[QHDragon]

I am so sick of looking at saddles for my horse! I have made three and soon to be four 100 mile round trips to the local tack superstore trying saddles with no luck so far.

First saddle:

Too much weight on the back of the saddle caused my guy to move funny.


Second saddle:

Looked really good until a member on another boards pointed this out to me:

Yay for the tree being off!


So I need help finding a saddle. Riding around bareback was great for the first couple of weeks, but has gotten really old. One thing I found from the stubben is that 31 inch tree looks good on him, so does a medium. The first saddle was a wide, and he took an extra wide in a wintec saddle, so he is all over the board. My price range is up to 400 but that would have to include shipping.

Here is what I am working with:

Please help!

 

[SouthernTrails]

I do not do a lot of English, but some of my wife's riding students have done very well using the Wintec 500 which uses the replaceable gullet plates so you have many choices in fit.

New they are about 449.00, so used you might find one for 250-300

The pics are not the angle I need for a good guess, but the medium or maybe the one size smaller narrow/medium might fit because of you horse very high withers.

Google some retailers of the wintec, they should be able to help you with some templates or tracings to verify what size gullet plate you need.

Hope that helps

.

 

[iridehorses]

I really should "sticky" this since I've used it so often but, aside from bringing your horse with you to measure properly, use this method:

Go to the hardware store and get about 4’ of 12 or 14 gauge house wire (the kind electricians use to wire a house) and cut it in half. This was written for Western saddles but the principle is the same for English or Australian.

Take 2’ and shape it over your horse’s withers. Take the other 2’ and shape it over the center of his back.

Carefully take the wires and trace the inside of the wire on a heavy piece of cardboard (or poster board if you have it). Cut out the cardboard shapes and take them to the saddle shop to fit against some saddles.

This part is Western: Keep in mind that QH bars in one saddle may not be the same in another brand. There are no standards for saddle trees so each manufacturer has his own idea what dimensions make the designations.

As for you, your bum should not be squished against the cantle, it should have a little room at the top and there should be about 4" of space between your tummy and the swell.

As for the saddle that was lopsided, would refrocking it cured the problem?

 

[PaintingMissy]

Are you only looking for dressage saddles because I have a nice huntseat one for sale for only two hundred and would be will to accept it back if it didnt fit your horse. Heres the link http://www.horseforum.com/tack-equipment-classifieds/saddle-sale-looking-saddleseat-suit-44391/

 

[MIEventer]

What you need to do, is contact Renna VanDoorin - a very well known Saddler who does an excellant job. Diane Marcina uses him and so do many other top level riders in SW Michigan.

Many of his clients include GP Riders as well.

He is expensive to have come, but when he does come, he brings a van full of saddles, tools and all of his equiment to get the job done and done right.

 

[trailhorserider]

You might need special pad made for "bridging." His back is dished and that will make him hard to fit because the saddles will tend to bridge, tip backwards or forwards.

I ride western and almost all my horses have a slight sway to their backs and saddle fitting has been rather difficult. But they make western pads (bridging pads) to fill in the gap so I would imagine there is an english version as well.

 

[QHDragon]

I have talked to a couple of saddle fitters and neither could produce something within my price range.

With the stubben, it looked like the whole tree had twisted and that the flocking had settled accordingly. Plus for 400 dollars I wasn't going to buy a saddle that may or may not be sound.

I wish it were as simple as a wintec, I love those saddles, but I think the tree is much too straight.

I have a special pad ordered...still waiting for it...4 weeks later...