My ottb has the typical high withers common in the breed, but his shoulder is also abnormally long, front to back. He needs a tree with a curve, but an extended long easy slope from pommel to depth of seat. Saddle Fitter said it might look like a stretched normal jump tree for high withers.
Does anyone know what brands make a “stretched” high wither, slightly curvy tree?
I need the advice of someone who intimately knows a lot of saddle brands from the inside out, apparently. So far I haven’t quite found that person. I need to fit long distance and would like to know what brands might be worth trying (ie. not a waste of shipping costs).
Passier makes cutback wither saddles which are good for tall long withers. They will also make you a custom saddle.
Devoucoux is the brand I recommend for anyone who wants a French brand. The majority of their saddles come with a very high pommel which allows for a lot of wither space.
Another option is to try to find a saddle with a very forward flap (not long, just forward). This will force the seat of the saddle to sit further back while still allowing the tree points to sit where they need to be on the shoulders.
It really depends on how the withers tie into the back. A picture would be very helpful. I am not sure I fully understanding what the saddle fitter means by that comment. I have a guess, but I like to verify.
The tree shape will be critical but also the panel. With these types of horses, you need a lot of panel support in addition to help keep the saddle off of the back part of the wither.
Stay away from the foam unless you want to pad it up. You will most likely need a deep panel including some sort of dropped panel, deep front and possibly rear gussets.
A cut back head might help clear the front part of the wither, but not what is under the saddle.
Saddlefitter (actually several of them) have said that most of the curvier trees are too curvy from the top of the pommel to the descent to the back and hit on T11, 12, 13 and on the back of his withers, either grabbing the back of the shoulder or forcing the saddle to sit too far back. If the tree was “stretched” about 1.5 to 2 inches in the front where the tree slopes downwards, it would likely fit. I’d like to know saddle brands that might have that profile. 
Thanks StormyDay, that’s great advice! But next question is…Does Passier make custom trees so the curve is correct over the long shoulder, or do they just pad / panel a tree that works for other high withered horses, but not for really long withers? That’s been the problem with previous saddles I’ve had. I’ve had fitters look at the tracings and say they have nothing for me. Some of that is covid related because they can’t get stock, but some is also because they aren’t familiar with brands that have the right curve in the tree. Unfortunately, you can’t just cover the wrong tree with enough padding and make it ‘fit’… or so I’m learning.
I’m not really sure what you mean I guess. Saddle companies, with a few very rare exceptions, buy their trees from a manufacturer. The main concerns are tree width (narrow, medium, wide, etc or hoop tree) and seat size. Those can’t be changed later with padding. Almost everything else can.
They then use webbing (nylon, but some use wood fiber) in the saddle and pad the entire tree and underside with foam (no matter if it’s wool flocked or not, there’s still foam in your saddle) and cut to the shape they desire.
Then they add the panels. The panels can be essentially any shape you need, from very flat and square, to very banana shaped (what it sounds like you need). They can be very shallow, or extremely deep for swayback horses. This is also when they determine the tree channel size, any extra padding in the wither, and to an extent how tall the pommel will be.
Here’s a video of how they make them, it should explain what I’m talking about with the panels a bit better
They are basically recommend a saddle with a rail that is longer before widening out for the rest of the seat. That is what they do for a bigger seat size mostly. That is a really hard request to think about.
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Do you have a pic of something like this as an example? I’ve not heard of this as a fix for this issue so I’d love to see how it’s done
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I really can not comment if it would work or not in this situation since I have not seen pictures of the horse nor have a thought about it like that before. I am just trying to understand the other saddle fitters comments.
I will see if I can find some saddle tree pictures to help illustrate what I think it being said. Not the best examples but can give you an idea about what i am talking about. However this will affect how the rider sits and how the seat feels to them.
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EQ Saddle Science would be my recommendation
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I have, what sounds to be a horse of similar shape. He goes well in an Amerigo and it fits beautifully. You can look at their website for their tree/model info. Some models are made for a long withers with slightly rising (toward the croup) topline. I’m not super familiar with their jumping models, since I have a dressage saddle.
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What you describe is a fairly common anatomical feature in TBs. I’ve found Stubbens and Black Country both fit this shape well.
All of my TBs go well in a BC.
Indeed, I have a jump saddle on trial from EQ and I am going to order one. I have a 17hh 5 yr KWPN gelding with a very underdeveloped top line and significant “bones” all about. They have a great trial policy ($90 to ship and $500 hold on your card) for 2 weeks and they will help you remotely with the fit. You can check out videos on YouTube if you are not familiar with the design concept.
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Yep - wither fit issues are just never an issue with this type of saddle.
Those photos illustrate pretty accurately what I’m talking about.
