So I’m recently coming back from being pregnant and my Gelding (Mustang X Qh) has basically been having the vacation of his life with a leaser riding lightly here and there. Now that it’s time to get him back into work, I’m realizing that my (Medium Tree) saddle is not going to work for him as it slides down and rubs his withers…so now I’m riding either bareback or just lunging and not riding. He is 19 so I don’t have any crazy expectations for his topline to improve by vast amounts but it’s definitely time to get him back into some semblance of a routine.
Can anyone offer any advice on fitting? I’ve been leaning towards trying a saddle with high wither clearance and adding something like this half pad ( https://mykavallerie.com/products/horse-saddle-pad-anti-slip-gel-front-riser ).
You’re not kidding about the withers.
What would you like to do with this horse and what do you envision his exercise plan looking like? What did he look like when he was fit? I would not go out and buy a new saddle right now since even 3 months of productive working walk can reshape the topline… and then in 8 months you’ll have a different horse and the saddle won’t fit that. If you can shim the one you have to be acceptable to bring him back into fitness, that’s how I would start. Those big thick wool wither cutout pads from Beval are made for this situation. Depending on your saddle you may need more lift than that (try folding a towel under the cantle, for instance- hard to tell from the pics but it looks like the slope of his wither may want that.)
Plan to check your shims every 2 weeks. You may need to adjust that often.
I salute you for sitting on that bareback!
When I was in a similar situation, I used a thick wool pad (my trainer actually bought a cheap-ish western one and turned it into a half pad with a box knife lol) that had the first 6-8 inches at the front completely cut at the wither. Then I layered another half pad with some shims on top of that. It wasn’t great but it wasn’t terrible.
I agree that it might not be sensible to go out and buy a new saddle at the moment, because there’s a good chance it won’t fit in a few months, but maybe someone you know has a narrower tree saddle laying around they might let you borrow? Wouldn’t have to be fancy, just enough to get the job done for a few months.
I dunno, I’d do a paternity test if I were you on where he got those withers. 
High withers don’t necessarily mean narrow tree. That western pad cut out sounds brilliant. Or a Superquilt type pad. Just be prepared for an unbalanced ride until his topline fills in.
Do you happen to have a picture of this western pad contraption? Lol…I’m picturing like a makeshift version of this: https://www.totalsaddlefit.com/shop/shop/wft-sheepskin-half-pad/
I don’t have a picture of it, but yeah that’s pretty much exactly what it was, except cut out of one of these https://www.statelinetack.com/item/mustang-square-wool-pad-liner/SLT901243/
It might have been nice to have the little velcro things to help hold it in place, but for $30 I’m not sure I can really complain…
Holy sharkfin.
Don’t ride bareback, you might get cut in two.
Joking aside I have one like this. Try that thick pad with the wither cut out posted above (or one of the old wool ones, most used tack stores will have a few lying around as they have fallen out of fashion). If after a few months there’s no improvement then I’d look into getting a saddle with good wither clearance.
Bareback rides are done strictly with a pad lol.
I bought a gel riser pad but honestly the padding along the sides doesn’t look like enough to fill the space to me. I just bought a saddle with an exchangeable gullet system too so I will probably try a narrow tree on him as well until he starts to fill out. My worry is that I won’t be able to tell if it doesn’t fit correctly/hurts him when riding as he tends to hide pain well. And saddle fitters are in such demand in my area they’re booked out like 4 months 
Post some pics on here! COTH to the rescue haha.
While it’s not inexpensive, I’ve found the Port Lewis impression pad to be very helpful in monitoring saddle fit as my young horse has grown up and filled out. I use it both to check the straight fit of the saddle, and to check how various shim options help (or don’t). Sometimes adding a shim has some unintended consequences and it’s nice to see if I’m making things worse by trying to make them better.
I’ve had the pad about two years and have used it quite a bit and it’s still going strong, so I think definitely worth the investment.
Even when he puts some topline on, those withers aren’t going anywhere. I have seen the Albion SLK high-head fit this back shape very well. (And they’re pretty available/cheap used, at least in my area.) That’s a dressage model and this is the H/J forum, but I would assume Albion has a close-contact model that accommodates the same back profile. An informational call with a rep might be a good starting point.
PSA: I had trouble finding one that was reasonably priced for my occasional use and came across this product. https://www.facebook.com/CassySadddleImpressionPads/?ref=page_internal I bought one off ebay and it’s literally less than quarter of a price. Will report once I get to test it, but looks very promising.
