Wow saddles - what do I need to know?

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black_n_white

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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 have a Wow and I'm pleased with it, but there are a few downsides to them:

Firstly, as you've said they are only as good as the fitter, I'm afraid I've never heard of yours. A friend of mine has had Wow saddles for about 4 years (she's the one that persuaded me to get one) and just had hers altered last weekend. The fitter has done it so that the pommel is 8 fingers (I measured) above the horses wither, and so the panel doesn't start to touch the horse until half way down its length.. odd. She also has panels with stitch lines and where the stitch line is the panel comes off the horse, which I'm not keen on (my panels don't have stitch lines).

Secondly, there are so many options that you can end up playing about buying new bits for them all the time (same friend as I talk about above has bought no fewer than 4 second hand so she can nick bits of them to go onto her two horses!). This gets very expensive if you're buying new, but having said that if you buy new and have a good fitter you shouldn't be on the hunt for new bits all the time.

They seem to discolour (leather wise), which if I was buying new I'd be pretty upset about. They may have resolved it with the new ones though.

The jury is still out on air flocking when I speak to non Wow saddle fitters....

There is an awful lot to get your head around, if you aren't decisive you will have a nightmare - what seat, what tree, what headlate, what panel, what flap type, what flap length, what gullet width, how much air in the front/ back/ side to side - you get the picture. Obviously if you like lots of choice you'll be in your element though!

In conclusion, if you have a good fitter, like riding in them, and are only fitting one horse, you may love it. If you're indecisive or don't have a good fitter, i think on balance you'd be better with a flocked saddle. (Be aware some horses don't like them, make sure yours does before you buy!).
 
I love my WOW, it was fitted by Suzie Gillot, in South Yorkshire as I have recently moved here. Previous to living in S Yorks, I am from Oxon/Bucks and Ruth Walker used to be my instructor and is very knowledgable! I know she has a good reputation in the area and wouldn't hesistate to have her fit mine.

I actually bumped into her briefly when she was helping at the WOW stand this year at YHL and it was lovely to see her :)
 
I took the plunge and bought a Wow dressage saddle in the summer, so far so good! Ruth is my fitter and I was extremely impressed with her (she left me a saddle to try for 2 weeks with no commitment to buy - amazing!!!!), very no nonsense and knowledgeable, I think she does a lot of trouble shooting for them?? Juno/Paddy Monty (unsure what his name is at the mo!) also uses Ruth.

I've also had Barry Swain saddles, which I like, but they are incredibly wide, so if you're after a narrow twist (which the Wow gives you) then you probably won't like them? Kay Humphries is incredibly knowledgable though and I believe she is very good with problem horses?

Good luck.....finding a new saddle its my least favourite thing ;)
 
I've used Ruth an she is a good fitter who knows her stuff

I've also been through 6 wow saddles (still got 4!) and not had a single one discolour and I've even ridden in the rain (under duress). So not sure how people discolour them, unless they do a lot of hunting etc

Panels - yes many people get sold SD panels, however David (Wow) has said only 1 in 100 horses should need these. They are commonly fitted to the fat round horse, who instantly muscles up and then they no longer fit

Also one of my horses went from a flat tree to a curved, as he physically changed shape and drooped in the middle. This cost a bit to change, but Ruth gave me a good deal.
 
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Polotash - that sounds very odd about your friend's saddle - 8 fingers abouve the wither does sound ridiculously high - that can't be level surely? I should be ok with the decision making side - I have a pretty good idea of what I want.

RFS, Sneedy & Jen-Cots - thanks all for feedback on Ruth - that sounds very positive!!

Jen-Cots - very interesting to hear how much your boy changed.
 
Sneedy - Thanks! I hate saddle shopping! Had my fingers burned with the last saga and am so worried about getting it wrong again.

That is interesting what you say about the twist on Kay's saddles - I have round thighs and that was one of the things that I round really noticable trying the Wow at the weekend - I really noticed that my thigh felt much closer to the saddle.
 
Ah yes for those with fat thighs like me, I love the wow as you have extra space and grip.

Ruth was also able to show me with my LWB mare how she could alter the trot with different amounts of air, which was very interesting.
 
Heh heh! Yes Jen - the curse of fat thighs!

That is very interesting about altering the trot with the air. Ruth is coming out to me next week. Fingers crossed the boy likes the air flocking.
 
I have heard good and bad press but that's the same with anything I guess, I've ridden in one and liked it, my friends horse has one and I really like the fact that they have so many size options...seems a modern approach. They now offer a felt panel and not just the air which may suit some people who don't like air, the leather on my friends is lovely so I guess that's why they are not cheap and it's good you have the option to adjust but it's a little worry that anyone could do this as they could get it wrong, then again anyone can buy a saddle off the net and fit it wrongly too, my friend only uses a fitter to change hers, she mainly finds it hard to get the fitter and that's her only moan.
 
