Wow saddles - your thoughts please?

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porkpie

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Hi all. Been having a terrible time trying to find a saddle to fit my boy who to look at doesn't seem difficult to fit, but is!

Finally found an old Albion dressage saddle that will do the job for now, but just had to sell my lush Albion K2 Jump because that no longer did. In the course of finding the aforementioned, I'd tried lots of 2nd hand of different makes and most didn't fit - those that did were no good for me.

A friend has recently got a Wow Saddle and can't compliment them highly enough. I have heard lots of good things but have paled at the cost so not investigated further. Now it seems I will have to do so as I can't seem to find anything to fit the bugger!

The local Wow fitter will leave me with a saddle (jump in my case) to try for a week to see if we both like it, and if so, will then help me find one 2nd hand. Buying new is out of the question.

Keen to hear other peoples experiences though? We'll be doing mainly RC stuff this year as hes been off but will be jumping around 3'3 when hes fit enough and I like a saddle to be forward cut with good knee rolls as hes a big lad and & its a long way down!

Thanks in advance.
 
I really like mine. Like you I was forced into buying one after my horse proved extremely difficult to fit - his problem is he's very short coupled so he takes a 16" seat yet I need 17" panels for my legs! I ended up buying all the 2nd hand parts seperately and then getting my WOW fitter to put it all together. Meantime, she was wonderful and let me borrow another one while I bought the bits (mainly off Ebay and some she knew about were being sold privately).

I got a GP type one with slightly forward cut panels (I event mainly) and a flat seat. I find mine very comfy and horse seems to go very well in it. They're much heavier than I thought they would be though! I know people seem to love or hate them but personally I love mine and at least I can have it adapted to any future horses so the expense isn't too bad.
 
I loved my demo and brought one but I don't like it as much. Think I will have to have the panels moved forward one setting as it's tending to 'pitch' me forward. That having been said I wouldn't now ride in anything else. Worth the money.
 
Hi there - WOW saddles are like marmite - you either love it or hate it! I had a WOW for a large section D which changed shape every 5 minutes (or so it seemed) I had 3 different gullet bars for it and also had both dressage and jumping flaps. From a point of view of it fitting the horse, it certainly did (I had it made to measure, which was expensive I admit) and I could change it as he gained and lost weight. Found it a fag to change from dressage to jump flaps and back but if you're only going to jump then that wouldn't be a problem. To be honest, I didn't really like the feel of it to sit on. Compared to a conventional saddle it felt squashy (but you might like that) and didn't give me a definite feel through my seat. When I sold the horse, I sold the saddle and went back to a conventional flocked model for the new horse which i prefer. Having said that, I know the girl who bought my saddle. She uses it on her thoroughbred and she absolutely loves it which just shows how versatile these saddles really are.

Get one on trial and see what you think, but I think if you try it and like it you might be about to raid the bank balance for one made to your own spec. It was certainly a beautifully made, great quality piece of kit, so worth the money if it's to your liking.
 
Best thing I ever did, fantastic for my horse who is a serial shape changer and brilliant for me, a stiff old bat. They are only a good as your fitter though but you can learn to do minor tweaks yourself. Not all horses are happy with them.
 
Cant recommend them enough-my horse is very high withered and his back is dropping with age. The only problem is finding someone to adjust it in the area...
 
Another very satisfied Wow customer here. My horse was easy to fit but I wasn't ;) I bought my jump saddle new :eek: but snapped up a bargain 2nd hand dressage Wow shortly afterwards as I knew what I was looking for then.

If you can get a trial one then you'll know if you like it and what parts you will need to look out for. Sometimes you get lucky on ebay etc and can find them 2nd hand at the same price as other quality saddles.
 
I had mine a few years back now and bought it through a good WOW fitter and had it regularly checked by her. My horse went well in it to begin with, but after about a year he started to tense when I was tacking up and it started to go downhill from there to the point where he bronced with me as I was getting on (from a mounting block), it turned out he hated the air flocking and it had caused sore spots as verified by my chiro (who regularly treated him).

My issue with the saddle is the air bags. If you think about the rising and falling of a rider in rising trot, when the rider lifts out the saddle on the upward beat, there is no pressure exerted on the air bags, but when the rider sits in the saddle on the downward beat, the airbags are compressed and the air has nowhere to go, so the airbags become hard (think of an inflated lilo). Now think of the effect on the horses back when the bags are compressed over and over again on a horses back.

Although my fitter was great, the service I received from WOW was rubbish, non return of calls, despite my calling and leaving messages, hopefully they have improved this.



