don't use sheepskin because there are joins in them and the cheaper ones can have 70 pieces of sheepskin stitched together, I have photos!).

I love the saddles and the modularity. I have saved a fortune on saddle changes with having young horses. I have six of them and I will not put anything else on a horse's back (unless it damaged the horse or they disliked it and I've never come across one of those yet).

The flat seat and cross country seat are great for jumping in. The flat seat is more supportive for hacking than the cross country. I have one of each. The ordinary seat is good for dressage and hacking and the extra deep is great for a big moving horse, I have both those too. I prefer the big fixed knee rolls and have changed to them from the standard ones.

New will cost you at least £2000 at the moment I think, the last price I heard was £2200 with stirrup leathers and 2 gullet plates.

Buy a pump and you can fit them for yourself. I only ever blow up one airbag at a time (there are 4) because I have known them blow up unevenly if they get a bit of moisture in one of the pipes. I also find it much less of a faff to count pump strokes than to fiddle with all that plumbing!!

Incidentally, I had an airbag leak 18 months ago (the panel was second hand and I have no idea how old it was). I put it in water after blowing it up hard and found about half a dozen tiny holes along a seam. I used superglue to seal them and to my surprise and WOW's the airbag is still going strong today!!! But for anyone who is worried, the replacement bag is under £50 and the panel is velcro fastened so they are easy to change.
 
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Thanks everyone for your comments.

Scribble - The team at YHL were really good weren't they? I was seriously impressed.

TheBigPony - that sounds like a nightmare! Hope you get something sorted. I've had 3 different saddles over the past year so would rather tweak bits and pieces as needed rather than have to replace the whole saddle! I appreciate how important the relationship with the fitter is though and I've had some good feedback on her on my other thread so hopefully that element should be fine!

cptrayes - That's really useful thanks very much. I'll be using the one saddle for everything so it sounds like the flat seat would be better than the ordinary for what I need. Interesting about the airbag overlap - I'll look out for that.
 
TheBigPony how long ago was your experience? WOW fitters used to be self employed and paid by the difference between what they paid WOW to have stuff made, and what they sold it to the customer for. That has now, I think, changed and sellers of new WOW saddles are all WOW employees, who might not be quite as motivated to suggest panel changes that are doubtful if they are needed. It sounds like you got a thoroughly bad deal at the time :( On the plus side, Lorna Hamilton, now a permanent WOW fitter in the North West, changed my panels for me for free when they didn't fit the horse, no quibble.
 
Thanks Dianchi - Will see what the boy thinks! The problem I have is that my horse is soooo blooming laid back and never makes a fuss about anything. I've asked my instructor if she'll come to my fitting as I thought a second pair of eyes would be useful to try and gague his reactions. I hoping that I can try it a bit before I decide to take the plunge.
 
I think I need to sell my WOW

As much as I love it, my horse doesn't

Fitter tells me it fits - horse tells me it doesn't :(

Lost all confidence in it EVER fitting and her liking it

Head telling me sell it my heart saying keep it :rolleyes::(
 
I have one - a 2nd hand one with the fixed jump flaps, the panels with the wide gullet and tab and stitch line, and the shallow seat. I love it, so does my horse.

I needed some persuading though and luckily the fitter we have in Cornwall insists on letting you borrow a trial saddle for a whole week so you can ensure both you and the horse like it. She says they are like Marmite....

My fitter has always said that if a part of the saddle she suggests, turns out not to work out for your horse, she would swap it out, no charge. Can't say fairer than that. She is very thorough and ensures that everything she is fitting suits me and horse. My boy has really built up muscle noticeably behind his shoulders since being in this saddle. Prior to that I had gone through several saddles trying to find one to fit with no success.

I would recommend them, but would suggest that if you ride in one, don't make your decision based on your first sit and ride - give it a few days if you can borrow one. Also, be prepared that your horse may not like it - some horses apparently get a bit freaked out by the fact that they are suddenly so much freer.

I got mine 2nd hand but still had to pay £950 for it and then had to part exchange for new panels as they were not the right ones. I'm afriad that they hold their value 2nd hand so dont be expecting to find a bargain.

I'm pleased though - I lilke the saddle, so does the horse and I know that if he changes shape I have lots of options to make the saddle fit.

Only thing I will say is I loathe having to use Bates Webbers on them - no choice though as the design of the stirrup bar means you can't use regular leathers. Enjoy!
 
Yes it has been a bit of a nightmare! We bought the saddle 3 years ago and the last visit from the saddler, where the wedges were put in, was only this August... so far so good.

Neither of the saddlers we have used are employed directly by WOW so I don't think it is the case that they are employing people all over the country although I know they have a few who work directly for them.
 
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