New Saddle! How does it fit?
 

It's finally here! I've been dealing with saddle issues for the last year and have been anxiously awaiting this saddle's arrival. I *think* it fits but my confidence in everything I've known about horses is kind of shot at the moment due to the horse issues I've been having and finally getting an instructor for private lessons (she's wonderful, but now I realize how much I've been doing wrong!). So, what do you think? Does it fit? And I think I'm in need of a new pad, now, but let me know what you think. Thanks!

First, these are the pictures without the pad:

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And now with the pad/cinch:

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After a brief ride walking and trotting - either the pad slid backward or the pad slid forward :S

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This is a picture of his body, just so you can see what it looks like without the saddle if that helps :)

Sorry for all the pictures - I just figured I'd get as many views as possible so people could help!

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It looks like a nice fit, however sometimes you just don't know until you put some mileage on it. Ask me how I know, lol! I swear I went through about 10 saddles before I found one to fit my Mustang well. :shock:

I would keep an eye on the saddle traveling forward as a possible result of the rigging position. I had that happen before because my horses have big bellies (my mare was a broodmare and my gelding is just plain chubby). So sometimes the cinch can travel forward to the highest point and takes the saddle with it pulling the saddle over their scapula area. Your horse doesn't have a big belly on him so that will hopefully not be a problem, but I just wanted to mention it because you mentioned either the pad or saddle traveling a bit on his back.

But it certainly looks like it could very well be a good fit for him. :-)

PS. You will have to tell me if you find it comfortable. I had a Bighorn endurance saddle just like that and I felt like I was riding a fence rail. But the lady I sold it to loved it. So I guess it depends on your body and riding style.

Best of luck! I hope it works perfect for both of you. :D

Another thing you could try, if the saddle IS traveling forward, is to just use the front rigging ring and ignore the back one. That will give you a more forward rigging position (closer to a regular western saddle) instead of the center-fire endurance rigging.

That's what I did with my endurance saddle when it traveled.

I see nothing wrong with that saddle. it looks to be a pretty good fit from what I can see.

It does feel a little hard in the seat, but I'm planning on getting a seat cushion anyways - it's a 16" and I really should be in a 15" so the padding should help fix that, and plus I'm planning on putting around 400 competition miles on this saddle this year, so it'd better be comfortable! My first impression of the shape, though, was that I did like it and felt comfortable with it. I felt like it put my body into a good position and I could move around.

I'm SO glad it at least looks like a good fit initially. I'm going to be having my instructor as well as my mentor out to check the fit, but that won't be until Saturday at the soonest and I've been crossing my fingers and praying this saddle would fit. We had such a disaster after last year's saddle did some damage to his back, but luckily it was caught soon enough to prevent it from becoming something major.

I was thinking about using just the front ring as well, but want to experiment more. Looking at the pictures, it doesn't seem like the cinch moved too much, and I actually had it somewhat loose. I'm not used to those nylon latigos and have never ridden this boy with a western cinch, even though I was raised riding western haha. And his belly is going to lean up more for the endurance season - like I said, he's had quite a bit of time off since last September.

Oooh good! I'm really hoping it works out!

Any thoughts on whether I should even try to use my current pad with this saddle, or do I definitely need a new one?