Help with choosing a saddle online: gullet size?
 

As some more attentive forum members may have noticed, I've been desperately searching for an affordable saddle for my fat draftie Pony. I was pointed in the direction of Ascot International draft saddles by a helpful poster here, and found this one on Ebay. It's a lovely price and seems decent, and even the color I want (black).

I'm mostly concerned about the gullet measurement. I've never bought a saddle before and I don't honestly know how exact this has to be to work and not hurt my horse. I did a wither tracing yesterday and she looks like she needs a 9" gullet. This saddle has a 10" gullet. Do I need to keep looking for an exactly 9" or could the 10" somehow work?

Any other thoughts, opinions, or experience with this brand would be appreciated as well!

phoeb, not to be a pain in a rear, but gullet is not the only thing that has to fit the horse. You said you did the tracings, does it fit shoulders and back as well?

I honestly don't know how to check those things from photos alone. I'm just hoping to find something that has a higher chance of fitting based on gullet size then test the fit on my Pony directly once I have the saddle.

I'd much prefer a local seller that would let me try before I buy but alas, folks around here don't ride drafts much, and go exclusively Western when they do, so English draft tack is very hard to find.

Trumbull Mtn.
 

I would talk to trumbull mountain tack in VT. You can send them the tracings and they can probably recommend some things to try.

I looked them up, thanks. Their site looks very helpful and they have lots of nice stuff. Though they are far enough away that it would be no different than buying online from any other site... I'm in north-eastern VT on the Canadian border!

unfortunately there is only so much you can do on line. It always gets to the point where you just have to buy and try on. if it fits - great, if not, back up for sale.

That's all I'm trying to figure out - is this saddle within the realm of possibility of fitting, so that it is worth my time to buy it and try it on. If there's no way it would work, I'm not going to bother buying and having to resell it.