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Wednesday, October 24, 2012

A Challenge for Schneiders

I has a conumdrum....my gelding, Sonny, AKA Goober, has a saddle fit issue. I CANNOT seem to find an English AP or CC saddle WIDE enough for him. This horse does NOT look as wide as he is, but he takes a full QH bar with a nearly 8" gullet! I have a Wintec 2000, and have the widest gullet in it that comes with the regular kit, but it STILL causes issues, the panels are that thrice-damned CAIR stuff and the channel is too narrow. With the wide gullet it now rides DOWNHILL on an already slightly downhill horse. SO, anyone have any ideas? Anyone found a good saddle that will fit a TRULY wide horse?

 
 
I have been eyeing this saddle from Schneiders, but I still have my doubts that it would even remotely fit. I would LOVE to try it out to see if it passes muster. The saddle is BEAUTIFUL, and if it is as good a quality as it LOOKS and claims, it would be well worth the price. They have a lot of nice specialty items for wider horses like Arabians and QHs, so I am thinking it might would work. Anyone out there ever tried one?

So, Schneiders, what say you?

33 comments:

  1. If you're willing to look outside of Schneiders, try Duett saddles. My fiance's horse is very wide and she does very well in their Foxhunter saddle. We have the same issues with the Wintecs. The Duetts are actually designed with a U shaped tree instead of a V shaped tree for a truly wide horse. http://duettsaddles.com/
    I have seen a few on CL and eBay as well if you don't want to buy new.

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  2. Glad to see you back.

    I've just bought a Barefoot treeless this fall - it's AWESOME.
    Forks come in a number of different sizes and the fit is really nice on my wide morgans; changing out the forks is easy also. I never thought I'd like a treeless so much as this, but now I recommend Barefoot saddles.

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  3. Have you tried the wintec wide saddles?

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  4. I have an older good quality Icelandic style english trail saddle that might work. I got it second hand from Permanent Vacation Icelandics about 15 years ago. I don't think they're around anymore. I'm not using it at the moment, and if you want to see it, I could take some photos. I'd loan it to you till you found something, if you wanted...

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    Replies
    1. That would be AWESOME Chel! What size is the seat? Could you email some pics to me at scaequestrain@yahoo.com?

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  5. Foam panels are junk.

    Duetts are a good moderately expensive saddle for broad horses. Try also Black Country or (older) Albions. A good resource: talk it over with the people at Trumbull Mountain (http://www.trumbullmtn.com/); they really know what they're doing in terms of broad horses with Issues. They have a full time saddle fitter who works out of their establishment (with a pretty good, though infrequently updated, blog, too).

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  6. I second (triple?) the Duett suggestions!

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  7. We have fit many a wide horse (read: drafts) in Thornhill's Pro-Ams and Berlins.

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  8. Duetts and older Albions. Maybe newer Albions work too but those are so far out of my budget that I haven't tried. The Wintecs don't fit my big girl on any width not so much because they don't go wide (such as the purple gullets in the special wide saddles) but because she's not that shape of wide. The U or hoop shape, or something that trends towards it, seems to be what matters for my horse.

    Another surprising fit is the Jeffries Elite. I don't know why.

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  9. If you are willing to send the money & can find a dealer near you, I love Timberline flex-panel saddles. I have a 29 year old quarter horse who has an always-changing shape & my saddle always fits him. Plus, you have many different options to customize the saddle. Definitely worth the price & wait for it to be made.

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  10. Duett's are awesome. Also, have you tried any of the new Wintecs, particularly the Close Contact? I have the original Wintec C/C and the new ones are MUCH wider with bigger/wider panels to distribute more weight. That was the first thing I noticed was how much wider the new Wintecs are in the rear of the saddle.

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  11. I have to do a shout out for Trumbull Mountain. I have a pony that was nearly impossible to fit and I worked with Nancy Okun at Trumbull -the most kind, caring and patient person I have ever met! I did back tracings and sent them to her. We tried every possible saddle for my pony and just couldn't fit him. He is an odd sized medium-wide. I ended up getting a Wintec that works fine for now. The folks at Trumbull Mountain know what they are doing and they are very responsive. I live in AL and their tack shop is in VT! They can at least give you advice on best saddle fit for your horse and direct you to saddles that will work. I would recommend doing the back and wither tracings and sending them to the tack shop. Directions on how to do the tracings are on their website and are very easy to do! I used a feed sack for the actual drawings, and that worked well. Saddle fitting was a long, slow process, but I have a MUCH happier and sound pony for all of the work we put into finding something that would work for him. Best of luck to you - I know how frustrating it can be...and I was on a tight, tight, tight budget.

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  12. I don't know if they're available around there, but I'd go for a Cliff Barnsby. They usually fit very wide horses and I have found and know many others who have found an answer in CBs as well. And are divine to sit on! Super quality.

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  13. How about an HDR extra wide saddle? My friend has hers for sale here for a good price, very good condition! http://www.horseclicks.com/extra_wide_tree_hdr_saddle/saddles/360913#review

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  14. I had the EXACT same problem with my mare. Even some wide saddles were tight on her. I found a Toulouse CC jumping saddle (surprisingly with a medium tree) that fits her absolutely perfectly. If you have the funds for it, I would very highly suggest you check out some Toulouse saddles.

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  15. My old horse was STUPID wide -- I bought a Pinnacle Kirkby Close Contact from Schneiders and while it fit my horse okay, it did not fit me at all... plus the leather was not very good quality, IMO.

    I ended up purchasing a used Albion Kontrol, which I would highly recommend! Feel free to email me: buckeyequine (at) gmail (dot) com -- I'd be happy to give you all the details on my experience!

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  16. My neighbors had horses when were just kids. They would always have us over so that we could ride their animals. I can't remember the name of the saddles they used. I remember it started with an "R," but it's been quite a few years. http://www.pards.com/storeinformation/pardsofurbana

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  21. coming in late to this comment party, but try the HDR quarterhorse width a/p. i have one. LOVE IT. fits my moose mare perfect.

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