Almost every horse I’ve owned in my adult life has been a TB, so I’m well-versed in brands & models that fit that body type. New horse is a WB mare with no withers and is super wide/flat laterally, and very straight through her topline. I do have a fitter I can work with but she’s limited in the inventory she carries, so just looking for some suggestions on where to start my search. I am pretty familiar with Patrick, County, Frank Baines, Adam Ellis, Albion–most of the English wool-flocked brands. Also previously had a custom Equipe which I loved.
Would love to know what’s worked for your rounder, wider horses. Thanks!
Hi Luv
When I first got George, many, many years ago, I found that fitting a saddle to his rotundity was very much non-trivial. We made the round of local consignment tack stores looking, but failing to find anything suitable.
Then I ran into Debbie (Debbie? I think so.) from Synergist Saddles, at their booth at Frontier Days in Cheyenne. She was happy to tell me all about their saddle fit process, including describing something called an “Equimeasure Kit”.
To make a long story short, She offered a $500 discount, I accepted, they made George a saddle, and he is still using it to this day.
But that Equimeasure is A Tool, and your best friend for fitting any horse, but particularly one with a non-standard conformation. If nothing else, it makes sorting thru a stack of used saddles a breeze; flip the saddle, drop in the Equimeasure mold, take a quick look. No ambiguity; it fits, or it don’t.
And if you go to have a custom saddle made, most makers are happy to work with it; maybe even better than having the horse available in person. Easier to ship in any event.
Anyway, do take a look at the Equimeasure,
and if you don’t mind spending ~$2500 for a fully custom, guaranteed-to-fit saddle, Synergist makes a darn nice product. Just FWIW.
Big County fan. Wonderful fitter in my area. Countys run slightly wide, I’m currently using a County XWide on my draft cross, and a County medium on a young ISH. (Expecting the ISH to go wider as she grows.)
I expect you are searching for an English saddle, huh? I have a recent Equimeasure story for you. I just did a saddle search for my new Horse “Rosy”. My primary goal was fit, but I wanted something light; a nice Endurance saddle, possibly an Aussie saddle, or a decent English saddle would work, too.
I dusted off Georgies Equimeasure, flattened it out in the oven, and formed it to Rosys petite back. Armed wilh this, I visited a nearby consignment tack store. They had a ton of Western saddles, but only a couple Endurance, and nothing like a decent Aussie. However they had a huge pile of English saddles; some cheap, some very expensive, and “they all look just the same”.
The ladies running the place had never seen an Equimeasure before, and watched with amusement as I set in on their inventory. “Nope, nope, no-no-no. Ooh; close!” And close got dropped on their plastic horse to evaluate the seat against my butt.
It took an hour or so to narrow the selection down to an older Stübben Dressage saddle, which, when I got it home fit Rosys back like it had been made for him. It took yet another shopping expedition to find a 20in Girth; the Dover store in Parker CO had one.
Would have been a lot more trouble w/o the Equimeasure, tho, I can promise you that.
I also have a very round, wide, flat-backed Irish/WB gelding. Ideal and Jeffries make ‘native’ or ‘highland & cob’ style trees, designed for wide and flat backed horses. I found an Ideal H&C on eBay and a steal on a demo Jeffries Liberty XP. The Ideal rocks just a touch, but the Jeffries fits like a glove. Both saddles are quite affordable brand new and Jeffries came out with an ‘Equisite’ style that can be built on the same tree that looks a little prettier.
My mare sounds very similar to yours–built like a tank, basically no withers, super super wide, flat laterally. She’s also very sensitive in the back and to fit. I have a CWD Mademoiselle with the shoulder shaved out (I don’t remember how many mm, but a lot haha). I know people have had very mixed experiences with CWD customer service but I got super lucky and my rep is awesome, and the mare is super happy in the saddle! I bought a demo and sent it off to get widened so we didn’t have to break in which was fabulous. I was a little dubious at first based on what I’d heard about CWDs but a 2Gs was recommended by the horse’s previous owner so we had a rep out, and we (myself and the mare) couldn’t be happier!
I have a Duett dressage saddle and it is a very nice saddle for the price and I’ve ben using it on QH/ cobs types for years with success. It is one of those saddles that horses seem to go better in right away, presumably as it fits their shoulders.
Albion is another brand that has a flatter hoop tree available, and there are lots on the used market. You want a LH model which stands for Low Head.
I am expecting delivery of my new semi custom Duett tomorrow. I’m very excited as my horse is very wide and rather flat in the back.
For additional fun my boy has big, wide withers, a large shoulder, a very forward girth groove and a short back. And I’m not rich, so.
Duett has been lovely to work with. I tried multiple fitters before finding something that fit my horse and budget. Fingers crossed it works out for us.
I was in the same boat as you, I usually own thoroughbreds but my warmblood is built like a rain barrel lol I ended up with an Equipe which works for both of us. I had issues with a lot of English saddles being too wide for my hips (especially the hoop trees), but a lot the French saddles were too narrow in the withers and gullet. The Equipes were the only saddles that were wide enough for him in those areas, but he is massive (17.1 and wears a 60" girth) so keep that in mind
I had a very wide, you the kind where someone tells you here try my x wide and it just perches on her back because she is WIDE.
I tried County and I think if I had been close enough to either have the wonderful rep actually in person or at least close enough that shipping trials wasn’t eating up my saddle budget I probably would have found one to fit.
CWD came close, Lovatt and Ricket actually worked until she muscled up, then I had a custom Black Country made. Love that saddle.
County hands down …I have an Innovation wide that I’m considering selling …that aside County Innovations are truly generous in their fit and really suit the exact shape that you described.
I have a Haflinger that only has withers when EXTREMELY FIT. Most of the time she has little to no withers lol. I use a Dover Circuit jump saddle with RTF and I have loved it! It adjusts very wide (wider than I would ever need) and it is very comfortable (With the added bonus of grippy leather). Haven’t had any issues with it and it is simple to adjust.
But otherwise, look for saddles made when draftier Warmbloods were “in”. Some of the older Stubben saddles made then have also fit my wider horses.
