Help and advice for a returning aged rider who is confused!

Weesuse

New Member
Nov 2, 2022
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Hi all,

I am a newbie here and it’s been a very long time since I looked for a saddle!

I have a loan horse coming in 4 weeks and am looking for information on a decent but relatively cheap saddle. The horse has had foals and needs to get back into work so her outline will change a lot and the next 6 months. I don’t have a massive budget but I have been looking at premier equine synthetic Gp saddle. Any advice would be greatly appreciated! The changeable gullet is appealing due to her changing shape.
 
You won't like my advice because it's to get a saddler out. The changeable gullets don't mean that a saddle will fit every horse, you still have tree shape to consider not to mention the length, cut, and whether it not it fits the rider too. It's not easy when a horse is coming back into work, but that makes it almost more important to get it right because she'll lack muscle coverage and so will be more sensitive toa bad fit, and you don't want to get off to a bad start.
 
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I too would be getting a saddle fitter out. I am not well up on them to start with and unless a horse came with tack that had recently been fitted properly, that would be my thing to do. When Zi came he'd not long had his saddle bought and fitted and it was an excellent fit to him. But if not, I'd have definitely asked around for some saddle fitters numbers.
 
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Thank you all for your reply and Carthorse I do like your reply as I want to know the answer not what I want to hear 👍 so I appreciate the honesty. I was a bit sceptical about the changeable gullet.

Thank you for taking the time. I am now on the hunt to get some names for a saddle fitter and see where I can go from there.
Thanks muchly 👍
 
Don't know how big you are but often the issue can be that the saddle that will fit someone's rear can be too big for the horse and be too long. I had someone come and look at my short coupled mare and she wouldn't want more than a 17inch and the lady would certainly have trouble being comfortable in a saddle of that size. I am lucky i have a master saddler who lives half a mile away and has managed to fit my existing saddle so it fits a 16hh shire x and a 16'3 Irish draft who are very different shapes but it works on both of them.
 
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I can't help with that area since I'm in south east England, but hopefully some others can.
 
Hello, nice to meet you!

Don't be surprised if when you find someone it takes ages to get an appointment. I had to wait 6 weeks when I got Sid. We used the time leading him around all our hacking routes, and building up to some gentle bareback work (on a bareback pad with an oh Sh*t strap). It was great for both of us, so fear not if there's a long wait.
 
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