I've gone back to wool
 
i love my wow, i watched a demo and really liked the idea of them, looked into it and when i bought my TB i treated us, couldnt buy a new new one, bought an ex demo one instead. when my TB had to be PTS i got a mare and rather than buy a new saddle had it changed to her, she was young and changed shape alot, not necessarily difficult to fit, but my saddle was able to be changed with her. its super comfy for me too, i do think they worht the money, but its preference. whenever i sit in another saddle it reminds me how much i love mine hehe, and if anyone has a little ride on my mare first thing they say is oooo your saddle very comfy. i have GP flaps on mine, i did a 15 mile ride in it in april and to be fair i wasnt fit enough, horse faired better than i did but i didnt suffer as badly as i thought the following days and i thank my wow for that :)
 
Im looking at the possible purchase of a WOW saddle but really confused Ive been on numerous furums have had stories of several horses bolting,riders hating them but just as many riders wouldnt part with theirs.

Spoke to Wow saddle fitter who informs me that some horses may panic because they cannot feel the rider. It appears that some pros who use them have air at the front conventional flucking at the back :confused:
 
Cluny said:
My issue with the saddle is the air bags. If you think about the rising and falling of a rider in rising trot, when the rider lifts out the saddle on the upward beat, there is no pressure exerted on the air bags, but when the rider sits in the saddle on the downward beat, the airbags are compressed and the air has nowhere to go, so the airbags become hard (think of an inflated lilo). Now think of the effect on the horses back when the bags are compressed over and over again on a horses back.
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This will only happen in three cases:

1. the airbags are pumped up too high.

2. the rider is far too heavy to be on a horse.

3. the rider thumps down into the saddle extremely heavily, such that any horse would have a sore back in any saddle.


OP I love them and will not put any other saddle on my horses, because of the freedom of the shoulders with the carbon fibre joint in the tree.

Some horses feel the airbag overlap and I have found the solution to that is to use either a geleze or a wool backed saddle cloth.

You can adjust your own wow if you buy the pump and know how to fit a saddle. There is no need to pay a fitter to keep coming out if you are confident enough to do it yourself.
 
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Cluny - what you say is true of sorts for Cair, but not flair in the Wow saddles.
I love riding in my friends' wow saddles, both dressage and jumping although I prefer the dressage.
I have heard nothing but praise about their dressage saddles but have heard some worrying things about the jumping saddles.
 
undertheweather said:
Cluny - what you say is true of sorts for Cair, but not flair in the Wow saddles.
I love riding in my friends' wow saddles, both dressage and jumping although I prefer the dressage.
I have heard nothing but praise about their dressage saddles but have heard some worrying things about the jumping saddles.
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I think you might be carefully referring to headplates snapping so as not to libel them? That is true, the lightweight aluminium alloy headplates did snap under pressure a couple of times and have been withdrawn as a result.

You're fine with the steel ones :) I hunt in one, no probs.
 
Cpt glad to see you back :) but I will somewhat agree with the previous poster. Air in a sealed bag with a rider on top will be at high pressure, it doesn't matter how low the pressure is to begin with. Some horses love air, some hate it, same with riders.

And can I just clarify that panels are the "bags" that contain either flock or air or foam, the bits that sit against the horse's back. The seat length is determined by the tree length, which may or may not be the same as the panel length, and flaps not panels are what you put your legs against. The flappy bits if you will :D.
 
If any wow people are looking for parts or have parts for sale, I have 2 different panel types and a seat for sale. Looking for a shallow or flat seat (on curved y bar) and some DWG panels
 
sbloom said:
Cpt glad to see you back :) but I will somewhat agree with the previous poster. Air in a sealed bag with a rider on top will be at high pressure, it doesn't matter how low the pressure is to begin with. Some horses love air, some hate it, same with riders.
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I see what you are saying. I still think it matters if they are pumped up too high, as the air has nowhere to squidge to as the rider's position varies. The Cair panels are far too full of air and my experience of those was that they caused the only sore back I've ever had on a horse.

Maybe we should ask that poster how heavy they are :) I didn't dare!
 
I had a very bad experience with a fitter. I really liked the saddle that I trialled, but when I bought on it was just problems problems problems. Now that I know a bit more about the saddles, I'm inclined to think the fitter was the problem and I wish I'd tried contacting another one. But in the end I sold it and was just glad to see the back of it, even if I ended up about £800 out of pocket :(
 
HR I have certainly bought second hand panels that had been fitted by qualified fitter which had so much air in them when they arrived that I was astounded.

