You’re right - the Isabell has never been made in the wide version.
I had an Isabell and it only required the wide gullet plate. Are you speaking of some aspect of the saddle that is different? I used that as my horse at the time developed from a medium to a wide gullet plate and to medium wide depending on her weight loss and muscle development. That would have been at least one different saddle for me to purchase. I had it regularly checked by an Albion fitter who came to the barn, later Corey (the founder guy?) from custom saddlery, and a County fitter who all said something similar. All thought the current saddle fit was OK according to their measurements. My current fitter helped my with my current saddle, luckily. Saddle fitting places one in hell!
I loved my Isabell since sold, and still have my Wintec jump saddle. T hey’ve all been successfully through so many horses.
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Yes, the wide saddles we’re talking about are different saddles. Wintec (synthetic) and Bates (leather) make some of their saddles on a wider tree than the regular versions, so it’s not just the gullet plate that is wide, the tree/channel/panels are also wider and the tree is a different shape. The gullet plates for these wide models are XXW, XXXW and XXXXW.
The normal Wintecs (like your saddle) come with changeable gullet plates that go up to XW, but you can’t put the XXW, XXXW and XXXXW gullet plates into these because the saddle tree itself is not wide enough or the correct shape for the type of horse who needs these extremely wide gullet plates. These wide models are made for the really broad horses like drafts, really heavy cobs, old style heavy warmbloods etc.
The Isabell does not come in this wide version, but yes, the regular Isabell can take the wide or extra wide gullet plates. There’s just a limit to how wide you can go with the regular model.
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If you buy one secondhand take it apart and thoroughly inspect the tree beforehand. take the gullet out, pull the flap back and look for cracks. Do it infront of the seller or ask the seller to do it infront of you if they’re not comfortable with you playing with it. When i was looking for one secondhand i checked out 7 and they all had cracks that the riders were unaware of, some of them were only 3 years old.
After that I ended up buying one brand new instead but had so many problems with my horse under saddle that I took the saddle to a saddler to look at it and he pointed out that it had significant manufacturing problems. The panels had been laid on the tree crooked so it sat on the horse crooked. I ended up getting a refund from the manufacturer.
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i have no experience with Wintec but can wholeheartedly endorse Thorowgood. I rode in one for decades (and there’s an entire thread discussing this 
) and finally replaced it with their new version of the same saddle and gave my old one to a friend. They’re made to last those things! I have a mo.foxtrotter that is an airfern. I have to pull him from pasture and put him in a corral with just hay to trim his sausage body whenever the fields are growing too well. I ride him on the farm a couple times a week to check fences and i need to have a fat-phase and a normal-phase saddle. The changeable gullet is really easy on a Thorowgood. And, on a Thorowgood i’ve not ever had issues with saddlepad slippage. The saddle just seems to fit across the ribs so well that there’s not the slide. *though admittedly it took a few tries to find a compatible saddlepad, the first few were a no-go.
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I will say that I purchased my Wintecs in the first couple of years of manufacturing. My Isabell was the “old style” with a narrow twist and seat. The newer Isabells have a wider sear and wider twist, I’m told by Dover, to reflect the body of the average AA. I don’t like the wide seat. I know a couple of years ago, Wintec/Bates released their “old” version again. Something to consider.
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Oh, I would love to hear the research going into determining this.
I can picture the corporate discussion now.
“Let’s make the seat wider to fit all the fat a**** of AAs trying to do dressage”
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I wonder why Isabel Werth is riding in them???
my opinion, I rode in Wintecs for years and they are amazing saddles! I quit using them when they started the CAIR….
So my recommendation would be to get a wool flocked one….
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you replied to me but I think your comment is for the OP? I was just making a joke.
I have a Wintec 500 and use it one of my girls, I love it to bits.
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Yep, I agree with you.
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The older ones were wool flocked. And I suspect Isabell is riding in the older ones that she helped design. I rode in the wool flocked ones. Bates and Wintec changed the design several times to increase profit. Including the CAIR panel. I suspect they’d make any kind of saddle Isabell wants and she probably gets to try them all and choose among them. Neither you nor I have that privilege.
Bought a new wintec pro with extended contour blocks about 10 years ago, it came with a black medium gullet bar which I removed to put in a red wide gullet bar. Never able to get it put back together again.
So good luck with the ‘easy change’. Recently bought shim kit with a couple of thingamajigs to line up the holes so I can get the screws in supposedly, and I had to have it shipped from England, couldn’t find
any in the U.S.A. Gonna put it in the hot sun and hopefully
it will melt the plastic enough that I can force the
screws into the holes this try. I take it out and try
to get it back together every couple of years, no luck
yet.
Does a top dressage rider really ride in a budget saddle just because it’s named after them? I have no idea.
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https://www.horsemagazine.com/thm/2020/06/isabell-werth-dealing-with-each-horse-as-an-individual/ Read this article…. She does….
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Well sorry I missed your joke… I thought you sounded serious….
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I had 2 wintec saddles (a Isabell dressage and a jump saddle which I still have). I’ve never had a problem changing plates in either of them, which I had to do multiple times. I don’t understand how you could never get the saddle together again.
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The only downside to my Wintec Isabel was the plastic cracking from adjusting the gullet- which according to Wintec is a manufacture issue and can be replaced.
I use a Wintec wide for my Fjord with the widest gullet plate for reference. So far it is serving us both well enough; I had to go through all of the wide gullets and add some of the shims but we got a decent fit and I find it to be decently comfortable. He’s recently turned 4 and my hope was this will get us through any growing and then I will try out some hoop trees.
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Got my wintec contour pro together after leaving it in the sun for awile to soften the plastic, and it was very hot to touch. Rode in it yesterday, very secure seat with the long blocks, comfortable and the horse seemed to like it. Owned wintecs back in the 90’s and gullet bars were easy to change, but the 2009 wintecs are not easy at all.
@Rhinelanders I’m glad you got it together. But I’m still confused why it was so challenging. I have the same saddle from around the same time period and I swap gullet plates without issue. It makes me wonder if yours has a manufacturing defect making it exceptionally difficult.
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