Rocking R saddle fit

[Draftmare]

Made the journey down to the Horse Saddle Shop yesterday, and ended up coming home with a Rocking R/South Bend Saddle Co saddle. I was pleasantly surprised with craftsmanship of the saddle for the price. Sadly, I think this one may be going back. While a 16 inch seat felt fine in the tack shop, it does not feel so fine once on my horse. However, I may end up ordering one in the seat size I need (17).

I have a couple of concerns about the fit for my horse. The back of the saddle really comes up off her back even when not cinched up. The saddle doesn’t appear to rock on her, and it did settle down a little bit after I had sat in it. Should I be worried about that?

Before I mounted up I could easily slide my hands down both sides of the bars. Once mounted I had a hard time sliding my hands down the sides. Okay or not okay? Maybe just need a thinner pad?

The first set of pictures are not cinched up, the second set are cinched, and the last two are after I had sat in it and had my concerns about the shoulders.
https://goo.gl/photos/99VVbuqo6GuDQPwf9

[Palm_Beach]

I had one and it ended up causing white hairs on both sides of his withers - it had a regular Steele tree in it. Not as good of a fit as the Circle Y Flex2. Ended up selling it.

[Pocket_Pony]

Looks like it might be a little narrow?

[Draftmare]

[QUOTE=Pocket Pony;8850051]
Looks like it might be a little narrow?[/QUOTE]

I think maybe it is a hair too narrow. But not by much.

[Draftmare]

[QUOTE=Palm Beach;8849823]
I had one and it ended up causing white hairs on both sides of his withers - it had a regular Steele tree in it. Not as good of a fit as the Circle Y Flex2. Ended up selling it.[/QUOTE]

But any saddle can do that if it doesn’t fit right. I have heard just as many bad reviews of the Circle Y flex trees as well.

[beau159]

@Draftmare;8849764

I have a couple of concerns about the fit for my horse. The back of the saddle really comes up off her back even when not cinched up. The saddle doesn’t appear to rock on her, and it did settle down a little bit after I had sat in it. Should I be worried about that?

Before I mounted up I could easily slide my hands down both sides of the bars. Once mounted I had a hard time sliding my hands down the sides. Okay or not okay? Maybe just need a thinner pad?

Bar angle is too narrow.
And yes, it’s coming up in the back.
Not a good fit. And no pad can help a saddle that is already too narrow in the bar angle. I’d take it back!!

@Draftmare;8851242

But any saddle can do that if it doesn’t fit right. I have heard just as many bad reviews of the Circle Y flex trees as well.

I have a Circle Y Flex2 saddle for both my horses. Love the saddle. (I have the wide tree for my boys.)

My mom also has the Flex2 but she’s got the regular for her horse. Loves her saddle as well.

[Draftmare]

[QUOTE=beau159;8851532]
Bar angle is too narrow.
And yes, it’s coming up in the back.
Not a good fit. And no pad can help a saddle that is already too narrow in the bar angle. I’d take it back!![/QUOTE]

That would explain why it was sitting up so much. I was thinking that as a new saddle maybe it just needed to break in and settle.

[beau159]

[QUOTE=Draftmare;8851661]
That would explain why it was sitting up so much. I was thinking that as a new saddle maybe it just needed to break in and settle.[/QUOTE]

The tree on a western saddle won’t “break in”. It’s (usually) solid wood, if it’s a good quality tree. Either it fits, or it doesn’t.

[Draftmare]

[QUOTE=beau159;8851817]
The tree on a western saddle won’t “break in”. It’s (usually) solid wood, if it’s a good quality tree. Either it fits, or it doesn’t.[/QUOTE]

I was thinking more the leather in the back of the saddle for why it was popping up in the back. However, the whole saddle had a kind of perched look to it. I wasn’t sure if it could be caused by stiff skirts, or a wrong tree. Would slightly wider through the bars improve anything, or is the whole angle wrong? I know that Steele offers several tree types, and Rocking R may be able to custom build me something.

