Overflocked Saddle?

[OneGrayPony]

So, I picked up a used saddle, and it is stuffed to the gills with flocking. Like, so much flocking I can’t even a little bit. Pumpkin spice levels of flocking. It’s not coming out of the flocking holes, but each panel is round like an inner tube. It is wool (or fiber of some sort).

Anyway, I’m wondering how much flocking can realistically be removed from a saddle and have it still provide any protection. It’s a bit too narrow for my horse in it’s current state of hyperinflation, but if I had say an inch back (the panels are stuffed to at least 3-4") it would likely work. It’s flocked to a severely narrow width, but it’s actually a medium tree. Right now it looks kind of like a bouncy ball. It was funny, I was trying to identify the saddle and I was having trouble from pictures because nothing that the maker has (Barnsby) was SO inflated in a close contact. That would be why.

Yes, before it actually goes onto a horse, it would be seen by a saddle fitter, but before I call one out, I thought it might be wise to see if it’s actually even a realistic venture. Anyone know?

[high_hat]

I took one such saddle on trial sight unseen. When it arrived I realized that there was no way for me to assess the fit and returned it. I did suggest to the seller that they have it re-flocked so it would fit a wider variety of horses.

[alibi_18]

Medium doesn’t mean much… it really depends on the maker.

Your fitter will likely remove all the bad « stuffing » and replace it with real or synthetic wool as I can only assume that saddle was inflated by some poorly skilled fitter with subpar material.

[teamfire]

That was the same thing on my first dressage saddle on the horse! The saddle was made “medium” and once stripped and reflocked properly, it became more on the wide side of medium-wide.

so long as the general shape fits, and the curve wont change, it CAN be a dramatic change.

[sheltona01]

The problem with removing some of the flock is the leather has probably stretched which possibly may cause issues.

[OneGrayPony]

I should have clarified, I have the same brand in a medium dressage saddle and it fits him “ok” but needs to be a touch narrower in around his withers (I currently am using a shim pad for the dressage saddle, on my saddle fitter’s advice), so I’m hoping that removing the excess flocking will take “SUPER NARROW” to “just a touch narrower” than a med. The tree shape etc. are perfect for his high withered, flat backed back.

What would the stretching cause?

[sheltona01]

Crookedness if one side is more stretched than the other.

[OneGrayPony]

@sheltona01

Crookedness if one side is more stretched than the other.

Ahhh, thank you! I’m really curious about saddle fitting and would love to learn more about saddle construction etc. I think they are pretty evenly sausaged. I’m actually wondering if the tree was manipulated as well. I can’t imagine what kind of animal this fit on, I have TINY hands and my fist barely fit between the two puffed out bits right next to the wither. My horse is slab sided and high withered, but this must have been on a shark withered, low backed creature. Or maybe someone just wanted a project and retooled it without realizing what they were doing. I pulled some of the stuffing out, and it is poly. And lumpy poly, like batting from a comforter. I pulled about a shopping bag’s worth out, to see if I could ease up the pressure on the panels at all, and it’s just a little softer and finally flat (not “loose” flat, but laying flat" in front, but I think it needs that in the middle and in the back as well. Figured if it was worth salvaging, it’d probably need a reflock anyway, so why not poke around. I’ve never seen anything like it.