advice on fitting a saddle and how a horse rides

[Charlie]

I am looking for a little help from some of you more experience horsemen and women. I have been riding my buckskin gelding who is now 6 since he was 2. The last couple of years, he has been a pain. He is too smart and is always finding something new to frustrate me with. I have been around professional trainers for many years and do know a few things, so I usually get along ok. Besides the trainer who started him really likes him and borrows him every so often. He has never done anything really dangerous, just irritating. To his credit and my demise, my job of carcass data collection hasn't allowed me much time to ride since he was started at two. He needs wet saddle blanket time. This year things have changed and he is getting more of that. To make a long story short, I bought a different saddle for him about 1 1/2 years ago. It is a full quarter bar circle y all around. I always want my tack to fit properly. We put it on him when we ordered it and it seemed a good fit. A few weeks ago when I got him in again to ride after about his usual 6 months off, I have noticed I can stick 3 fingers under the back of the saddle so I know it isn't fitting properly, which is strange since he has gined weight and filled out even more.
As I said, he has been a pain by thinking everything is going to get him, especially when I ride in our rough country pastures. At 2 he wasn't scared of anything. A couple days ago, I put my husbands 16" saddle on him and it fit him better, laying close to his back. He rode like a totally new horse. The problem is, I swim in that slick seated big saddle. Charlie is so athletic, that if he did decide to spook- he can do a 180 so fast you don't even know what happened- I am afraid I would be gone from that big slick saddle.
Buying saddles seems to be a gamble for me, but so is riding the way I have been. any advice would be apprecieted.

[Jinglebob]

Buy a new saddle that fits both you and the horse. The ones I build on this newer composite tree seem to be fitting most horses real good.You have to pad up or down, depending on the horse, but this is true with all saddles.

So far, I haven't ran across a horse that they don't fit, real nice. They have a slight amount of flex to them. I'm real happy with the one I ride and my son has been riding one for 5 or 6 years now.

A good custom made saddle is an investment and will be worth more down the road than you originally paid for it.

[Charlie]

I wish I still had my custom made saddle. Had to sell it when my x left and my daughter and I needed money. A friend of mine borrowed it and won a barrel racing at Hulett, Wy. She asked to buy it and I really didn't have a choice. It was an association tree and I loved it! I moved on and went to Brookings to college. Now I'm not exactly in what you would call prime horse country, and I don't know of any good saddle shops near by. I happened to work part time at the one where I got my other saddle.
Nobody here wants to pay anything for a barely used saddle either, since I already traded for one I was sure would fit him. I have also tried 3 or 4 different pads and that doesn't help. They are everything from equine classic to pro choice. What type of tree do you use??

[Jinglebob]

They are made from about the same stuff as Rhino bed liners. It's a kind of poly/plastic.

I tried real hard for 5 or 6 years to prove that they wouldn't work, but so far they do!

I was riding in the river breaks last week, about 30 to 40 miles, up and down all day, and our saddles just stayed where they were supposed to, on 4 different horses, all with different backs.

I'm sold on them.

I think if you go back and look, you can find some pictures on here, of the tree and I'm sure you can find pictures of the last 2 saddles, I've built. They would be under coffeshop.

PM me if you'd like a phone number and want to visit. Good luck.

[IL Rancher]

Charlie, I can see what you are saying about the not being in Hrose country.. I suppose there are a few folks around that make custom Saddles but everyone I have talked to looks at you like you are nuts and tells you to by a Circle Y from the western shop..

[Copper1272]

I hate spending big money on saddles, but I have gotten an association saddle from corriente saddle makers. They fit good and run a really reasonable price. They are a mom and pop operation and make their own saddles and are really good quality for the price. Not the usual junk for the price range.

www.corrientesaddleco.com[/url]

[Big Muddy rancher]

Charlie, my daughter has a Circle Y saddle that has sored her horse . She doesn't use it any more.

[cowboyup]

If you can't afford a custom made saddle you might try a Colorado. Mine has held up well and I have yet to sore a horse with it.

[Jinglebob]

[Charlie]

I had to go to Gibbon to RFID scan some cull cows today, so I slipped into Kearney. I rarely get over that far. I looked for used saddles to trade for, but nobody has anything that would work. I stopped out to a saddlemaker's I learned about while over there and asked a few questions. He was very helpful. We are going to take my saddle apart and look at the tree. Sounds like there may be a problem with that. I stopped back at the western shop in Grand Island where I bought my current saddle and the owner thought the same thing. If so, the circle y warranty will stand behind it. I am really thinking hard about a custom saddle - especially after being in a shop again. His base is 2750. !!! may be a while. I know I need a different saddle that does fit both me and my horse, but just denied it all along.

[Big Muddy rancher]

Better talk to jingle Bob if your going custom. He's slow but does great work


If I read your post right you are female so don't be surprised if Haymaker cusses you out for something then discovers your female then apoligizes then cusses you out again for using a "Mans" name.

[ranchwife]