[bigolebay]

Rocking R made all their saddles with quarter horse bars with 6 3/4 gullet (unless custom made) which is between semi bars and FQHB. The saddle is bridging on your horses back, so it is too narrow I’m sorry to say. I had to sell my rocking r reiner which was a nice, nice saddle and it fit my appendix very well. As others have mentioned, a Circle Y flex tree may fit better but I think a lot of those are also QHB’s with 6 3/4 gullets so you may have to look for FQHB’s. You can pad up a wide saddle if needed but you can’t do any thing with a saddle that’s too narrow.

[Palm_Beach]

[QUOTE=Draftmare;8851242]
But any saddle can do that if it doesn’t fit right. I have heard just as many bad reviews of the Circle Y flex trees as well.[/QUOTE]

Right - it was either too narrow or the angle was not right. Some horses do well with some trees, some with others.

[Draftmare]

[QUOTE=bigolebay;8854759]
Rocking R made all their saddles with quarter horse bars with 6 3/4 gullet (unless custom made) which is between semi bars and FQHB. The saddle is bridging on your horses back, so it is too narrow I’m sorry to say. I had to sell my rocking r reiner which was a nice, nice saddle and it fit my appendix very well. As others have mentioned, a Circle Y flex tree may fit better but I think a lot of those are also QHB’s with 6 3/4 gullets so you may have to look for FQHB’s. You can pad up a wide saddle if needed but you can’t do any thing with a saddle that’s too narrow.[/QUOTE]

From what I understand, they offer a regular bars and a wide bar tree. It turns out that the saddle that I ended up bringing home may have been wrongly labeled as wide when it was actually regular. Hopefully getting sent back today so that we can get that sorted out.

Big Horn and Rocking R use the same tree, here is what a wide Big Horn reiner looked like on her: https://goo.gl/photos/Foq5Hunu1RvrJY7A6

Circle Y does not go wide enough for us. Our first western saddle was a Circle Y that must have been custom made on a draft tree, or something. It was super wide, almost too wide for her. So, when I finally decided that a 15 inch seat was waaaaay too small for me I immediatly hunted out Circle Y. Even their wide tree wasn’t wide enough for her, and the extra wide tree only comes in a couple of their trail models that I wasn’t really interested in (and I couldn’t find any tack stores around me with them in stock anyway).

@Palm Beach;8854883

Right - it was either too narrow or the angle was not right. Some horses do well with some trees, some with others.

This is very true. I got very lucky with my current saddle as my friend wanted the Circle Y reining saddle I had, and her Silver Mesa training saddle fit Sydney so we were able to just swap. I haven’t found anything (yet) that fits nearily as nicely as our Silver Mesa, not even other Silver Mesa saddles.

[beau159]

[QUOTE=Draftmare;8851857]
Would slightly wider through the bars improve anything, or is the whole angle wrong? I know that Steele offers several tree types, and Rocking R may be able to custom build me something.[/QUOTE]

I maybe don’t “speak” the same terms you do. When I say the bar angle is too narrow, I mean that the angle of the saddle’s bars do not match the angle of your horse’s shoulder. And angle itself is wrong. It would not matter if the distance between the bars was wider, because the angle is still wrong.

This is a depiction of a bar angle that is too wide, for educational purposes.

@Draftmare;8854969

Circle Y does not go wide enough for us. Our first western saddle was a Circle Y that must have been custom made on a draft tree, or something. It was super wide, almost too wide for her. So, when I finally decided that a 15 inch seat was waaaaay too small for me I immediatly hunted out Circle Y. Even their wide tree wasn’t wide enough for her, and the extra wide tree only comes in a couple of their trail models that I wasn’t really interested in (and I couldn’t find any tack stores around me with them in stock anyway).

Have you tried the Circle Y Flex2 WIDE? Or is that what you are referring to?

[Draftmare]

[QUOTE=beau159;8857287]

Have you tried the Circle Y Flex2 WIDE? Or is that what you are referring to?[/QUOTE]

I tried both a “regular” wide Circle Y, and a Circle Y on the wide Flex tree. Here is what that looked like: https://goo.gl/photos/HU9uwsKPpptPx7LZA. Statically it looked good, but with my weight in the saddle there was no getting even a finger between the front of the saddle and her shoulder.

