Draft sized saddles?
 

I am trying to find a western saddle to fit my half draft. I measured him to make sure I knew what gullet size he would need. Come to find out he is going to need a 10" gullet. Does anyone know where I can find a western saddle with that sized gullet? I have found one on Frontier Equestrian, but can't seem to find anymore. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Subbing for this same question!My fat mare was just too wide for Full Quarter horse bars... I'd also love to know a decent English saddle that comes in size Monster :P
All I can find are excessively expensive ones and finding used ones are very tough.

Have you tried drafttack.com?
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Draft Saddles can come in 7.5" and 8" Gullets, there is no such thing as a 10" Gullet.

Bighorn makes a 7.5" and a 8" Draft Saddle

For other Brands, you need to contact a Manufacture and get the Templates or Fitting Forms to try on your Draft, that is the best way.

As far as a very wide QH, the Full-QH is generally considered to be a 7" Gullet, but some people make an X-Wide-QH which is a 7.25" Gullet

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Are you saying I measured him wrong? I found the backside of his shoulder bone, moved 3 finger spaces back from there, put a wire over him and fitted it to him. Once I did that, I took it off of him, put it on a piece of paper, and traced the inside of the wire. Then I measured 3" down from the center, and marked it. Then I measured from one side of the wire to the other with my mark in the middle. It measures 10" across. Did I do something wrong? Give me a min and I'll post a picture of what I did.

That is an Internet wives tale way of measuring, imo

Let's say you have two of the same Width Horses (where the bars of the tree fit) one Horse has High Withers and one Horse has very low withers, see how that way of measuring can mess you up?

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I can definitely see what you are saying. I guess I'll have to look into getting some templates sent to me. I wish I had a saddle shop close by that I could take him to to try saddles on. It would make things so much easier. Thanks for your help.

Try the X-Wide Draft Template, it is a decent reference

http://lib.store.yahoo.net/lib/thesa...ate-simple.pdf

If it fits well you can send a copy of it to a Saddle Store or Someone selling privately to reference with, just do a reverse of the template, so they can insert it in the Saddle you find for sale

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Thank you for the help. Now, to go try these out! :)

Repeat after me: I will not buy a saddle from Frontier, I will not buy a saddle from Frontier, I will not buy a saddle from Frontier, nor will I buy a Hilason....

You get what you pay for. Someone had a great post on such a saddle that they tore apart. Scary stuff.

I'll agree that you probably don't need a 10" gullet. I don't use one on my largest, most muttoned withered full Percherons. What I do use is a full QH Wade saddle on all of my draft Xs, my Fjord as well as what I use when starting the full drafts. When the full drafts and Xs move over to an English saddle, I have found that they start around a 32 cm tree and go up to a 36 cm. If you are willing to look at dressage saddles, larger models are more abundant and as far as brands, Stubben tends to run on the larger size. A friend rides her full draft in a 35 Duett. Quality is good, price (1k) is good and they have an extensive inventory of 34 cm and above saddles.

My experience with "draft" anything, excluding draft harness from a draft harness maker, is there is a severe lack of quality and understanding of the proportions needed to make the tack fit right. Spend the $$, buy used or go without.