Saddle fit question

[Sacred_Petra]

I'm starting to ride my new horse english now, but despite having several different trees, I can't seem to find one that fits, and I'm clueless which direction I need to go. My medium tree crosby doesn't flare enough near the point of the tree, and my wide tree klimke-millers sat too close to his withers.

Today I borrowed my friends wintec, to give that a try, and everything seemed to fit, but once I put my foot in the stirrup, the saddle ended up on the side of my horse. The gullet gauge said I should use the white or red gullet. White was slightly too wide (saddle tipped downward at the pommel), so I tried the red (aka "wide"), which seemed to fit well. I had even pressure on both sides and down the panels, the seat was level, and I had 3 fingers between his withers and the pommel. I know my girth was tight, and I had the saddle just behind his shoulders, where I was taught to put it. When I tried the narrower gullet, the saddle seemed a bit high in the pommel.

Any suggestions? I honestly don't know whether to go wider, narrower, or just different, and getting a saddle fitter out isn't an option. I've never had a saddle roll, and it seems like every saddle I put on this horse rolls.

[VCT]

Maybe you need a saddle with a hoop tree instead of a traditional tree. I dunno. Why don't you send tracings to Trumbull Mtn and work with them on finding something that fits? They are really helpful.

[Sacred_Petra]

What is a hoop tree? I've never heard of one. Will they work on a horse with fairly prominant withers?

[pAin't_Misbehavin']

What is a hoop tree? I've never heard of one. Will they work on a horse with fairly prominant withers?

No. A hoop tree is designed for wide, flat-backed horses, like my little paint pony. If you want to see some, Duett imports hoop-treed saddles. They're designed for short-backed, tanks-with-legs, like Haffies, etc.

I second the Trumbull Mtn. suggestion, though. I've never dealt with them - I got my Rondo from Duett - but I hear they're good to work with. And their website has good directions for making a wither tracing, which is probably where you need to start if you don't have access to a saddle-fitter.

[VCT]

I didn't realize your horse had prominent withers from your OP, sorry - my misunderstanding.

How is your saddle rolling if your horse has prominent withers... how strange. I can see where you'd be confused. It sounds confusing.

In my experience usually when a saddle rolls it's because 1. the girth is not tight. 2. the saddle is not wide enough and is sitting up above the horses back and not down around it or 3. the horse is a round tank like p'Aint said.

Anyways, I'd talk to Trumbull Mtn. and send them some wither tracings and see what they recommend.

[Sacred_Petra]

No worries VCT, I didn't exactly make it clear.

I will talk to Trumbull Mtn. He's a bit strangely shaped (sort of a rectangle with withers) so hopefully they'll be able to point me in the right direction.

As for why the saddle rolls, I have no logical explanation, especially since the wintec seemed to fit so well. I have the same problem (although not as extreme) in my western saddle though, so I suppose I shouldn't be too surprised.

[VCT]

Good Luck Sacred Petra! I know how frustrating saddle shopping can be!

I have bought two saddles from them and both fit perfectly. One horse required a made-to-template saddle, though we did have to ship back and forth a couple saddles for them to see pictures of "known-entities" on him to use in conjunction with his tracings to make the saddle. They are really great to deal with and it'll probably save you a lot of time and money (shipping back and forth, etc) to go through them.