As a guide for others, they really should feel "soggy". If you have to have so much air in them that they feel more like a pumped up balloon, then you possibly need to change to a panel with deeper airbags.
 
yep I've bought second hand panels and been astounded at the amount of air in them!!

I don't agree with the wow's being hard on the back, quite the opposite, compared to wool flock there are no hard lumps and the saddle with lateral flexion can move with the horse rather than against it

I like the design as they don't stick long rolls down by the scapular allowing horses with big shoulders to move

For those that say they feel too far away from the horse, you just need to change seats. I have a deep seat I'd dearly love to swap for a flat one to get back to the close contact feel, but then I don't like big cantles behind me either!
 
I bought one on Friday and so far I am thrilled with it. Its unbelievably comfortable and has been a god send to my horse who is quite hollow behind the withers and has been desperatly uncomfortable in his traditionally flocked saddle. I managed to get an ex demo but they are worth the money a new one costs.

As Jen_Cots has said they really help big moving/big shouldered horses to move better and the big panels spread the riders weight more evenly.

As regards to people having bad experiences type and piece of tack into google and you will get mixed reviews. Horses for courses and all that!
 
Love my WOW saddle. Had previously used a Pessoa with Flair which all my horses loved, but could not be adjusted as my youngster grew, so invested in a WOW. He is a big moving TB and he was so happy once he was in a saddle that was the right width. I love it as well because I can now hack without using a seat saver. I looked on it as a long term investment for future horses as well as it can be altered so many ways. As others have said, if the air bags are blown up like well filled balloons this is far too much air. They should be like a 3/4 filled balloon. The fitter lent me a saddle for a few weeks, also came back 2 months after new saddle was fitted to make any adjustments. They can adjust them if the rider is having any issues, as well as adjusting them for the horse. Have done dressage on a jumping saddle for years with no problem, so don't bother moving flaps around.
 
cptrayes said:
I see what you are saying. I still think it matters if they are pumped up too high, as the air has nowhere to squidge to as the rider's position varies. The Cair panels are far too full of air and my experience of those was that they caused the only sore back I've ever had on a horse.

Maybe we should ask that poster how heavy they are :) I didn't dare!
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Haha!! Well, I'm a whisker over 11 stone and quite tall, but my chap is 17HH so well up to the job. I like to think I don't bounce around like a sack of potatoes.... :D:D

Thanks everyone for all your feedback - really, really helpful. I've got a fitter booked now because I really do want to try one - the whole concept makes such good sense, not to mention the benefits of being able to change as the horse changes. The fitter has already warned me about the fact that they are like marmite -both me and the horse will love it or hate it. Seeing as I'm being lent one for a week to try I think I should know soon enough. Its just so important to get a bit of feedback from others that have used it.

For the purposed of helping others on here I will let you know how I get on - fitter comes out in just over a weeks time!
 
My loan ned has a Wow, and I have to say I do like it, very comfy and when I had it checked recently very quick and easy to add a bit of air etc. from the fitter,

OP - another make you may want to consider if your boy is particularly difficult to fit a saddle to would be free 'n' easy - they are incredibly versitile and even more comfortable! I cant rate them highly enough. Used a lot by endurance riders, but they do GP/SJ/Dr versions - and they do come up 2nd hand...
 
I have had a Wow for just over a year for my pony-all saddles slip on him as he has unlevel withers. I love the "squashy" feel for me-I do feel really secure but it does still roll and slip on him. I really liked the idea of the lateral movement from the carbon fibre tree rather than a fixed tree but I can't honestly say if he moves anymore freely.
It is incredibly expensive and my main issue has been finding a reliable, expert fitter with a background in saddle fitting rather than just Wow saddles.
I bought a VSD but wish I'd bought jump flaps with movable blocks-if any anyone has brown jump flaps for sale or swap-let me know!
 
I have just taken on another ride, and the owner has a wow saddle, I have never rode in a wow saddle before now and they are very comfortable to ride in and I did feel quite secure. Owner has a dressage wow saddle.
 
I've ridden two for about a year or so and I cannot recommend them highly enough. My TB is 16.3 and rather short-coupled and I'm a bigger than average rider. I ended up getting an 18" seat with 17" panels. Initially I was riding in a Trainer's GP and struggling to open the horse's shoulders. When I switched to the WOW GP, the freedom of movement was enough to get me left behind a few times. The horse was more willing to work and put on condition at a much improved rate. My wife's horse went averagely in a Bates Isabelle and I suggested she try the WOW. Once again, her horse exhibited such marked improvement in his work that he's a completely different horse.

And they are by some way the most comfortable saddles for me as well.
 
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