[Palm_Beach]

The one and only time I ever had a saddle fitter come out, he told me, you want the saddle to drape on the horse like a piece of cooked limp lasagne. It basically drapes on the curves without gaps or pressure points. When you see it, you go “OOOHHHH” and when you don’t, you post pics and try to get people to convince you one way or the other.

Draftmare, I’m adding you by name to my prayer list since I know you’ve been going through this for a long time.

[Mtn_trails]

You need a fitter to come out and show you where the saddle is supposed to fit on the horse. You have it way too far forward where the front of the tree is sitting on her shoulder blades. Slide it back until the front of the tree is behind the shoulders.

[Draftmare]

[QUOTE=Mtn trails;8863409]
You need a fitter to come out and show you where the saddle is supposed to fit on the horse. You have it way too far forward where the front of the tree is sitting on her shoulder blades. Slide it back until the front of the tree is behind the shoulders.[/QUOTE]

I usually put the saddle too far forward and than slide it back to where it wants to settle. That is where that saddle wanted to settle.

But this saddle has since gone back. I have a friend’s Martin that looks much more promising: https://goo.gl/photos/g8pDvYBi2JE7izgF9

[Pocket_Pony]

[QUOTE=Palm Beach;8863080]
The one and only time I ever had a saddle fitter come out, he told me, you want the saddle to drape on the horse like a piece of cooked limp lasagne. It basically drapes on the curves without gaps or pressure points. When you see it, you go “OOOHHHH” and when you don’t, you post pics and try to get people to convince you one way or the other.

Draftmare, I’m adding you by name to my prayer list since I know you’ve been going through this for a long time.[/QUOTE]

That’s how I felt when I put my new (used) Circle Y on Mac. It just sat there. It was just there. It didn’t rock or bridge or sit too high or low, it was just in the right spot and that was that, easy peasy.

Draftmare, the last saddle I had for Mac that seemed like it was a good fit for him was my JJ Maxwell. Mac is also wide and he’s downhill. JJ Maxwell uses Steele trees. He used the LT tree to make that saddle - he said it was the tree he used most often for most horses and he used it on his wide Morgans.

So if you’re looking for a Steele tree, you might consider a saddle built on that tree. Problem is, if you don’t get a good ground seat built in, that is going to be very wide in the seat . . .

[rainpants]

The Martin looks a lot better fit wise.

[Draftmare]

[QUOTE=fallenupright;8864312]
The Martin looks a lot better fit wise.[/QUOTE]

It does, and I like it better too. It is a friends saddle that she is trying to sell. The only thing is that it is a 15.5 inch seat, MUCH smaller than I would ever really consider trying. But she thought it looked like it would be a good fit for Sydney, so I thought what the heck. I bought my current saddle from her. It fetl alright on a saddle stand, haven’t gotten to ride in yet, hopefully tonight.
Not a lot of room to spare: https://goo.gl/photos/xsSaD8fnTLmG7pcZ9

[QUOTE=Pocket Pony;8864300]That’s how I felt when I put my new (used) Circle Y on Mac. It just sat there. It was just there. It didn’t rock or bridge or sit too high or low, it was just in the right spot and that was that, easy peasy.

Draftmare, the last saddle I had for Mac that seemed like it was a good fit for him was my JJ Maxwell. Mac is also wide and he’s downhill. JJ Maxwell uses Steele trees. He used the LT tree to make that saddle - he said it was the tree he used most often for most horses and he used it on his wide Morgans.

So if you’re looking for a Steele tree, you might consider a saddle built on that tree. Problem is, if you don’t get a good ground seat built in, that is going to be very wide in the seat . . .[/QUOTE]

I am not sure if I will be going for another steele tree saddle, but I will keep that in mind. Had a bit of a frustrating dealing with the tack shop I got the first saddle from, and am now kind of back to wanting to just shop local. That will limit my options some, but with show season done I have all winter to look for a saddle. I have a saddle that fits, just want something with a more finished look and no training rings for next year.