I’m trying to find a used Voltaire because of their nice wide channels, but I’m not sure what the tree shape looks like with the saddle? I haven’t sat in one yet but before I order it I’d love to have some information. So! If you have a Voltaire, I’d love to see what your horse’s back shape looks like-high wither, no wither, flat, slopey, straight or curvey?
I don’t have one… yet. I did have one of the reps come out to try them after having some serious saddle fit issues with my young horse. Is he 5 and growing still so we aren’t settling with anything yet until we think he’s closer to stopping. My horse was going through some back soreness issues when the rep came out and I immediately (seriously) felt a huge difference. Normally with saddle issues I feel like it isn’t the first ride you start to feel a difference.
My horse is 16.2 and has a massive shoulder. Pretty round bodied but not flat backed and doesn’t have much of a wither. I believe it’s his shoulders that we are running into the saddle fit issues
I use a Palm Beach on my TB/Holsteiner mare. She was previously going in an Amerigo CC that fit her well, but she was “hopping” in her changes and would always opt for the short spot in front of a fence. I had the Voltaire for my husband’s horse, an Irish gelding, and decided to try it on my mare on a whim. She is so much happier under it! I think it helps too that as I am not riding as often as I was before my daughter came along, and therefore not as fit either, that the Voltaire is a deeper seat and keeps me quieter in the tack.
I tried it on her because she does seem quite sensitive to saddle fit, and I had the saddle right here on hand. I got the idea of trying a different saddle (versus blaming schooling or her not working enough, etc.) because I have two side saddles that both should fit her well, but she has distinct ideas about them herself. One she’ll win a hack class under, and the other she won’t take more than a few steps of canter under… At least she clearly articulates her preferences! 
I don’t have a good picture of the Irish gelding’s back, but here’s a conformation shot of my mare - Tea
Nice!! My horse is not as round as your gelding but their topline actually looks quite similar. The issue I had with Amerigo was that it was too narrow for the spine clearance and it was pinching a lot when we’re schooling. For a long time I couldn’t get him to stretch down and tried a couple other saddles later with a wide channel he went long and low quite lovely. I’ll definitely check out Voltaire!
I have very round and wide horses and demoed the Voltair. I tried a few different saddles and I didn’t like them. They were hard, wide in the seat and seemed cheap. Yeah their rep was cute but I’m old and don’t care about that stuff these days LOL…
Here is a pic of one of my more “beefy” backed horses. I found the Voltair fit him okay but purchased a Meyer. REALLY great saddle!! Very very happy with it.
https://www.facebook.com/shel.sanderson.9/posts/1133598490018566
You should really demo them to see what works for you and your horse. And used saddles come in so many different sizes - with more/less padding in the front/middle/back.
There are used saddle companies that you can demo and if they don’t fit you can return them for another trial.
They have different models that will fit very differently, so it’s hard to say what will work. My horse is a bit of a tube, and his Stuttgart fits almost perfectly- but he is the type that is quite easy to fit. He is round with big shoulders and decent but not sharkfin withers.
The rest of my barn events and so the Voltaires we have for their horses- who range from narrow, with sharkskin withers and huge shoulders, to a more medium width horse, to a very well-sprung little mare- are all monoflap models, some with a more forward eventing flap.
I love my saddle and my horse moves better in it than anything else I’ve used on him, but horses and riders are so individual that it’s best to try lots of different brands and models.
Hmm…I ordered 2 used Voltaire and 2 used CWD to see if they’ll fit. Here’s the picture of my boy. He definitely doesn’t have a flat back, it’s slightly slopey along the sides of his spine. Also has a hollow spot behind the wither as well.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/150805509@N08/31504452154/in/dateposted-public/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/150805509@N08/32307370556/in/dateposted-public/
I tried the Blue Wing, Palm Beach and Stuttgart. My horse has a flatter back with larger withers and is broad at the base of the withers (no pocket). His shoulder is also filling out. He hated the Blue Wing so much I couldn’t even walk forward. The Palm Beach he felt better about but wasn’t very happy. He liked the Suttgart the best because it gave the most clearance at the base of the withers. We would have still had to build up the panels more than with his CWD, which I wound up sending in to get foam removed (he is growing). I didn’t like how stiff the Suttgart felt. Once he was moving round through his back, the cantle would bounce even though I demoed one that when still looked pretty balanced for him. Perhaps when he is done growing, he will like the Palm Beach.
I bought a fully custom Palm Beach for my mare. She has huge shoulders and pretty big withers. My old saddle slid back constantly, and she hated that. The new saddle is perfect. I had to trust the rep bc the stock saddle really didn’t fit her at all. Voltaire did a great job!
My horse is shaped a bit like yours (big shoulder, decent wither, though maybe slightly more filled out behind the wither than your guy) and he moves and jumps like a dream in his Palm Beach. The difference was immediate, he was so much more free through his shoulder and really stepped out compared to his previous saddle.
Found one that might actually work for him! Does the AO stamp on the tree mean wide tree?
AO on a CWD means wide tree 
