Hey to all you dressage riders!

[silkieluvr]

So since I am nearly done growing and my pony, well hopefully lol, isn't gaining any more weight, I have decided it's time to buy a nice dressage saddle. Any recomendations out there? My trainer told me to look at the bates inova and bates isabell werth, if anyone has ridden in one of these please give me some feedback! All opiniona are truly appreciated!!!

 

[patandchickens]

What size and shape is your horse? Some brands tend to fit certain kinds of horses more than others.

*Personally* the main thing I look for, from a fitting-the-rider standpoint, is as flat a seat and low a cantle as you can find these days (which is sadly not very, without lucking into a well-preserved 40-yr-old saddle of certain makes/models). I realize that most of the rest of the world's preferences mysteriously differ however

I'd suggest slappin' as many different saddles on your horse as is feasible, because there is a large chance element and you never know what unlikely-seeming thing may turn out to fit well.

Good luck (and you have my total sympathies - I hate saddle shopping even more than shopping for bras, bathing suits or used cars

),


Pat

 

[Kanchii]

Quote:
Totally agreed, pat.

*points and laughs at Alyssa* nanananana, have fun with that!

In other news, will your trainer thinkg your ghetto for wanting a wintec? Because the good wintec dressage saddle is actually VERY comfortable and flexible, plus much cheaper. Just a thought! And lots of saddle stores will let you borrow like 5 used ones and go try them on your horse and stuff. You should do that instead of ordering one.

 

[Wolf-Kim]

In other news, will your trainer thinkg your ghetto for wanting a wintec? Because the good wintec dressage saddle is actually VERY comfortable and flexible, plus much cheaper. Just a thought! And lots of saddle stores will let you borrow like 5 used ones and go try them on your horse and stuff. You should do that instead of ordering one.

I don't ride english, but I totally agree about the Wintecs. They really are good saddles and cheap in comparison to other brands. I have two Western saddles, one leather and one a Wintec. I love my leather saddle, but I honestly use my Wintec a lot more than my leather.

I do take quite a bit of grief because it is synthetic and not a big hunkin' piece of leather. I give myself greif about it, but you know which saddle lands on the horse more often?

Sorry I couldn't help with the dressage portion. I can vouch for the quality and comfort(and affordability) of Wintecs.

-Kim​

 

[silkieluvr]

Lets just say my pony is short and round lol. He is a connemara pony, almost 9 years old, about 14.1 hh and very chubby with close to no whithers. I actually do like the wintec's a lot and surprisingly so does my trainer but I tried 2 on my pony and it just didn't seem like it fit him quite right. Here's a pic of Finn, y pony so people can get an idea of his shape, note that he has put on a few lbs since this pic was taken.

 

[seminolewind]

I really like the Bates saddles. I also like the Cliff Barnsby saddles. Sit in as many as you can.

 

[Solsken Farm]

I agree with PatsandChickens. I cannot stand saddle shopping. It is really HARD! So hard to find the right fit for the horse, more than anything and so many horse people do not know how to fit a horse for tack.

I have a neiderseuss for my Appendix. It is a decent saddle. I have an Albion for my wide no wither Arab.

There are some good online tack shops that will send you saddles to test ride. This is expensive for the shipping, but in the long run, can save you the nightmare of spending alot of money for a saddle that might harm your horse.

One of the number one problems for horses are ill fitting tack. I think it is great you are doing your research!!!!!!!!!

 

[BeardedChick]

Maybe I'm confused about what you are saying, but if standard Wintecs won't fit your pony, Bates won't fit. They have the same size gullets. Wintec Wide might work, but it's kind of an AP cut. Some people use them for low level dressage schooling. I didn't like that model at all.

I wised up and am selling my XXXXW horse and his $$$$pecial custom $$$$$$addles (a Black Rhino and a ReactorPanel). My other horses will all fit into the same Wintec gullets. I like the Wintecs alot, and have the 2000AP, dressage, and Aussie!

Did the Wintecs you tried have the XW gullet installed? That one fits my pony who is built similarly to yours (14hh and 900#).

 

[silkieluvr]

I actually don't think it had the XW gullet installed, as it was being used on a slimmer pony. I'll have to ask my trainer if we can try it on with the XW gullet installed!!

 

[patandchickens]

Oh, an *actual* pony as opposed to "my dressage pony" the 17 H warmblood

Connemaras are so cool, I am totally envious!

I had similar problems back when my own Fat White Pony was still in work -- he is a 14.1 half-Lipizzaner half-Morab sphere. Wintecs unfortunately did not fit him well, even with the widest gullet plate - they bound on his shoulders and did not really fit him along the spine. However this was, like, 10-12 years ago and it is quite possible things have changed so you should definitely experiment with wintecs and bates-es. Watch out for (and avoid) anything that the rear half wants to lift up off the horse's back as he moves when you are not mounted.

One extra difficulty I had was that many saddles had such long panels that the rear end of the panels would be resting on the ascending part of his loin, which did not strike me as being good for him and which he certainly did not seem to like. Oddly this did not have a lot to do with seat size, it was a function of different brands of saddles and how far their panels protruded to the rear. Normally I am all for distributing the weight over a large area but with a small short-backed horse you need to watch out the saddle isn't TOO long.

The other thing to watch out for, if your pony is truly a Wide Load, is that at least 10-12 yrs ago (the last time I went saddle shopping

) and AWFUL LOT of saddles were made with AWFULLY NARROW gullets. I do not mean just the front part up at the pommel and points, where people *think* about gullet width and where the wintec so-called gullet plate goes -- I mean all down the length of the gullet right back to the rearmost end of the saddle. If the gullet is too narrow, the panels press on the edges of the horses vertebrae and the horse does not go well.

I ended up with a Rembrandt Adjustable. I do not know if they are even made anymore -- they have the tree with the threaded steel rod across the inside of the pommel (high up, away from the withers, of course) that you use an allen wrench to widen or narrow the pommel as desired. It just so happened that this adjusted to a size/shape that fit my FWP pretty well. Good saddle for me, too - stirrups hung in more or less the right place, and although it has an annoyingly high cantle the actual *seat* part is fairly flat which is what I prefer. You might scan thru used saddle lists in case you can find one for sale, just to try.

Good luck,

Pat