Saddle Fitting Woes!

[ajw]

I have a section C mare who is proving to be a massive headache to fit a saddle to. Her conformation is such that she has a very forward girth groove and a wide barrel with narrower shoulders. So far I am on my 3rd saddle in six months and they are all doing the same thing....ie sliding up her neck and lifting at the pommel. She is a very big moving mare which makes things even worse.
Has anyone had similar problems, and found a workable solution? I really dont want to put a crupper on this mare, but I am pulling my hair out, and obviously its not much fun for her either.
BTW, all the saddles have been fitted by reputable fitters, and she is currently in a WOW. I've tried various non slip pads with no success.....

[GinaGeo]

Have a look the Solution Treeless saddles. I've had mine for about a year now and love it. They're lovely people and very willing to help The saddles still look for traditional and are the only treeless saddle to be legal for all disciplines.

Here's a link:
www.solution-saddles.co.uk/

They are wonderful on my difficult to fit boy and I've been hunting for a day in it jumping all the big hedges and it hasn't moved.

[09rebel99]

Have you tried any on the fylde saddles, I had the same problem with the a I had, everything just shot up his neck as soon as he went in to trot. I got a fylde haydon and it never moved as they are a lot more close contact.

[pimms'o'clock (Jess)]

Jan 1, 2012 11:13:29 GMT 09rebel99 said:

Have you tried any on the fylde saddles, I had the same problem with the a I had, everything just shot up his neck as soon as he went in to trot. I got a fylde haydon and it never moved as they are a lot more close contact.

echo this, anything we tried shot up our fells neck!! we have a samantha on him for everyday and a hayden at shows, neither of them budge

[connemara5]

We have had same problem with our M & M in the past.
Just had one made to measure by Heritage Saddlery (not to expensive) and we love it.
He specialises in problem fitting saddles/difficult ponies/horses.

[ajw]

Thank you, I will look into these further. The solution saddles look lovely, but they are too expensive for me, esp as I now have other saddles to sell first, and i'm assuming they wont part ex traditional saddles. Can you jump in a Samantha? The pony was bought for my son to jump but obviously we cant do anything with the saddle situation at the moment, so I have a very frustrated child too. The Haydon may suit the pony but not the child!

Where is Heritage Saddlery based please?

[connemara5]

Hi.
He has a website www.heritagesaddlery.co.uk - look on there he has lots of options.
He will come out to you or you can measure your pony yourself - well worth a look.
We have had a saddle made exactly to what we required (my daughter does flat and workers)

[sageandonion]

I think you will find most saddles slip on this shape and of course you cannot keep on changing your saddles in the hope one will work. Have you got a wintec professional elasticated throughout girth and non slip saddle pad? your saddle should also be a dressage or VSD/WHP so it is straighter cut.

[snowflake]

Sorry if I've mis-read, but couldn't you have a saddle fitter come to your yard? Plus have you tried the Oakfield saddles...it fitted our C who is hard to fit great.

[ajw]

Thanks again for your advice. I've had two good fitters out already, both of whom are long standing experienced people that I trust - one a conventional saddler, another supports the Balance type saddles. We've only had temporary successes with both their saddles. I've tried the wintec girth as mentioned, also anatomical girths and various non slip pads. I think you will be spot on with the straighter cut option as I stupidly shot myself in the foot by buying a jump saddle from one saddler based on my sons wishes competion wise but which now makes the problem painfully more obvious.

Having reread my first post btw, the saddle lifts at the cantle not the pommel........

[sageandonion]

My saddler advised the Numed non slip pad which is reasonably new. He even offered to lend me one (this is a more common problem than you think) as they are expensive, about £70 to see if it worked. In the end I found a thorowgod non slip numnah helped and I have a Bates dressage saddle with a professional choice girth. My saddle will still slip if I ride in the afternoon when my mare is particularly bloated but is not intolerable.

[brt]

I had a horse that was difficult to fit, an arab.

i got a very good saddle fitter out who said the reason the saddles were slipping was because the horse shuffled it to where it was most comfortable.

The only saddle that fitted snug and comfortably for the horse was an endurance saddle, something i hated. I eventually sold said horse to an endurance rider and he went on to do fantastic on long distance.

No help i know, but maybe you horse is shuffling, which is why you are only getting quick fixes?

[sarahp]

I went through a cycle of me having a bad back, then horse having a bad back - every time I sorted one or the other the OK one went. I eventually found that I was riding with one hip forward, which over time had made the saddle crooked. Once I got myself sorted (well as much as possible, I'm made that way) and the saddle restuffed the pony was fine! The saddle did appear to fit properly all the way through though, although when I did a halt in a dressage test she would halt square, and then move one foreleg slightly forward - in retrospect under my forward hip!

Just another thought - many Welsh Cobs now seem to be extremely short in the back which must make proper saddle fitting difficult.

[carrie17491]

I would definitely look into a fylde as these are very close contact and I see almost all welsh horses in these. They are expensive but if it starts to not fit again, they will re shape it to your horse. You'd be best taking your horse up there in my experience x

[ajw]

I've been given a Farrington working hunter to try, which coupled with a nuumed non slip numnah looked at least better than anything else I have. Has anyone else used this style on this type pony with success? I understand it is the same as the Derby House Samber, and a tidy little saddle. I'm just paranoid about another mistake, and not a bottomless pit of money.......

[sarahp]

Just a thought - you do ride her in any possible new saddle before buying when the saddle fitter comes with one don't you?

[ajw]

Yes we ride her each time. I have 2 other section Cs and they are no problem.....it's just this one! (Cant find a pulling out my hair smilie!)

