Thoughts on close contact saddle fit?

Hey guys,

Thanks to Hoofprintsinthesand, I made a video as well. I don't know that I did a great job of it.. my horse is tall, and I'm short. :) But I did the best I could.

This is an M. Toulouse Premia (medium tree) that I'm test-riding. Here is what I noticed about the saddle: The wither clearance on my TB is better than any other saddle I've tried on him since I've had him. It's not on the video, but I did not see any bridging. He also doesn't seem quite so... annoyed... with this saddle as he was with the last few I tried. However, I think this saddle is too narrow. When I run my fingers down the front of the panels, they get stuck halfway down. You'll notice that on the video.

With that said... what do you think? Like I said, my gut feels this saddle is too narrow, so I will likely not be buying it. However, I'm afraid a wide tree will be way too wide. But I would really love some opinions so I have an idea of what looks good and bad on this saddle, thus hopefully giving me an idea of what to look for when I do buy one.

Video:

Can't really see how the horse's shoulder compares with the saddle front arch, but I get the impression the horse has a big muscle at the back of the shoulder (TBs often do) in which case you're right - it's probably too narrow and you need a MW at least.

Try running the flat of your hand downwards between saddle and horse from the gullet to the bottom of the flap with the girth done up. If your had gets stuck at about the end of the tree-point position, the saddle's either too narrow or it's dropping onto the back of the shoulder because the panel's not giving enough support :)

I tried that, and yes, it gets a bit stuck. He does have that huge muscle.

I'm actually eyeballing another saddle I found online that is flocked and supposedly has slightly cut back panels in front to allow more shoulder freedom. Of course I don't have a photo of it aside from the side view, but I'm thinking it might be a really good option.. crossing my fingers anyway.

Thank you for your insight! I was hoping you would reply. :)

If you can, get a picture of the panel shape underneath.

A flocked panel isn't always ideal - it depends on its shape in comparison with the horse. If you think of the panel under the knee roll and that along the back as two sides of a right angle, the panel width diagonally out from that right angle needs to be more than its width along the back. That gives you a 'dropped' or 'TB' panel to some degree and allows extra wool behind the shoulder to give support without the panel getting too firm. You can often flock out a conventional panel to do the job BUT to get the same level of support in a narrower panel the stuffing has to be harder and this tends to 'round' the panel more. So there's less in contact with the horse - that means a harder panel AND more pounds-per-square-inch in that area.

Hope I explained that okay

Yes, the does make sense... and it has me wishing I had a professional saddle fitter in the area! I hate having to go at this alone.