I know this topic has been touched on before, but I’m having problems finding similar posts.
I’m looking for a saddle again after having what I thought was an excellent fit. This time, I want to make a mold of horse’s back as well as tracings. I’ve sent tracings out to stores and fitters before and had ok results and also REALLY bad results, lol.
So I want a mold that will show his back in 3d, stiff enough that I might even be able to mail it. What are the best cost effective plastics for this that would work for horses’ backs (low temperature and quickly setting) and don’t break the bank? Preferable if the plastic sheet is under $100 or roundabouts.
Here you go. Only twice what you want to spend but it does work. You do need an oven close although I was able to heat it and get to the barn (9 miles) and get it molded before it cooled too much.
Susan
I haven’t clicked on that link, but sounds like it’s probably less messy than what I was going to suggest, which was drape an old towel over horsey & go back to 3rd grade with newspaper papier mache. Which was mostly a joke, but now my weird brain is curious…
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The joy of coating a ballon in glue soaked newspaper strips. Nothing they do now in school can compare. 
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What a great option ! I would think it is easier to get a well fitting saddle but man the cost!!
My BO and very good friend has a mustang with a super round barrel and super fleshy withers. SO hard to fit with a western saddle. She identified a company that made a western saddle to fit her and her horse. The company required a plastic mold of the horse’s back. Her horse is on her property and I helped her to heat it in the oven, take it to the barn and mold it to her horse’s back. It seemed to work well!
She LOVES the saddle. It mostly fits her horse’s back but I’ve seen it slip significantly to the side when the girth wasn’t tightened enough. That said, any saddle will slip to the side when placed on a sausage and not properly girthed. She uses that saddle with her other horse with a different back but with a saddle pad that supposedly adjusts for that difference.
The company sent her the plastic to mold.
If you want, I can put you in touch with my BO. She can let you know about the company she used and they can tell you about the mold they used I don’t know how expensive it was given the cost of the custom saddle. If interested, PM me.
