So this just might be the silliest question ever, but I am an eventer riding a friend’s very narrow slight thoroughbred mare for her while she (rider) is off for several months. The horse’s owner would like to get a new saddle for her and asked me for advice. I don’t really know about hunter/CC saddles so I thought I would ask some experts! I know it largely depends on budget, which I didn’t ask specifically about, but I am guessing she probably has a couple of thousand dollars to put towards it.
Check out Stübben. They use these bell shaped head plates in their trees that accommodate OTTB’s withers really well. Most other brands get really pinchy in the gullet when they make their trees narrow.
Stübben also has a variety of options at different price points, so that helps a lot. You can get a nice custom saddle for less than $4k.
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spam from @Medschemonlinepharmacy reported.
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I had a Stubben for my OTTB and it was custom to fit him. It fit okay but for cc saddle it sat me too far back. I had the Roxanne and the Zaria or Portos, their more cc versions, I wasnt overly thrilled with. Love Stubben products, definitely quality, just not right for me. I ended up selling the saddle and got a Voltaire. It honestly fit my OTTB better then the Stubben and of course for me it was an amazing fit. Used you should be able to find one in the 2-4K range and I’d look for a TB tree. I now have three OTTBs, each a littler different but needing a narrow saddle and it fits all three beautifully without changing the feel for me!
I have a beautiful S Portos Stubben for my OTTB who passed away in October. It fit her perfectly and I love it. The horse I’m looking to purchase will not fit this saddle so if you/your friend are interested PM me and I can send pics etc.
ETA: remove if not allowed. Sorry, I didn’t think about that until after I posted…
Because narrow is such an uncommon tree size you can likely find some great deals on a little used, if slightly older french saddle. I’d check out Butet, Antares, CWD. If you have a little time to wait for the right one to come along you can likely find one online that you can take on trial so you aren’t ordering blind, or better yet find a saddle fitter that has some for you to try. Nice thing about a used french saddle is that as long as it’s well cared for it’ll likely be worth just about as much as you payed for it. A narrower tree is less likely to fit a riders next horse in this word of warmbloods, so while there are less of them out there, you’ll find less used ones for better deals. If that makes any sense.
County saddles in a narrow tree with skid row panels was the only thing that worked for my shark finned, slab sided OTTB! Great quality and can easily find a used county in the 1k-2k range.
County still is not the most popular brand in the H/J world where french saddles still reign, but who cares if the fit is good? None of the more popular french saddles gave my OTTB the necessary wither clearance, if the mare is simply slight slab sided and doesnt have much of a wither you’ll likely have more options.
I’ve heard great things about voltaire but have never tried one, seems there are fewer used options that are higher in price.
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I would just be careful to assume that she is narrow, your tree points may end up being too narrow. I quite like the Volatire saddle I sat on, personally Stubben trees are too curvy for most TBs but they flock them to get them to work.
Pm me some pics and measurements etc and I will be happy to send them to
her. Thank you
I just went through this about 6 months ago with my TB. I had him in a narrow tree and while it lifted the saddle off the withers, the tree points were too narrow and left white hairs on either side of his back where the stirrup bar sat. I tried a couple of different saddles and had a non-denominational saddle fitter out to look at him. She took tracings and recommended a saddle with an English tree with wither gussets vs. a French. I found a used Black Country Solare with wither gussets in a medium tree that fits him great. He has filled in behind the wither so much and has just become a completely different horse when it comes to his balance, collection, and topline strength.The white hairs have also gone away, along with his back soreness.
I’d look for something with at least wither gussets before going straight for a narrow tree.
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Very good idea! Thank you!
I have a Forestier saddle that fit all my TBs very well, even with a standard tree. Alas, we couldn’t make it work for my new guy so I ended up with a Stackhouse and am selling the Forestier. They can be a little hard to come by, but everyone I know who has one has loved it. It truly did fit my shark withered and other TBs really well with minimal padding adjustments needed.
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My daughter has a 2000 Beval Butet that fits narrow horses great. She has an Antares for her current horse. She keeps the Butet as she sometimes rides horses for a trainer who has Thoroughbreds.
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