buying a western saddle

[lilnagy]

I have never purchased a western saddle before; inherited one and was given another. Both are semi QH bars, I use a good "air-ride" pad, and none of the horses complain. We use the same two saddles on 4 different horses (all kigers or mustangs), and I figured if they hurt the horses, or rubbed uncomfortably, we would know by now. So I now I am thinking about buying a saddle, and wonder if full qh bars is a big difference? Is it how broad the horse's back is that makes a Full needed? or whether or not the horse has high well defined withers? We don't do any endurance or other really rigorous riding; mostly pleasure, trail, and a little show. Any thoughts or advice? Lil

[vaquerotraditions]

The quick answer is dont buy a Full QH bar saddle.

The reason why is that the Full QH tree is designed for the hugely built muscled up Quarter Horses that have muscles on muscles and are built like tanks. The amount of riding horses in this country that require that tree is something like 10%, maybe. I would certainly say ur Kigers dont need it since they are being ridden fine in a Semi-QH tree.

FQH bars generally have gullet widths that start at 7" and go wider from there. Semi-QH gullet widths are around 6.25"-6.5", QH bars 6.5"-6.75". The Standard bars are narrower, 5.75"-6". That is just the front of the tree where it sits over the withers and shoulder, but if its too wrong there will be no happiness for your horse. There are no real standards in saddle making so you will find some differences but this is how they stack up more or less. With each different gullet width and tree name there is a corresponding difference in the angle of the bars as they reach down the horses back. Even tho the difference between a 6.5" SemiQH gullet and a 7" FQH bar gullet is only half an inch the difference in the twist and flatness of the bars going down the back is HUGE!

A custom saddle maker who lived in my area told me one time, that around 90% of the saddle horses in this country (some countries ride draft horses) can be fit with a Semi QH tree with a gullet that is 6.25" wide and 8" tall.

In starting colts for others and such I have ridden horses of hugely different builds, weighing from 700-1300 +lbs, 13.2H-16.2H in my old rig with a Semi-Qh tree, 6.25" gullet width and just adjust to each horse with pads n blankets.

Some just need a doubled navajo blanket or thin 1/2" pad, others a single 1" wool felt pad, Coolback pad or a pad n blanket . . .etc. I also ride a lot of horses in a SMX Air Ride with the wither/shoulder extra layer, an cover it with with a single navajo on some or a double navajo on narrower horses and or those with higher withers.

My new saddle, the slick fork wade in my pics is on a QH tree with 6.5" gullet. I couldnt find one I liked in a Semi-QH and didnt have enough cash for a custom one so I bought the QH tree and just figured Id be using another pad or blanket on some of the narrower horses I ride. I was right, but would still prefer the SemiQH tree as this one is a tad too wide on some of these young Kigers and such and even with the right amount of pads I get a lil more slippage going up and down hills as a result.

I put on a riding clinic today and because my truck broke down a while back I just rode one of the horses of the folks who hired me. Being as I had never seen this horse before I just brought my saddle and a 1" wool felt and SMX Air Ride pads and one double navajo and one single navajo knowing that with one combination of those I can fit my saddle to any horse suitable to ride. Turns out the SMX and single navajo was just fine for arena work but if I was headin to the hill I would have went with the double navajo blanket on top instead of the single.

Those are my thoughts and they basically say to you, "if it aint broke. . ."

[kimk]

Lil,
Mike's, out here in Enumclaw will let you trailer your horse(s) out and try on all the saddles you want to see how they fit. He's pretty good at judging saddle fit.

[angelsdream]

My suggestion would be to get a saddle maker that will build a saddle to fit your horse..Ive gone thru so much stuff dealing with saddle fit, thats the only way I will go. Of course with time the horse will change but there are shim pads out there that will adjust the change and you wont have to get a new saddle. You could also get a saddle fit professional to come out and help if you have saddles already. Good Luck !

[DianneC]

I guess different horses are different, I have yet to get a semi-quarter horse saddle to fit anyone except Smoke when I first got him. So if your horses are happy and you're not getting any watery bumps along the back bone, and if the horse's back is uniformly wet when you take the saddle off then you have a good fit for your horses. Since makers vary taking your horse like to Mike's like Kim said is a great idea. Some Kigers tend to have big shoulders, with low withers and flat backs and they are particularly difficult to fit.

[JoanMRK]

I agree with the Semi-QH statement, Dianne. I am actually selling a Semi-QH Tex Tan because it fits none of my horses as they are much wider than that saddle. I put it on Cali once and she about threw a fit. I can see where it would fit Smoke, but he is much narrower and has a much different build than my horses.

[lilnagy]

Thank you all for your thoughts... I can't afford to own a different saddle for each horse, so no custom designs. I need a good, useful size and shape for a variety of horses. None of our mustangs right now are particularly stout (though some are definitely FATTER than they should be!). Since I know the semis we have fit o.k, maybe I will borrow a full and give it a try for comparison. Lil

[lilnagy]

For the two of you who said a semi QH bars didn't fit; what did fit? did you need full? or narrower?

[kimk]

The semi QH saddles I have are too narrow.

[JoanMRK]

Ditto -- Too narrow.

[DianneC]

Yep, Chinny has a back that is really flat, you could eat dinner off of it I always say. He was the hardest to fit. But when we did get a semi-custom saddle it was the full quarter horse bars that fit him best.