Hi! I know that when buying a saddle, you must take it on trial to make sure that it fits correctly, and I will do so. But I need help, because I just bought a new horse and I am going to ride him for my Pony Club cross country riding in March. He is a Shire/warmblood cross, he weighs around 1500 pounds (?) and he is 16.3hh so he's pretty big. I would think I need to look at wide gullet saddles. I would talk to my local tack shop guy (he knows soo much!) but local is actually like an hour away and I'm all tied up right now! So I need your help! Do you think a wide would fit him or do I need the draft size saddles?
Thanks so much!
xoxo jammi
Thanks so much!
xoxo jammi
You already know that your horse is going to be an unusual size. i wouldn't dream of investing in a saddle until I had him properly saddle fitted by someone unbiased. I can sympathize with having to travel an hour, because I live in rural Alberta and my nearest tack specialists is two or more hours away. But this is going to save you hassles, money and problems in the long run.
My current show mare has huge saddle fitting issues, which I did not realize at first. We started getting behavior issues after a while due to back pain. Solving her saddle fitting issues solved alot of things, but it wasn't easy. I would like to see you solve your problems before things get worse. A horse with chronic pain due to a poorly fitting saddle is going to give you lots of grief.
You might want to consider going onto "Port Lewis Workshop" and looking at their saddle fitting system. They use a gel pad which you put between your horse's back and saddle, and ride. This will show you where your horse is getting pressure points with various saddles. I bought myself one of these testing gel pads. It was fairly expensive, but now I can test all my saddles myself on various horses, so it will save me money in the long run. Good luck.
My current show mare has huge saddle fitting issues, which I did not realize at first. We started getting behavior issues after a while due to back pain. Solving her saddle fitting issues solved alot of things, but it wasn't easy. I would like to see you solve your problems before things get worse. A horse with chronic pain due to a poorly fitting saddle is going to give you lots of grief.
You might want to consider going onto "Port Lewis Workshop" and looking at their saddle fitting system. They use a gel pad which you put between your horse's back and saddle, and ride. This will show you where your horse is getting pressure points with various saddles. I bought myself one of these testing gel pads. It was fairly expensive, but now I can test all my saddles myself on various horses, so it will save me money in the long run. Good luck.
I'd go with a draft size because both types of horses are WIDE. Take a wire coat hanger and shape it across the highest point of his withers and then take that into the saddle shop when you go shopping. That's the safest way to find a gullet that works.
Over 40 years of training horses, riders and making/repairing saddles and tack. HPTS!!!