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Does anyone have a Pegasus butterfly saddle

I’m going to try this saddle. It is shorter for short backed horses and automatically adjusts.
Does anyone have this saddle? Or tried it out and not bought it?
Reviews needed.

The design reminds me of the Heather Moffett FlexEE saddles, which did not work for my horse and I as the tree kept stretching wider and wider and thus would sit on her withers.

I would be interested to hear your experience or what others think. I somehow got on a Prestige dealer’s mailing list and keep getting emails about the Pegasus saddle as well.

I looked into one but I really didn’t like the concept. I did try a WOW which is a similar concept but has a fixed tree that adjusts pretty much infinitely. My horse did really like the WOW, and apparently they’re the most popular saddle in England at the moment, so there is probably something to be said for that.

[QUOTE=Draftmare;8085225]
The design reminds me of the Heather Moffett FlexEE saddles, which did not work for my horse and I as the tree kept stretching wider and wider and thus would sit on her withers.

I would be interested to hear your experience or what others think. I somehow got on a Prestige dealer’s mailing list and keep getting emails about the Pegasus saddle as well.[/QUOTE] Just looked at HM page. I think this tree is
firm and can only go so wide from what I can tell so far. The one selling point of Pegesus is the short panel for short back horses which is important to me. I am hopefully riding in it Friday.

[QUOTE=soloudinhere;8085509]
I looked into one but I really didn’t like the concept. I did try a WOW which is a similar concept but has a fixed tree that adjusts pretty much infinitely. My horse did really like the WOW, and apparently they’re the most popular saddle in England at the moment, so there is probably something to be said for that.[/QUOTE] with watching the wow video, this pegesus doesn’t offer all of that flexion. It will be interesting to see how it feels. Ive not rideen much dressage so not sure I will know the difference but have a difficult horse/rider combination to fit.

the previous HM Flexee model used to not have a fixed gullet with changeable gullet bars - so yes, they could stretch over time. now, i suppose that is limited given the new design. I had a pre-gullet bar version, havent seen the newest design though!

[QUOTE=China Doll;8085942]
with watching the wow video, this pegesus doesn’t offer all of that flexion. It will be interesting to see how it feels. Ive not rideen much dressage so not sure I will know the difference but have a difficult horse/rider combination to fit.[/QUOTE]

You can put shorter panels (within reason) on a larger seat on pretty much any bench-made saddle.

Yes, mine was a prototype from before they added the gullet to the front. I really liked that saddle, loved how I felt like it hugged me, put me in a good spot, and my horse moved well in it. If it hadn’t kept stretching I would likely still have it. However, HM couldn’t seem to offer any good solutions other than to keep padding up the front. I couldn’t see how that would give me a long term solution to the problem. It was also a good option for short backed horses.

This
http://www.chronofhorse.com/forum/showthread.php?451954-Pegasus-Butterfly-Dressage-Saddle

I just purchased the Thomas Muhlbauer jumping saddle. I rode in a demo saddle and loved it. My mare is a QH but built more like a warmblood, except for her massive shoulders. I had a Pessoa GenX with adjustable gullet and while she was growing it worked great. Now that she is fully developed, even the X-wide gullet hinders her shoulders and makes her movement short. I had to order the Butterfly, so I am still waiting a few weeks for it to be shipped to me, but I am really excited.

I have a Pegasus Butterfly Claudia jumping saddle.

I had some problems with it drifting around the horse’s back (near sway back) until I got shims for the middle of my Contender II saddle pad (BOT & ThinLine). The “bridging” shims really helped the stability of the saddle, and mohair string girths also help the stability some. The stability is better when the girth gets tightened a few minutes after I start riding.

I like that I can use this saddle on all three of the horses I ride regularly, though I do have to change the shims around for each horse. The horses I ride are all rejects, dipping backs, one (a QH) is VERY croup high, one a 31 year old croup high Arab mare, and a wide backed Arab-Welsh mare. I see no reason why, with proper shimming with a good pad, I can’t use this saddle on just about any horse I could ride.

