Pardon my ignorance, but how would you girth this saddle with four billets? Particularly that one in the back? Explain please.
Too me, it means someone was trying to make a saddle fit when it didn’t.
I am guessing the saddle was moving around too much and so that was the solution to make it more stable.
I would just use the middle 2 billets or maybe the 1st and third.
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Oh how strange. Is that back billet long enough to reach a girth attached to the middle billets?
Yes, the back billet looks like it is longer to allow for the longer reach to the girth. Plus you can see where it was girthed up.
It does look retrofitted given the way the billet guard is clearly not designed for it. Generally you want to use 1 and 2 or 1 and 3 because 2 and 3 are sewn in the same spot and if the stitching fails on one it’s likely both will go in short order. But the back one almost looks like a flank strap on a western saddle.
Well I feel better now. For the life of me I couldn’t figure this out. And why??
I assume to hold down a poorly fitting saddle that was bouncing or sliding sideways
I think it came from the manufacturer that way and was ordered that way. The billets are machined stitched on and I am pretty sure I know what brand it is from the pictures. This brand will do whatever is ordered. A lot of jump saddles have billets attachments that close together. Yes, it would be better to have separate webbing, but I wouldn’t be hugely concerned about it.
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The difference is the fairfax products are on a balance strap, not a single billet. It does affect how it is being used. Also they are more GPs saddles than jump saddles.
This is an Ideal saddle.
How does a balance strap work on an astride saddle like this?
I’ve got them on my sidesaddles, but they go from the front left tree point to the right mid/back edge of the seat, so a bit farther back, and keep the saddle from twisting laterally if you get yourself twisted (which shouldn’t happen, but does sometimes). I’d be very concerned about saddle fit if that was happening with an astride saddle.
I don’t know enough about sidesaddles to comment much. I do know that the forces are completely different on side saddles.
The balance strap is the v-web that allows the back billet to find its “home” so you can have even pull from both billets being used.
Some of the reasons (not all) why a saddle would laterally twist are the following:
-
uneven push from the horse
-unbalanced rider -
too wide
-
tree points too short
-
too narrow in the rails
looks like a belly cinch like they have on Western saddles. could be the saddle tended to come off the back of the horse when the horse jumped (maybe a real back cracker or less than ideal conformation) so the owner requested another billet to use a back cinch or belly cinch. Not sure that would have solved the issue or that this is the use but that’s the first thing I thought of when looking at the placement and angle.
Thorowgood saddles also have an extra billet strap in the back. They say it’s for increased stability on a round barreled or flat-backed horse:
https://www.thorowgood.com/features/12-changeable-girth-straps
