I’m leasing a horse that had high withers and pretty narrow shoulders. My saddle has a medium gullet and it tends to slide back and the front tilts down. I’m thinking of purchasing a non slip pad, and then a front rider to help my saddle from tilting downwards. Would this be really bad? The saddle isnt really big on him but just enough to let it tilt. I was also thinking about a breast plate but I don’t want it to create bad pressure points or anything:/
Without spending a ton, you can make the horse more comfortable.
http://www.adamshorsesupplies.com/Protec-Wither-Relief-Pad-Lift-Front-P7066.aspx
Something like this would help. If your saddle still slides back after correcting for it being too wide, maybe you need to go another route.
You can use folded up rags or baby pads to figure out how the saddle needs to sit to be balanced for you and buy a half pad to suit. My horse has high withers, and the wither relief pad I use was making my dressage pad sit too high in front. So I dragged out my old Wintec with rear risers that a saddle fitter had taken and cut out a piece of the front to accommodate the withers. (Made for a different horse and different saddle.). It did the trick until I can have the saddle adjusted.
The point of that is whatever you do to life the saddle off the withers might shift the balance to the rear and make it hard to maintain your position, but you can work around that.
A good wool half pad (I have a Beval) works wonders on a poorly fitting saddle. It’s sturdy enough on its own that it prevents pressure points, should have enough bulk to “fill” the front of your saddle.
