I have a semi-quarter horse bars wintec western. The horse is a medium, not a wide barrel but not narrow. After trail riding, the saddle is always slid back in the “valley” behind the scapula. I tried shimming up the pommel, but it still gets wedged super tight behind the shoulder. Do I need a breast plate? thanks.
If you post a picture of the horse with the saddle, perhaps people can suggest what the fit issue is that is causing the issue.
To me it sounds like a bad fit, maybe a breast collar would help but possibly this is just a tree that does not work for your horse?
The breast collar is just going to mask the poor saddle fit.
[QUOTE=grey_mare;8862537]
I have a semi-quarter horse bars wintec western. The horse is a medium, not a wide barrel but not narrow. After trail riding, the saddle is always slid back in the “valley” behind the scapula. I tried shimming up the pommel, but it still gets wedged super tight behind the shoulder. Do I need a breast plate? thanks.[/QUOTE]
I agree that it would be best to see pictures of the saddle on your horse, not cinched and without a pad.
If it is sliding back, my guess is that it may be too wide.
If the saddle fits well, it should not be moving around.
In my opinion, Wintec saddles are garbage and that may be part of your problem.
A saddle belongs behind the shoulder blades. It is sliding back to where it belongs. Holding it forward with a breast collar will just damage your horse. That said, if it is “wedged super tight behind the shoulder”, that means it does not fit your horse. Pictures of your horse would be good as well as pictures of the saddle on your horse. Wondering what the “valleys” behind the shoulders look like.
Yes, I was aware that it was a fitting issue 
In terms of a pic, it looks exactly like the saddle shown on this page that is under the “Saddle placed too far back” section.
http://www.rodnikkel.com/content/index.php/tree-and-saddle-fitting/proper-position-of-a-western-saddle/
In the pic of the saddle sitting too far back, what correct fitting component would normally keep the saddle from ending up in the too far back position?
The horse doesn’t have any muscle loss behind his scapula, like an older horse might. He has a nice topline.
thanks.
It says in the section that a saddle that doesn’t fit too well will still slide forward on its own. Are you tightening the cinch enough? To me it sounds like the width tree you’re using is way off. If you truly have a semi bar then the saddle is probably too narrow and is perched above the horse until weight is put on it and then wedges down with weight. However, this is an issue I would expect to see on a tree that is far too wide. Rather than trying to figure out how to prevent the saddle from sliding back you need to get a new one that fits your horse and doesn’t run the risk of damaging your horse. If you can post pictures of your saddle that would be helpful in determining exactly what is wrong with it. Slapping a breast collar on would likely just cause rubs on the front of your horse because of the pressure being applied.
Okay if you KNOW the saddle does fit, then it does not fit. Adding a breastcollar is not going to help your cause. Adding padding also will not help your cause. It doesn’t fit. You need a different saddle.
I suppose I’m not exactly understanding what you are wanting to know?
Hard to say. It depends.
My first guess would be that the bar angle on the tree is too wide, if it is allowing the saddle to slide back. But it also could be the rigging position and where it wants to “pull” the saddle. Or it could be your gullet is too wide, but the bar angle is fine. Etc. Etc.
Really hard to “guess” what could be happening in your situation.
If you are riding in a saddle that you know does not fit. You are playing with permanently turning his hair white from the pressure and worse fisulous wither.
Those are two things I would not play with. Go bareback until you have a saddle that fits.
Some horses have shoulder blades that lay back further than other horses so the tree that is too far back in that picture might be in the right place on some horses. Feel for your horse’s shoulder blades. The bar of the tree needs to be behind where it is firm and over where it is softer. When you get off after the saddle has moved back, feel for the shoulder blade and find out where it is relative to the saddle. If the tree is really too far back, then there should be lots of space for your fingers between shoulder blade and bar.