[sbloom]

I fit wide and flat horses and ponies as a speciality. Generally a very close contact saddle will stay in place, but in my opinion they don't offer that much protection to the back from the tree and the rider's weight. You need a half way house - semi close contact, a flat tree and probebly a shorter seat size than is actually possible to get on. Welshies can have very active and convex croups which, coupled with wide rear ribcages and forward girth grooves, will send any saddle forwards if there is just a hint of instability. So, you need a flat tree and fairly flat panel with a small gusset at the back, probably an open/wide head to the tree/pommel, and a point strap to help with girthing. A wide soft padded girth with strong elastic at both ends may also help.

A common reason for a saddle moving forwards is if it is slightly cantle low - you may need a deeper rear panel, especially if you end up with a smallish seat size.

They're not easy to fit, but in most cases saddles should NOT slip and it is entirely possible to find a saddle that will work without a non-slip pad. I don't like these as they MUST pull at the skin, and in my mind leave people using a less than optimal fitting saddle. Just occasionally if the rider is relatively tall or heavy for the seat size it does become pretty mcuh impossible to get a good fit, there is just too much pressure on the saddle, especially the rear, but I presume you're not falling into that category.

[ajw]

Sbloom, why are you in Somerset? Any trips to Yorkshire planned? You have absolutely hit it on the head about her shape (and voiced my doubts about the non slip pad). She does have a convex croup compared to my other two, and sometimes esp when jumping the saddles will flip right up at the back.

Shaun is only 10 and built like a racing snake so luckily that is not an issue. I will try the Farrington today without any non slip extras and see if it stays put.

This saddle is the same style as this one

www.preloved.co.uk/adverts/show/104586874/farrington-16-inch-wh-saddle.html

Is this one then unlikely to fit your suggested profile as you have described earlier?

[Sasha]

Another vote for Matt at heritage he made one for my table top highland and also my awkward show pony they are both great saddles made to measure and very very reasonable

[lisadundee]

I have had this problem with my section D stallion who can't take bigger than a 16" seat, he has two saddles at the minute that both fit him perfect, one is a manor GP and the other a show saddle, I had the manor reflocked and point and balance straps put on it and I use a professional choice girth with elastic at both ends! I am selling the manor as it has a deep little seat and my bum is too big for it where as the show saddle has a flat seat, if you are interested and close by you could try it, it's advertised on here x

[conniegirl]

I had a farrington MTM for a rather round connie. Beautiful saddle that seemed to fit everything i put it on. never moved an inch on the connie in the 8 years i had it. Also fitted a 16hh dressage horse, 15hh ex race horse and an 18hh DWB

[ajw]

The Farrington was lovely, but just didn't fit, same problem. It would stay put with the non slip pad on but then you could see where it had been pulling on her when you took the saddle off.

I have my favourite saddle fitter coming back in a few weeks to try and solve it as it is getting beyond a joke.

It's a shame no one runs a saddle hire business! Actually, I could probably set one up myself with all these extra saddles....

[Louise Dixon]

I also had this problem and ended up with Solution treeless saddles. I did NOT want a treeless, was desperate for a traditional saddle, but tried most of the above options including a made to measure by very reputable saddler (who gave me my money back in full as saddle clearly useless any faster than walk), the Solution solved my problems very quickly, I was so desperate by that point I no longer cared if it had a tree or not. They are expensive, and I am not sure they are as well made as traditional saddles, but they enabled me to actually ride my pony! If you do end up going down that line, they do good finance schemes and you can sometimes get a very good condition ex demonstrator quite a lot cheaper.

[FF]

Just to add that Farrington WH and Derby house samber are NOT the same saddles anymore. Farrington used to make saddles for DH (I have one of these with DH pins on but stamped Farrington underneath) These days the Dh samber is a cheap remake of the Farrington as they went for a cheaper manufacture but still charge the same price for the saddle. Greedy!
I know this as when I took my old samber in to exchange for a brand new one they offered me £150 for it and said they don't pay much more for them brand new. NOT HAPPY. I obviously didn't give them my £600 for brand new saddle. I also have a Farrington Event saddle. Love it.

Hope you get sorted soon.

[GinaGeo]

I too have a very difficult to fit and opinionated pony. I too was desperate for a treed saddle and was very cynical about treeless saddles. I tried hundreds of treed saddles, all fitted by a very reputable saddle fitter. She said they all technically fitted, he didn't go as happilly in any of them as he did when I rode him Bareback. Out of desperation, I arranged a trial with Solution. To try one of their saddles. He was a different pony, he relaxed, his back swang and he stretched down through his back into the contact properly, for the first time.

He's had his Solution saddle now for nearly a year and he's come on further in this last year than he ever did in the previous four years I owned him. The only time he's ever bucked with me on board is when trying saddles out. He used to run, hollow in canter and even started stopping at jumps which was very out of character. He's happy as larry now in his treeless saddle. His Physio, said to me unprompted at the last visit how his back's the best she's ever seen it. We had a lot of problems with back pain as well with treed saddles.

I bought one to back my youngster in too, after the success with mine. I don't think I'd go back to a treed saddle now. I can ensure a good fit all year round and both my ponies backs are 100%.

They are expensive, but I won't be swapping and changing saddles constantly when my horse changes shape, or having saddlers out every two weeks like I was at some points. They're also very comfortable, and I don't get a sore bum after a full day's hunting like I used to in my old treed saddles. I picked my second one up off ebay, second hand, but in good condition for about a 1/4 of the list price. I would have a fitter out at least to start with, to teach you the ropes as they do fit differently to a treed saddle.