Well, now you guys have me concerned. I have a student who got a Schleese saddle–an Obrigado. She had previously a Neidersuiss which I thought fit her horse ok. However, he kept having dry spots under the saddle just behind his withers after a ride. And then the fur there starting changing color.
So, she went with a Schleese. I went to the saddle fitting. And I thought they said a lot of good stuff (like not going beyond that last rib etc).
A month or so after the fitting, he developed larger dry spots on his back. The Schleese reps said that the larger ones are okay because bla bla bla.
We have seen no change in his back. The chiropractor still reports some adjustments needed just behind the withers (same as with Neidersuiss).
She is taking the horse to a saddle fitting in a couple weeks. How often do these need to be adjusted? I got mine done once a year. This is the third time in a year
You can also have one. I paid just over $3k delivered from the UK for it - with custom color options and three sizes of gullet.
awesome price point!
A lot of the older Passier, Kieffers and Stubbens have that upswept rear panel. The newer ones often have the gusseted rear panel that fits a flatter back. I’d rather upswept than gusseted any day since I ride multiple horse and can adjust fit more easily via Prolite shims and girth strap configurations. I have an ancient Kieffer that has a 4 billets that provides great flexibility (1 Point billet and 3 regular ones
That’s what my Schleese rep did. She chalked where the ribs, shoulders, other anatomical landmarks were on my horse’s back. She put on my old saddle and said why it wouldn’t work and put on the Obrigado to show why it would. It made sense. She also said why other Schleese models wouldn’t work because they’d go beyond the last rib.
My trainer, who organizes the schleese fittings, and the fitter both suggested to me that there should be a dry spot under where the stirrup bars are. I also just purchased a new to me Obrigado. I had my trainer check the sweat marks after our lesson last Sunday and she liked them, and noted that there were dry marks under the stirrup bars where there should be dry marks.
Could it be the way your student rides the horse or the way the horse wants to go?
Most I know do yearly but I think the rep can come twice yearly. I might do twice yearly for now. My horse lives in his own 1+ acre paddock with a run-in. The pasture is well cared for and he gets noticeable fatter in fall shots and is in decent weight for spring shots in the last 4 or so years. He only eats balancer. The schleese rep showed my his measurements from last early fall when they fit their Obrigado to him and it was so different because he was so chunky (he was also chunky because he was lame for three weeks after pulling his shoe and stepping on the clip). The saddle I purchased also had to be really flocked because the previous owner had a tank of a horse.
I expect once I get a handle on the fitting of this saddle, I’ll fit once yearly since he is in work.
ETA, I do think my horse goes better in this saddle.
Interesting J Lu. Because the Schleese rep said that the reason that the Neidersuiss was no good was because it was a “known issue” under the stirrup bars.
I have no problem with this saddle for my student. I just think that the Schleese reps are a little over the top.
Over the top is right. The Neidersuiss is good enough for the Spanish Riding School.
Well, that was always my point, BrownDerby. BUT, I did see the color change in his coat on those dry spots. So, I think there was something to it.
However, there are still larger dry spots under the Schleese.
No worries, I was viewing it as the rep dismissed the brand, not an individual saddle.
Can I also suggest having a look at the Prestige D1?
I don’t understand the logic behind a dry spots under the stirrup bars. I’ve always been told that is not want you want and you don’t want too much pressure there. That can really be an issue for the horse. However I’ve also heard that if the spots are larger, triangular, and even that is ok in some cases. Small could mean more pressure.
It could be fine but you just have to be careful that the rails of the tree are right for the horse or that those dry spots aren’t from pressure due to a saddle thats too wide, for example.
Right Cantering Carrot to the dry spots.
So if large dry spots are okay, how large do they have to be?
I recall reading about two kinds of dry spots. One kind is caused by too much pressure to an area. This is what we usually think of with dry spots. The other is an area that has very little pressure, so the air can reach it and it is considerably drier than the surrounding area. So that could be the logic for the stirrup bar area dry spots.
Unfortunately, I dont remember the source. And I dont recall if there were things to look for to differentiate between the types!
I have heard so much conflicting and even self serving advice on dry spots. IME they tend to be about bridging, saddle not making contact. But then I’ve never had a piece of gear with such sharp localized pressure that it shut down the sweat glands. Not on me, not on a horse. I’m not even sure how that would work.
All I will offer from my various journeys into saddle shopping / fitting hell is that everyone should know and understand the difference between a saddle fitter and a saddle sales rep. Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.
No idea. I don’t even know if it’s an exact science really. Some say that dry spots or cleaner spots on the underside of a saddle pad don’t mean much. Others say they mean everything.
I would think a larger spot would be 3-4 inches wide. I’ve had this before and the saddle fit and the horse had no complaints so 
Do they still use them, though?
LOLOLOLOL!!! I loved your “Ted Talk”. SO ON POINT, bravo!
Well, the Spanish Riding School rides Lipizzaners. Different backs than WBs.