The horses really appreciate the freedom of their shoulders. Since I have MS my balance is not of the best and the hinged front of this saddle gives me less stability than a regular treed saddle. If I had normal balance I probably would not have much problem.

I REALLY like that I can get my seat forward in the saddle without running into a pommel with my pubic bone. The horses appreciate this, especially the very croup high horse, I can get my weight off the weakest part of his back when I am sitting in the saddle. Some saddles I have problems getting out of a chair seat, in this saddle I can sit correctly.

I’m also looking at a Pegasus Butterfly saddle. I know this thread is a little old, so I’m asking if anybody has recently had any experience with these, and what they like and dislike about them. Any new saddle owners please respond… thank you

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I have only seen a few of them, but the horse all had sore backs. I do not know if they are the outliers or not, but I am not in love with them.

I know a person who has one, and her horse goes really well in it, but a few of the other horses did not. I am going to try to get her to let me use it for a ride just to see.

Actually, I know another person, but she gets every “alternative saddle maker” to sponsor her, and just jumps saddle to saddle. So I’m not sure that counts :wink:

Looking at the design, my gut tells me - not a good idea, but I’m always curious…

I thought the WOW was unattractive, and then I saw this.

why can’t anyone make an “unconventional” saddle that doesn’t look completely bizarre?

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Wait until you see the new flapless saddles:eek:

I have a Pegasus Butterfly Claudia jumping saddle.

So far I have used it on 4 or 5 horses of somewhat different conformation. As long as I use a string girth (for less slipping) and a Contender II Bot/ThinLine pad with the ThinLine shims, all the horses have been comfortable.

After my rides I SCRUB the horses’ backs with the HandsOn gloves and I have not noticed any cringing or trying to avoid grooming.

All the horses move their shoulders more freely than in a regular treed English saddle. So far I sort of permanently lent out my dressage saddle and my Stubben and Crosby saddles stay on the saddle rack, and I used to love riding in those saddles, especially my Crosbys. Nowadays I cannot stand the idea of riding in my old saddles again. The horses all move so much better since the top of their scapulas no longer run into the saddle tree points.

If your horse’s scapula is hitting the tree points, the saddle is in the wrong place.

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Thank you everyone! I’d love to hear if your horses, Mysticoakranch, like or dislike the saddle. The problem I have with the company is you spend close to $5000, and they do NOT offer any money back if the horse or rider doesn’t like the saddle after the test ride. They’ll offer a merchandise credit, but essentially that person is stuck trying to resell, or … that’s A LOT of money to dish into a saddle that may or may not work for a horse. I like the one size fits many idea, but not if my horse’s back will be sore.

sheltona01, I do appreciate your comment because I know you make it out of concern for the horses I ride, and I respect your knowledge.

I am talking about ancient, 48 year old saddles (Crosby, Stubben), pretty old Kloster Schonthal (German, I never heard of them either) and a more modern Lynn Palm Crosby Prix de World saddle. I am also talking about Wintec APs (regular & wide.) I put the saddles in the right place (in 48 years I have never gotten a saddle sore and my horses were quite willing to saddle and girth), it is just that the tree points are long and even when wide enough to “fit”, a really free-striding horse’s scapula will eventually run into them. Since I prefer to walk horses around 14.2 hands in height at 5 to 5 1/2 MPH, the top of these horse’s scapulas move back quite a bit.

The horses that I’ve ridden in both my treeless saddle (EZ-Fit) and my Pegasus Butterfly saddle, move their shoulders more freely in the Pegasus Butterfly Saddle. I gave my treeless saddle away, I got better results in getting horses to stride out this saddle than I did with the treeless saddle.

Due to my poor balance I basically had to learn how to ride this saddle and how to shim it properly (very important!). I felt like giving up many times the first few months, but the willingness of the horses to stride out freely made me determined to learn how to ride this saddle properly (if you have good balance and reflexes there should be few problems.) I have to wear full seat silicon breeches because the shoulder moves so far back that it pushes my seat to the other side. The nearest thing to it I’ve felt was riding (galloping madly) bareback decades ago.

YMMV.