I have a three year old that is going lightly under saddle. The saddles I have left from my previous horse are possibly but not likely to fit. In the meantime I’m thing of an adjustable saddle. My horse is 3/4 connemara, 1/4 tb. Has a widish flat back without a lot of wither yet. Level to uphill. I’ve never had an AP/GP, so wondering how people feel about those models in thorowgood/Kent & masters or other brands. Or best to do flat work in a jumping saddle? This will most likely be an interim saddle for the years that he is developing. Thanks!
I bought a Wintec Pro Close Contact for my 3 year old, which I did not love. My daughter’s Passier dressage seemed to fit him well, so I picked up an ancient Passier all purpose really cheap. It did need to be re-stuffed for him.
Just for reference, I have a Black Country vinici jump that is a good width but the channel is too narrow and panels too steep in the back, so that is unlikely to work at any point. My Albion dressage saddle is okay too width wise but needs to be reflocked to work best for new guy. I know we’ll start doing small easy jumping in the spring.
You could try a smith worthington. They’re adjustable to your horse as many times as needed and are reasonably priced. Plus they have excellent customer service
I sell Thorowgood and kent and masters all the time for people in your situation. if the general shape works for your horse, it should be a good saddle for a few years.
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Is the GP sufficient enough to do up through BN/N eventing, or would the jump be better? I’m looking at the compact in T8 or K&M.
Until he’s proven at novice and fully filled out, we won’t be getting his big boy saddle 
In all honestly…most 3 year olds turning 4 don’t change shapes soooo radically that I think you need an adjustable saddle. Yes, they change some…just as any horse changes and develops a top line…but they rarely change tree sizes entirely IME (Usually it’s half a size at most but the shape of the tree stays the same). So I wouldn’t be trying to get an adjustable saddle. Get a saddle that fits his general shape that if anything, has a bit of room so you can pad up while he still develops. But with his breeding…I wouldn’t expect him to change a ton.
I never find GPs useful saddles. They don’t put you in a good position for either jumping or dressage. I typically get a decent fitting jump saddle first. I personally ride most of my 3 year olds and green beans in jump saddles as I’m most comfortable in them…especially if I have to ride through a silly movement or two. And you can do enough dressage work in them too. And you can definitely do all three phases in a jump saddle up through Novice (I’ve gone up to Prelim in just a jump saddle).
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I disagree about the shape not changing that much. Some horses do and some do not . I have had horses that need anywhere from a med tree to an extra wide during their growing years. It really depends on the horse .
I would recommend the jump. The gp really is for very general all rounders jumping every so often. I would not compete more than starter with it unless you really like a very long leg jumping.
The compact is really misname. It refers to the seat, not the panel. For the horse, they are slightly longer.
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While I agree some do change…Not all do. OPs breed of connnamara/TB are typically ones that IME do not change as much now that they are a coming 4 year old. A draft cross…yes…at this age they are generally changing shape more. But the pony crosses…not as much.
One of the horse I am talking about is a full tb. I am thinking about doing a case study on him to illustrate how horses can grow.
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Well, my dressage saddle is too wide but needs to be reflocked as well. I could make do with that until we are jumping. The flap is theoretically too long for me? I don’t know how big of a deal that is?
I have a breeding program (WBs and TB/WBs) and lots of full TBs (some OTTBs and some I got as yearlings). Lots of TBs continue to grow well to 6. But the vast majority…while they keep growing and filling out (some quite a bit as 4-6 year olds), I don’t have their back shapes change dramatically ( suppose that is how I define dramatically…they of course develop a different Topline) Unless they were severally undernourished to start. So skinny 3 year old with ulcers that is weedy looking…yeah, that one will fill out a ton…and yes, I’ve had several full TBs grow a full hand taller from just turned 4 to 5). A few will go from narrow/medium trees to medium trees or from medium to medium/wide…but I don’t call that a radical change…and I have a barn full of big TBs (above 17H and a lot of bone)… But the tree shape (not always width) generally stays the same that fits them well By this age…and so if the gullet is nice and wide, we can pad up the saddles while they finish filling out. But I don’t want it so wide or bridging etc…it needs to fit well but perhaps with a thicker half pad. The WBs probably grow the most between 3-5. There are always exceptions to the rule…but this is my experienced based on 30+ horses.
I still wouldn’t buy him his big boy saddle yet either…but if you find something that generally fits well now, as long as it isn’t too narrow…and you have a nice wide gullet…you likely can adjust any changes he has with padding for quite a while.
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It will just depend on it sits on him and how narrow he is. But I do really prefer to be in a jump saddle on a green bean but that is me. Other people I know are more comfortable in a dressage.
I could post a pic of my jumping saddle too from the back. I’m surprised that a Black Country would have too narrow of a channel, but it does appear that way?
I’m curious what others experiences are with jumping in a GP saddle (like the thorowgood/K&M?). My horse isn’t jumping yet, so it’s hard to test out.
If you like Black Country. You might try aBCS Celeste. A friend of mine rider has Celeste for her witherless Mustang. Very nice saddle.
Thorowgood has a cob version of their AP saddle that is designed for horses with a flatter rather than “roof” shaped back. It is sold in the US as “broadback”.
The Thorowgood cob is actually a different tree than the broad back.
I am going to try the compact. It’s theoretically for flatter backs… I wish thorowgood made some of their saddles on more of a U or hoop tree.
I can’t speak to those brands but I had a corbette AP/GP that a ran novice through. It was a deep seated saddle with the largest knee rolls and calf block I had ever seen in a jump saddle. It was like riding with a seat belt honestly. I bought it for a horse that was a wheeler and I needed a bit more security in when he lost his walnut.
Anyway as for jumping in it, that saddle was great up to about 3’6" to 3’9". I was pretty locked in, able to get my back side over the cantle and it did allow me to have good form over the fence. The back was I did have to exaggerate my position a bit to get my backside over the cantle and if the jumps got big enough I wasn’t able to get out of the way of the horse as easily.
