Hello everyone! I bought a new mare and I was curious what everyone thought of where to start on my saddle buying journey. When I first bought her I was looking at wide saddles, now I’m thinking she’s maybe more medium wide? I’m looking for opinions before I can find a saddle fitter.
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not wide. You might consider using a nice quality halfpad until you get her back muscled up.
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I would pick up a flexible curve and do some tracings of the shape over her withers and along her back. (Hang onto them or take photos so you can see how she changes over time.)
This won’t definitively tell you what saddle will fit her, it’s just information gathering so you can learn about her shape and how that works with various saddles.
(They sell an 18" or 24" I can’t recall what I have, it’s in a box somewhere.)
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A lot will depend on how the saddle maker labels their saddle sizes. Just like ladies pants. Am I a 6, an 8, a 10, a 12? Varies even within brands!!
That said, I see a medium width with small withers, not much back curve, and a prominent spine with undeveloped topline. So maybe a fairly steep drop in the sides?
There’s a lot more to saddle fit than just wither gullet.
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Oh yes absolutely! I know there is a lot more to saddle fit then gullet such as bars, panels, channel clearance, rock, the sha-bang! But if you can figure out the gullet, it narrows buying options a lot. And I know what you mean about different brands for different too. My experience is French made saddles fit more narrow than English made saddles etc. 
MW might be a stretch as well. She looks pretty average to me ( I have 2 wides myself).
There’s just no way to know. What brand, what model? How is the saddle shaped?
She looks to be lacking some 'fluffy" muscle along her withers and back, so even if a MW or so “fits” now, it won’t for long, and you’d need a W and just pad appropriately.
IME, too many people fit saddles too snugly and either don’t allow muscle growth, or cause some atrophy
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I suggest one of the gauges that tells you what gullet plate an adjustable saddle takes, granted the fit will likely only apply to the particular brand of saddle but it might give you a general idea; HDR and Wintec make them. Also if you want to spend some $$, Herm Springer offers one:
Herm Sprenger® Wither Gauge | Dover Saddlery](https://www.doversaddlery.com/hs-wither-gauge/p/X1-150145/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIl6vo_N-k9QIViCCtBh1WPwWMEAQYAyABEgIviPD_BwE)
Again it’s going to give you a general idea because there are other things to factor, like tree point angles, also every saddle maker has their own determination of what wide or medium is, and they can very a lot.
