Western saddle fit

Hello! I picked up a super nice western trail saddle but I am thinking it doesn’t fit anything I own. I bought it off someone who had a arab/qh cross and I have Arabs and mustangs.

All my horses have flat broad short backs. This saddle when I do up the front cinch the whole back lifts up. It still lifts up when I do up the rear cinch.

I’m thinking its meant for a more curvy back?

Without seeing it on your horse, it’s kind of impossible to say.

Usually, when a saddle lifts up in the back, it means the gullet is too wide in front.

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Does the tree come off the back or just the skirt? Some western saddles seem to come up a bit in the skirt to give the horse more freedom on trails to change the shape of their back.

Agree with above, that if the tree comes up in back, the saddle is likely too wide.

Is there a chance the saddle sat for a while and the back skirt was pressed up and the leather kind of deformed that way? Or do you think it’s a custom fit through the tree for an upswept ! loin/back?

The seller had a QH/Arab cross and he still had all his gear on the saddle when he sold it, so I don’t think it sat. I tried it on one of my mustangs who is much more sprung in the ribs and it fit the same. I think his horse had a more swoopy back?

Did you see the horse it was used on? Was it like curvy along the back?

Yep. This is what it was on. (pic removed)

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Huh. Doesnt look too curvy. Wide as a truck!

That’s a no. Too wide, too much rock

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I wonder if it was wide AF and accommodated the previous horses withers and shoulder and broad width. The back sat flat and it settled upwards through the wither

Normally you want to take saddle fit photos without any padding. Either way though, that’s a heck no on fit for me from front to back. Way too wide.

I would not call your horse in the picture broad … at all.

Saddle is WAY too wide for him. Do not use it on him.