Anyone else found their black wow saddles have faded? Mine have not (but I am a bit OCD about tack care and cleaning) but just received a pair of panels that I bought off eBay and they have faded on the parts that are not on the horse - if that makes sense. Seen quite a few seats that have gone like this too - anyone know how to rectify this?
 
I think WOW are a bit marmite, for horses as much as riders. Loved mine but the mare most emphatically did NOT and that was that. I'm not a fan of the airbags but if they did them with foam and felt panels I'd love one again.
I have a collection of Swain/Humphries saddles. They aren't particularly wide in the twist ime, I've ridden in them for years and never had a problem, whereas the Inch's Saddlery Xanthus dressage saddle I had, with a wide twist, really made my hips ache.
They really last. My Madonna dressage was made for a mare I evented back in the '90s onwards... I still use it a lot, it looks the same as the day I got it. I have two of the jump saddles on the Hermes tree, neither is wide at all. They're fantastic for the horses' backs but if I'm totally honest they don't give the rider a lot of help at all. But, I'd rather have it that way around. Kay is an amazing fitter, one of the very best I've ever known. Totally out to make the horse as comfy as possible rather than make ££s...
 
Kay Humphries is very good, but because of that she's also spectacularly busy! She works herself into the ground, is the impression I get.

Got one of her dressage saddles on a very difficult to fit little cobby type, and she's doing her best to help sort us out remotely. Bog pony has very forward girth groove and big shoulders - so the saddle starts in the right place, nicely balanced and BP goes very nicely in it, but it is constantly being pulled onto his shoulders by the girth. She's sending me a different girth to try. However, it'll be several weeks before she can get to us in person.

Agree that the dressage saddle doesn't give much rider support. Might look at other options for the coloured one, now he's back in work, but have NO idea where to start!
 
This is mine with a shallow seat and VSD moveable block. Can't remember the panel option, other than is doesn't have a gusset. Not sure on tree etc. either off top of head!

photo2_zps9b6ccee4.jpg


As for discolouring, mine hasn't changed colour (even when it got soaked), just lost it very, very easily on the flaps where stirrups and my legs have rubbed.

As an idea for cost - mine was over £2k, and the call-out for checks etc are about £80/time :eek: I got mine because it was changeable and figured over the lifespan of him growing up and beyond I would spend potentially the same or more in several different saddles, and he changes shape constantly!
 
Morganlafaye said:
Kay Humphries is very good, but because of that she's also spectacularly busy! She works herself into the ground, is the impression I get.

Got one of her dressage saddles on a very difficult to fit little cobby type, and she's doing her best to help sort us out remotely. Bog pony has very forward girth groove and big shoulders - so the saddle starts in the right place, nicely balanced and BP goes very nicely in it, but it is constantly being pulled onto his shoulders by the girth. She's sending me a different girth to try. However, it'll be several weeks before she can get to us in person.

Agree that the dressage saddle doesn't give much rider support. Might look at other options for the coloured one, now he's back in work, but have NO idea where to start!
Click to expand...


I solved this problem with an H girth combined with the whatsit that they sell to hold the girth straps more forward.
 
kerilli said:
I think WOW are a bit marmite, for horses as much as riders. Loved mine but the mare most emphatically did NOT and that was that. I'm not a fan of the airbags but if they did them with foam and felt panels I'd love one again. .
Click to expand...

Foam panels are available Kerilli, a friend has them.
 
I have used Ruth recently on a difficult to fit mare with no withers. We tried a wow saddle which didn't fit but Ruth was very clear what seat (flat Y bar in this case) plus panel option would work. I sat on a lot of different seat and flap styles at Burghley then spent the next 4 months waiting for the correct components to come up on eBay. I got nearly new parts but total price was less than half price new so worth the wait Once I had got those Ruth came out and fitted it. The saddle feels wonderful but the young mare has taken several weeks to accept it and start to move forwards again without bucking! Just got placed first time at dressage in the new saddle on Saturday so it looks like the mare is now happy. Couldn't reccommend Ruth enough. She was introduced by Paddy Monty.
 
I have Barrie Swain saddles and love them and so do my horses. Wouldn't ride in anything else. Since I bought the saddle from barrie, one of my horses has gone from a backwards thinking/not even willing to do a prelim to competing successfully at BD Elementary in year which I put down to the fab semi-flex saddle.
 
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