Pony and Saddle for Trails

[IthinkIcan]

Hello, I am new to the forum and have been on a search for a saddle for a pony and thought maybe everyone’s collective experience could help point me in the right direction. I have started riding a 13.2hh welsh pony gelding since he’s owners live outside of the province, unfortunately they don’t have a saddle for him any more. So I’m on the hunt for a affordable used saddle for him. He has no withers at all and his back is flat in all directions, and wide and short backed. At the most he might be able to take a 16.5” english saddle but think looking more for a 16” extra wide flat saddle.

Any suggestions would be great. I would prefer used as he is not my own pony, all we do is ride on the trails or the hay fields no jumping/showing etc and I am in Canada.

[DiamondJubilee]

Hi and welcome!

Sorry I didnt see this post any earlier as I usually don’t check out this forum.

I also have a 13.1h pony that I ride who has no withers, is fairly flat backed and of course short backed as well. I’m just in a search myself for a used saddle to fit me and my ponies (I’m 5’2" with a short leg so could do with a small saddle. I also ride 14.2h ponies so this saddle needs to work for all of us. Fingers crossed!). I also live in Canada (Ontario) and have had some saddle reps out to help fit me and my guys.

So far I’ve really liked the Antares saddles and my rep has just found a used 16" wide saddle that I’m going to try next week. I’ve heard good things about Antares and that they fit ponies really well.

I currently have a 17.5" Bruno saddle but its far too big for my medium pony and for me as well. I also have a 16" K&N dressage saddle that fits these medium ponies really well.

What is your buget? Are there any saddle reps that are close by to you? I would really recomend getting someone out to fit you and your pony. They can be so hard to fit and its worth it to wait (its taken me months already with no saddle!) to get the right saddle the first time.

Most reps have lots of used saddles and I was even looking at a 10 year old saddle for $1800 so quite affordable for a good quality saddle.

[Kaseey00]

@IthinkIcan

Hello, I am new to the forum and have been on a search for a saddle for a pony and thought maybe everyone’s collective experience could help point me in the right direction. I have started riding a 13.2hh welsh [url=https://bigbucket.co/protonvpn/]protonvpn pony gelding since he’s owners live outside of the province, unfortunately they don’t have a saddle for him any more. So I’m on the hunt for a affordable used saddle for him. He has no withers at all and his back is flat in all bazoocam directions, and wide and short backed. At the most he might be able to take a 16.5” english saddle but think looking more for a 16” extra wide flat saddle.

Any suggestions would be great. I would prefer used as he is not my own pony, all we do is ride on the trails or the hay fields no jumping/showing etc and I am in Canada.

I will advice you to go to a local store rather than finding that online. I’ve regretted the choice of mine.

[candyappy]

I would go the local route too. It will give you the ability to try them on him and ride in them yourself. It must not only fit him, but be comfortable for you too. That gets very old and very expensive if you are trying saddles you have to ship back and forth.

Most tack stores sell on consignment, so look in your area.

[GreyDes]

Take a look at the Thorowgood cob. It’s synthetic, reasonable priced, and designed for that type of back.

[clanter]

also suggest synthetic, when we rode trails it was mostly competitive trail and those rides went through hell and high water (and also a lot of mud)… never ever had a tack failure. Never worried about ruining a fine leather saddle. Saddles are now decades old but still serviceable, nothing worn or weakened

[Larksong]

Thorowgood is an excellent idea as they consciously try to have a saddle for the wide, flat backed guys. If I were you though, I’d buy a used Freeform, preferably either their Classic or dressage model—without a cutback—as these saddles can be used later on a different horse with no worries. They are very comfortable for the horse and for the rider. Important details: these saddles need an excellent pad to go with them, one that has a channel down the middle, and probably best of it has a wool flocked bottom. I use skito pads but that company won’t start up again til June. HAF pads are good too. The pads are expensive but integral to the saddle’s functionality.

I keep trying other saddles in hopes I’ll find a treed saddle that works someday. But so far, I and my girls keep coming back to Freeforms…