I bought one 6 weeks ago and would NEVER let it out of my sight. My horse has issues with soundness and is an odd shape. It has done absolute wonders for his soundness and he is so happy and settled in it, we are contemplating some competition again this winter.
PM me if you are in the East Anglia region as my fitter is (I believe) the WOW best fitter available (she fits 4* eventers too...).
interesting put the same post on general someone reckons they cause bad backs on horses, surely it depends on the fitter tho and how often you have them adjusted, this has to be done quite frequently as the horses change shape so much dont they
well my boy did change shape between the original fitting and the delivery of the saddle (I had a demo to use in that period)...but with a few seconds the saddle was adjusted to fit him perfectly. The fitter is only as good as the person they are fitting for...if you dont tell them exactly whats going on, they cant help you get it right.
I totally trust my fitter and she has done an amzing job - I couldnt recommend her enough.
She does travel from Lincs down to Kent too but if you are interested in one, have a look on thier website and give your local fitter a ring. It really is worth it.
I have read with interest the reaction on general. Yet we have five wows on the yard and the horses are going so much better and both physio and chiropractor who are hard to please with saddle fitting are very happy with the horses back. One of the horses wont go an inch if saddle hurts and he has qualified dressage regionals on around 70% at elementary,
Couldn't find your post on General, but I got a Wow about 10 months ago and almost immediately my horse's canter (in particular) improved - he started getting 7s and 8s in tests where he used to get 5s & 6s for canter. I think it's partly to do with the flexible tree system that they use.
I also feel more secure when he spooks in canter (!) although probably any decent dressage saddle would do that.
I'm really pleased with it - one of the reasons I got it was that I should (in theory) be able to take it on to the next horse, and it's so adjustable as the horse changes, you don't have to keep changing saddles.
I'm surprised that people are reporting back problems (especially with flair) but perhaps it's due to (lack of) fitting/checking as already suggested.