Wintec CC saddle for this back shape?

I was thinking about getting a courbette with the e-motion tree, but after reading the thread about crayon's saddle fitting woes and other people's experiences with the e-motion tree, I am having second thoughts. I found a couple nice Wintec CCs on ebay, and heard that they have a little more curve to the tree, which is what I think I need. Plus I LOVE how easy wintecs are to take care of, I have owned two APs and would love to own another.

These aren't the best pictures, his topline kind of blends into the background, he is standing square on level ground though. In a couple he did try and twist around to see what the heck I was doing, but hopefully somebody can tell something.





I am probably going to have to breakdown and buy a half pad since he has some hollows behind his withers from lack of topline.

Here is the saddle that I am currently borrowing (HATE borrowing stuff):



Its a medium tree I think...

Yeah - the tree in the saddle you are currently borrowing, appears to be too strait.......I do not like how the back of the panels are digging into his back. But it could be how the picture is - hard to decipher unless someone is there in person who knows what to look for. I am going to assume that the saddle that you are using - is bridging on him because of how arched his back is and how strait that tree is. You're not doing him any favors with that saddle. Can you use your saddle, the one you have up for sale? That tree might be more accomodating for his back at this point in time.

I am going to say, yeah - that the Wintec 500 CC's tree will work for his back, because it is arched. A Strait tree is a no no in my opinion for this fellow, but again, I am just going by pictures. Not the same as seeing in person.

And the hollows behind his withers, is from ill saddle fit in the past. Nelson has those too, from having to wide of saddles on his back with a 1/2 pad to fill in - so over time, the saddle presses on the muscles, not permitting them to breath or fill in - so the muscles are concaved, instead of formed and filled in.

Sucks - you have to do A LOT of long and low work, getting him to lift his back and stretch. And do a lot of ground exercises - carrot stretches. Butt tucks, tummy lifts and etc, etc.

It's going to take a long time to fix it, with a lot of hard work.

The CTD was much too narrow on him and was pinching him, but the curve of the tree was perfect, really disappointing. I guess I never really checked the kieffer for fit, the barn that I am leasing Blue from said that it fit him so I guess I assumed it fit him! I see it now too now that you point it out to me. I will for sure check it when I go out tonight, I hope maybe its just the picture because otherwise I will be riding him bareback!!

Here is another picture of it:



This one and the one in the original post were both taken after riding.

Oh, and will using some type of pad, maybe something with shims, make the problem worse and not allow the muscle to fill in, or will it help?

Dragon, I'd suggest you to contact Trumbull Mountain Tack Shop - The Saddle Specialists about the saddle fit and what would they suggest (they also have a big selection of used saddles for sale). Also for the better fit critique you have to take a pic of saddle on horse without the pad and from front under the angle (to see how it sits on shoulders), from the sides, and from the back.

My qh looks similar to yours (curved up towards the butt). I'm not sure about CC, but Wintec A/P was a terrible fit, tipping saddle (and me) forward.

What saddle did you end up using for your horse?

I know that the AP won't work as they tend to have a very straight tree, the CC has more of a curved tree to it. I thought about contacting Trumbull, but they don't have anything that I would want, so I feel kind of bad. Our local saddle fitter is a bit of a character too that I would rather avoid.

I got Collegiate, which (per my saddle fitter) was surprisingly good fit (I asked her to check it as well when I was buying the dressage saddle). But(!) it was A/P, not CC.

Now I looked at some new CCs as well that time (because I'm thinking about may be getting one one day). Neither of them was a good fit (she showed me why). I tried Exselle, Thornhill, and M. Toulouse, and all were not good (which was a surprise, because for dressage I ended up with Thornhill Vienna out of 8 saddles I tried).

Hmm, now I am all kinds of confused! I was always under the impression that the wintec AP and the collegiate saddles had a very similar tree on them.

I will probably just have to start trying stuff on him to see if it fits...which will be a total pain because the closest tack shop with the most selection is 45 minutes one way.

I'm terrible at saddle fitting (even with all videos watched), so I actually contacted couple people here and I eventually invited the recommended saddle fitter (oh boy, she IS good, very reasonable in her suggestions and everyone in area knows her!) when I was getting that newest dressage saddle. But even I could tell Wintec was a bad fit. Now even we are guessing on your horse, saddle "in person" looks and fits very differently (so may be Wintec WILL be a good fit - you just never know). :)

If you can afford I'd suggest to take 2 or 3 saddles from that tack store, make lots of pics under different angles, and post here for people to give their opinions. I remember luvs and lastUnicorn were very helpful when I asked for the critique on my saddle.

Yeah there is a wintec CC up there right now, its the wrong seat size, but I guess it would give me an idea if the tree is the right shape or not.

We have a saddle fitter in the area, but she can be rather difficult to deal with, and has always given me pretty much the same opinion: one of her saddles is the only saddle that will fit the best!