Hi! Sorry for the novel here, I’m a teacher and I explain a lot…
I am 25, but I have never owned a saddle until last year because I wanted to wait until I could afford a really nice one. I got a (very used) Devoucoux Chiberta, and instantly I felt more secure, more able, and almost invincible when riding. Unfortunately, the horse I was riding decided he was ready to retire almost immediately after that, so I had to find a new horse to ride. I finally have, but my wonderful amazing saddle hurts his back and, it seems, makes his shoulders feel constricted with its forward flaps. The very well-respected chiropractor who came to work on him this week said an all-purpose saddle would fit him best because of the deep seat and straighter flaps, but we also tried a dressage saddle on him that didn’t fit either, so in general he’s just a bit odd to fit.
I have ridden in all-purpose saddles my whole life and have never felt as good as I did in my monoflap, and I’ve been riding in another girl’s saddle this week and have just been slipping around and losing my balance and all over the place. Today my horse took off with me twice and I could barely even stop him because I kept falling forward, which is not something I typically struggle with at all. I think this may be partly that the saddle is a little big for me, and partly that the leather is extremely slippery, and partly because I’m used to shorter stirrups. I brought home a really flexible, light, regular flap Pessoa Prestige XCH on trial thinking it would fit him better, but it still looks like it’s interfering with his shoulders, and it seems like it’s too flat on his back.
I hate the idea of getting an all-purpose, after all the effort I put into getting my dream monoflap saddle last year (and now having to sell it right back at a loss), and since I’m leasing I hate to get a saddle that fits this horse at the expense of being one that will work with other horses, but does anyone know of any all-purpose saddles that don’t suck, aren’t slippery, and aren’t Wintec? I’m willing to be convinced. Otherwise, does anyone know of any good jumping saddles that have a deeper seat but don’t have a super forward flap? I don’t think the Pessoa flap is very forward though and it still posed a problem…
Thanks, sorry for babbling so much