I could use some suggestions. I have a County Perfection, but it has the more ‘banana’ shaped panels and does not sit quite right on my mare. She has a rather flat back, unlike alot of horses who have more of a curve after the wither and to the hip.
So raiding the barn tack room, we threw an OLD Schumacher on her - it has very flat panels and it seemed to work well. She had no objections to it. I plan to ride more in it before I make any decisions.
Thoughts anyone? Brands I could try? Fitting suggestions?
She’s a TB, she has a deeper pocket behind one wither than the other, and her back is flat (she is built relatively uphill). Based on what I see, I think she’d prefer a narrower channel (or at least one that’s not ridiculously wide) and as I said flat panels. That old Schumacher made contact from front to back, evenly, whereas my County does not.
I’d try Frank Baines or Jeffries. Not all of their models, but they each have some that do very well on this shape, which models depends on how she is shaped in other places.
That’s my preference. They’re also commonly made with wither gussets, which sound like something your mare might benefit from.
Since you say one of the dips behind her withers is deeper than the other, it sounds like she is asymmetrical, and you might need to look into shimming. I cut up a cheap yoga mat and duct-taped two layers together, and it’s a brilliant shim pad. Once my horse muscles up a little more, I will just remove one of the layers of mat. It stays in place between the saddle and quilted pad.
I was thinking you meant width-wise. My guy is a Custom Advantage monoflap. You can see he has the prominent with, then his back is basically a straight line after it. He also has the dip behind his withers/shoulders. Interestingly, this saddle has long points but also gussets and works well for him. My mare has the Advantage R which is shorter points and fits her better. I’m not positive if the tree is actually straighter or it’s how it’s flocked, but it works better on her more curvy back. So a brand like Custom (if you get a GOOD fitter, as some aren’t as good) has tons of options and can pick the one which works for you. As sheltona01 noted, it depends on your preferences and budget.
A friend of mine has a County Warmblood that she really likes and used on her first horse and when she rode mine. She bought a lovely mustang mare who will be good a dressage, but the mare hated that saddle. She bought a Stubben, I think a Roxanne dressage saddle from around 2000. It has fairly flat panels, a shallower seat, and modest knee rolls. The mare goes well in it, but the rider would like to add a little more to the knee rolls when she has some money.
PM me if you need to. I’m not going to spend a lot because she’s still young and un-fit enough she will change, enough that spending $$$ right now would be silly.
She is built flat on her back, but her ribs are ‘low sprung’ meaning there’s the top of her spine and she drops off pretty quickly from that. Muscling will help, but will never make her “broad backed”.
I do use a shim for the wither pocket that is more pronounced.
I’m in Oregon, so a long ways from you but am happy to research any suggestions you care to pass along.
I talked with my friend who owns the Schumacher. She said it’s at least 20 years old, she bought it used herself. She has had it reflocked but not recently.
She also made the comment she thinks it’s more of a hoop-style tree which is why it has fit such a variety of horses. I’ve done a little bit of googling on this, but I’d like more information if anybody has??
A hoop tree is just more of an upside down U shape instead of A-shaped at the head. In general, if the measurement inside (where the tufts are, if it has them) is about 6" or more, it is probably more of a hoop tree. Regular trees tend to be about 5" at that gullet measurement, and then flare out more towards the points.
Generally, a hoop isn’t what you want for a horse with dips behind the withers, unless it’s otherwise broad-backed, and wither gussets can fill in the dips.
With the Black Country saddles, I had to make sure to stay away from their hoop styles for my appendix mare that has wither dips and is not particularly wide behind the shoulders, even though her back gets pretty broad towards the lumbar spine. I did ride her in my hoop tree Black Country Vinici for a while with some creative padding, but she was clearly much happier once I got her a regular medium to medium/wide tree that fits well without all the extra pads.
When I bought my mare’s used Black Country (unmarked older one, don’t know the model), I had her fitted by a local saddler who does work for County, and she recommended removing the point billet and moving it back behind the pommel to reduce pressure on the wither area. I think with the asymmetrical muscling there, like your mare, it was especially important to do that so the muscles aren’t getting smashed and can build back up. So if you’re looking, avoiding point billets in the first place might be a good idea. I always thought they were desirable to keep the saddle in place/stable, but with a Total Saddle Fit Stretchtec girth, I’m having no problem with the billet configuration she recommended.
You can probably get more definitive advice if you can post pics of your horse’s back, saddle girthed up on the horse without a pad, and her back tracings.
A saddle fitter in person is always better than online if they know what they are doing. If you have pictures of the horse, I would be able to better advise you.
Did you post photos of your horse? I would want to see these, see below. If you horse is very uphill, you’ll need a saddle that is also deeper in the rear gusset, generally. Asymmetry can be addressed with a shim versus flocking asymmetrically. It’s hard to recommend saddles without more info as there might be other panel options needed as well. Conformation shots, no tack or pad. Horse square, head up, directly from the side, of the entire horse and one from right behind the tail on a mounting block looking toward the mane, head up and straight, feet square.
I have a Arab/Paint cross with a very flat back. My original saddle was a County Competitor and the panels were too banana-like also. The County rep/fitter came out with all sorts of saddles for us to try for the price of a fitting and it really paid off. After her visit I knew exactly what saddle and size I needed. I ended up with a County Connection and had the fitter come out to flock it and it’s wonderful for both of us. I did pick it up “used” instead of paying the $4k new price. They are out there. Got it online for $1,400 from a woman who tried it once and didn’t like it. Yes, there are people who drop $4k on a saddle and just want to get rid of it!
