He’s a bigger version of my pony. Go get a Kent and Masters or Thorowgood. They will fit him lovely.
Previous owner rode him in a Bates AP saddle. I should have taken a look at it while I was there trying him out.
There’s a Fairfax GPD on eBay as well as a wide County Eventer. I like the forward flaps on that one.
The used Duetts are all dressage.
Hm I wonder how much of the fit issue is shoulder. Hard to see without looking from above/behind. I wonder if a beat up Crosby makes him happy because without so much structure and knee blocks and whatever, it’s really minimal on his shoulder. My current horse is like this, and I rode for quite a while in my old Childeric for this reason while his back was changing because he hated everything else and that took pressure off of the worst parts. I had to use a wither relief shimmed in back half pad with it.
I might try a used Myler on him or an Equipe. Much easier to find wider trees out there in Equipe and it’s got sort of a French feel to the rider but is Italian so not a hoop tree but not quite like a French saddle to the horse either. They’ve got some models for a curvier back. Maybe an Equipe Evolution? Or Amerigo. I think both of those brands tend to run on the wider side, even their standard trees. That said, my horse looks a bit like this when he’s overweight and standing still but he prefers a little bit of a straighter tree (hence the Childeric, and now back in the CWD I had fitted to him that he liked then hated and now mostly likes?). He could also probably go in an Equipe (not the Evolution; tried that and the sales barn had one) but I had a hard time finding a demo that was not a +1 or +2 and too wide for him.
His scapula is also kind of high. I think it’s more that that plus some chunk makes him seem like he’s got no withers. He’s got some withers at 5. So, he might want to be fitted to a saddle with a half pad in mind to get the saddle lifted up.
Losing fat and building topline muscle could change things quite a lot. I’ve gone through quite a saddle and half pad rotation with my current horse. Friend has a baroque horse who got way too fat and was put on Thyro-L. After losing weight and getting more fit, she wound up having to change not only saddles but brands completely. Currently in a Fairfax.
Good luck. He’s super handsome!
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Yes, and depending on where they lose the fat, and/or gain the muscle if that weight loss is partly due to increased work, it can be a simple as just using a thicker pad, or some front shims, to actually needing a different saddle due to a different enough shape.
What a good looking boy and wow, such a classic EMS presentation.
He doesn’t have low withers though - he’s not butt-high , and is in-shape withers are actually quite nice.
Remember about withers - shoulder fit has to come first, THEN you make sure there’s wither clearance Some brands have a lower pommel profile, others (like Prestige, Black Country, and some others) have a higher pommel profile. So a saddle that fits him all around now in his fatness, may not fit once he loses sufficient weight for his shoulders to be less prominent, and his withers to be more prominent It’s just something to be aware of as his body changes.
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Equipe is a popular option. All the dressage riders at my barn ride in them, so it should be pretty easy to get a rep out.
I’m on the west coast, so the English brands are not in vogue and there are few used ones around. The one local consignment shop is closing, I just found out.
Thank you. Thank goodness no Cushings or laminitis history, even though previous owners were oblivious and fed him treats all the time!
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Help a girl out: what does EMS stand for?
EMS = Equine Metabolic Syndrome
It’s technically a more correct term for Insulin Resistance
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Ah. Yes.
I see what you are talking about now. Thanks!
I have an Irish Draught, and I own a Balance dressage saddle and Smith-Worthington CC saddle. Both have hoop trees.
Hoop trees are the way to go.
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Gorgeous horse! Congrats again.
I definitely think you are on the right track with getting your new boy in a bit better shape. A bit more exercise and less concentrate feeds. Once the fat pads decrease, saddle fit should improve.
Our horse, that takes the AO2 saddle tree, is of similar build. Big, deep, wide body and minimal withers. Our horse also fits a x wide gullet saddle with the x-change gullet system such as Bates/Pessoa.
**I find the Smart Pak blankets denoted as SP which are specially made for quarter horses; sometimes fit the big wide shoulders better when I can find size 84. Definitely shoulder gussets in outfits. Otherwise I like Shires and Pessoa for fit.
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Wonderful horse!
I had one with similar conformation.
After trying several, a Stubben Roxanne fit him best, even as his shape changed when he lost weight and over the years.
If you have not tried those yet, you may want to try one of those.
They tend to fit many humans well also and they give you a week to try one.
I bought from them and their recommendations were right on the nose:
https://www.pelhamsaddlery.net/stubbensaddle/stubben24301used.html
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I find it much easier to anticipate how horses will change as they gain weight than the opposite, but your fitter may be more skilled at that than I. Most English-made saddles on spring trees can be widened or narrowed one size, so on some chubby horses I have actually ordered a saddle a size narrower than the horse currently is and then widened it to fit. This strategy enables me to narrow it back to the original size when the horse drops weight and potentially even one size narrower than that.
Let me explain it a different way:
If the horse is currently an XW and I order the saddle as an XW then later on I can narrow it to a Wide, no problem. However then we’ve exhausted our options so if the horse gets narrower we’re out of luck.
If I order the same horse a Wide, then I widen it to an XW it will fit his current shape. Then I can narrow it bac to the original Wide when he loosed weight, and if needed I can even take it down to a MW (or M depending on the brand).
In addition to that, all the saddles I sell are wool flocked so that is able to be adjusted along with the horse’s changing physique, too.
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Congratulations on your handsome chonker!
Since you asked… honest to goodness, as fat as he is, I would give up on saddling him for right now and ride that sucker bareback. You already can’t sit the trot or canter in your current options, so you may as well hold mane. Get a suede bareback pad if you’re dying. That will still fit him in a month when you are a little closer to figuring out if he actually has spinal processes under all that.
I have done this (not because the horse was fat, because I had no choices in the barn and my own was on order) and your legs will question all your life choices for about two weeks, and then after that you’ll feel like a genius when you get your tack back. Besides, as much of a pork chop as he is, I bet he’s slow, and it will be good for you to tighten your leg…
(He’s really cute!)
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Unfortunately, bareback riding doesn’t agree with my hips. I need the support of a saddle. Also, he’s big and I’m old, so no room for error there. 
I really wish I could. I never had that barn rat experience of galloping around bareback developing a great seat. In my next life, maybe.
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Thank you for that advice. I’m only looking at English saddles right now. They suit me more than French saddles anyway.
There are so many more wide tree dressage saddles out there than there are close contact saddles. Wonder why that is?
I’m selling my wide (template) Black Country that might work for you. It was used on a 15.2 Haflinger. PM me if you’re interested for photos/link to eBay listing.
The large amount of Spanish horses in dressage. They almost all need hoop tree saddles. So do Friesans.
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This is what I have. Much better leather than the duetts. I recommend it
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Actually a lot of Spanish horses don’t need a hoop tree. Hoop trees tend to have very short tree points. If you put one on a horse that doesn’t need one, you get a lot of extra movement in the saddle and have a hard time keeping it up off the withers.
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