High-withered thoroughbred fitting problems

Hey guys
I have a thoroughbred gelding and it is very hard to find a saddle that fits him correctly. When ridden english (I used to ride dressage), even with a narrow tree saddle I had to use a built up saddle pad to keep the saddle off his withers. Now I ride primarily western, and I have to use two or three fairly thick western pads on him. Is there a western saddle pad out there with an extremely built up front or even a narrow gullet western saddle? Any help is appriciated!

Here is a sample of a pad, it has a cutout for the withers and an extra 1" of thickness at the wither area.

Pro-Craft - The Chinook? Western Saddle Pad - Horse.com

This is not the pad I was looking for, but it will give a general idea of what might work, I have been looking for the pad we use, it is similar but canvas and has an extra 1.5" of thickness in the front wither area, I will keep looking.

The other option of course is a new Saddle with a much narrower gullet and also a higher swell, depending on you Horse measurements maybe something very narrow like a Paso Fino Western Saddle.


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I agree with Southern Trails. I had the same problem with my shark fin TB, first I used an Aussie saddle for trails then moved onto a gaited saddle. there is more freedom in the swells.

There are also some really great treeless saddles out there now. I am riding in one on my hard to fit gelding and both his mobility and attitude have improved beyond my expectations.

You might need to go to a narrow gullet "A" fork saddle as well. They, and a Wade saddle tree, have higher gullets and may work better in addition to a buildup pad as suggested by SouthernTrails.

If he has a rather "normal" looking back/shoulders, then you do not need a narrow tree, English or Western. You simply need one with enough room under the pommel to accomodate his withers (or a partially cutback pommel for an English saddle).

Look for a western saddle with Semi-QH bars and a tall pommel, with lots of room under the pommel. When you put the saddle on, make sure the front conchos are BEHIND the horse's shoulder blades. You don't want the saddle sitting on top of the horse's shoulders.

my tb is high withered and it is really hard to find a western saddle to fit him. i was looking at different pads to help him. im going to watch this thread to see what happens

Chels08, Erin and Jasper

Could you post some pictures of the wither area?

Also what type of Western Saddle are you using that is too wide?, Chels08 it sounds like you may be using a Full QH Bar Saddle that is just simply too wide, not only is the Gullet to wide, but the angle of the bar is wrong.

Padding up sometimes works depending on the Horse and the Saddle, but is not always an appropriate fix.

Some pics of the Horse and some pics of with the Saddle on the Horse without a pad will help us judge the fit and potential fix.

A new Saddle is not always an easy fix to do financially, but basically fitting TB's is not difficult, but many times cannot be done with the Average off-the shelf Saddle, but with some pics and a measurement or two, the proper saddle is not always a expensive as you might think.
Sometimes an off the shelf Saddle will work, it just may be a little harder to find.

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Erin,

I do see why you are having a difficult time with standard saddles, I would say you need the bar angles that a semi-qh provide, but would say the the size of you horse you would need a little wider gullet than a standard semi-qh tree would provide.

A wade tree with a 6.75" gullet would be very close and give the wither clearance, but the bar spread in the read might be too wide for your Horse.

I would say a little tree mods would be needed for the best fit.