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 I Don't Brag
Posts: 6960
    
| Never thought I would make a post like this. Whenever I read a post about needing a saddle that kept one's legs forward...or back ....or whatever, I privately thought that one just needed to learn to ride better and control one's legs.
Now here I am eating crow and asking for suggestions for a saddle that helps keep one's body back. Maybe it's because I am getting to be older than dirt and don't ride as well as I used to.
In the last month I got a 19 yr old mare that is built downhill. She also seems frontendy to me, especially since she has nearly dumped me over her left shoulder when setting for the first barrel. I had her knees and hocks injected before I started using her so no, I don't think it is a soreness issue. And she is 19 and I don't think retraining her at this stage of her life is an option. Things did improve when I switched her from the 8" gullet I was using (had no idea is was 8"!) to a 7" gullet. She is down hill and has a peaked topline. Took her by a saddle shop thinking a narrower gullet would help but we put a standard FQH bars tree on her and decided that a narrower gullet was not needed. The tree DID bridge from the shoulders to the backend with no contact in the middle. He felt the saddle I was using fit better than that particular tree. I get no dry spots when using that saddle with an old builtup pad we had laying around.
Unfortunately, with time and more runs under our belt (and she gets fitter) I am getting thrown forward on all of the barrels now. Not badly, but enough to mess us both up, costing us a paycheck sometimes.
I am currently riding her in a Cowboy Classic that I had won. It has a flatter seat but seems to fit ME a little too wide. I hated the Special EFFX on her , love it on everything else. I usually refer a flatter seat with room for me to move around and get over my legs, but this is just not working on her. Need something that will allow me to get back when she sets. Any suggestions? A custom built tree might help but she is working good NOW and we have rodeos to go to NOW and I need to quit tipping forward!
Help me out folks, Please! She has turned out to be a really nice little mare that I can finally have some fun on. |
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 Undercover Amish Mafia Member
Posts: 9992
Location: Kansas | Does she has muscle astrophy around her withers preventing fit? |
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 I Prefer to Live in Fantasy Land
Posts: 64864
Location: In the Hills of Texas | I understand the eating crow...I'm not really fond of the treeless or the Debra Sibley but it works for many people and you do what you have to do. I bought a Jackie Jatzula wide fit saddle as I couldn't find a saddle to fit my gelding. |
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  Neat Freak
Posts: 11216
Location: Wonderful Wyoming | She sounds similar to the 9yr old ranch gelding I have been playing on with barrels. He's fancy broke when ridden by my husband and with me I probably make us both look like an ass. He has never wanted to run much, a long trot on the ranch is his preferance. Anyhoo, I started hauling him to barrel races to have some fun and because he is broke enough and willing enough to just do what I ask him. He has offered to crow hop on and off for years whenever the saddle slid forward. It doesn't help that he is a very ratey horse either, but we learned that if he didn't want to move out, he needed his saddle slid back a hair. He has decent withers, but none of my saddles fit him.
Fast forward to a couple weekends ago and I tried a Meleta Brown saddle on him. She left it with me for the 3 days I was at the show and he was a different horse. So much fun. I found with his ratey style, I could really ride him better and no offer to buck what so ever even after he hit the brakes for each turn. He was willing to get up under himself to run to the next barrel. The seat is an inch bigger than I use so I had some extra room, but the build of the saddle still kept me correct. For riding in a new saddle and a bigger seat, I felt I stayed in decent position during my runs. |
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The Advice Guru
Posts: 6419
| Look at the Martha Josey.
Had a friend whose upper body was long, one day her horse turned she went over the shoulder fractured some vertebrates.
When she could ride again, I suggested to try a Martha Josey, now she sits correct, and has went from a 4d to a 1d, nothing else changed just the saddle. |
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I Don't Brag
Posts: 6960
| Thanks for the suggestions!
For years I rode in a Billy Cook fly-weight cutting saddle. Most barrel saddles felt like they were throwing me forward. Including the MJ of yesteryear AND the BC barrel saddle. I need to "try" a bunch of different saddles before buying, that is for sure, just trying to narrow down the field.
I wouldn't call it atropy around the withers unless you are referring to the drop along the topline associated with many aging horses in otherwise good condition. To top that off she is racy and hard to put/keep weight on.
I tried a Meleta Brown on my wide, flat backed horses and didn't care for it, but then I didn't like the CC I am riding in now, on anything else.
Anybody want to form a saddle trying party?
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Expert
Posts: 1815
| Agree with the post on the Jackie Jatzlau saddle.......I too have a horse that runs downhill (no atrophy!!!!). His rump is just significantly talle than his withers and he's 9, so that is the way he is. The Pro Rider widetree was fairly acceptable, no dry spots, but what has been the most helpful was a Tammy Key Fischer treeless widetree by Circle Y. I had to play with some diff stirrups, and length, but am now really comfortable.......takes at least 20 rides to break the saddle in, and a little longer than that for me to get used to it. Do not want to ride anything else anymore! |
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I Prefer to Live in Fantasy Land
Posts: 64864
Location: In the Hills of Texas | mouse - 2014-07-29 5:24 PM Agree with the post on the Jackie Jatzlau saddle.......I too have a horse that runs downhill (no atrophy!!!!). His rump is just significantly talle than his withers and he's 9, so that is the way he is. The Pro Rider widetree was fairly acceptable, no dry spots, but what has been the most helpful was a Tammy Key Fischer treeless widetree by Circle Y. I had to play with some diff stirrups, and length, but am now really comfortable.......takes at least 20 rides to break the saddle in, and a little longer than that for me to get used to it. Do not want to ride anything else anymore!
I was thinking that the Tammy wide would be a fit for her horse and for her over the Jackie. JMO |
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I Prefer to Live in Fantasy Land
Posts: 64864
Location: In the Hills of Texas | Where do you live Rodeoveteran? There might be some people that could let you try their saddle. |
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 Angel in a Sorrel Coat
Posts: 16030
Location: In a happy place | I would say talk to Meleeta Brown. |
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I Don't Brag
Posts: 6960
| She is NOT wide, quite the opposite. Not sure about the treeless. Tried one once on a horse with good withers and couldn't keep it from slipping. I did like the feel of it tho. |
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I Prefer to Live in Fantasy Land
Posts: 64864
Location: In the Hills of Texas | sorrel horse ranch - 2014-07-29 6:20 PM I would say talk to Meleeta Brown.
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 Transplant Okie
Posts: 1206
Location: Always on call..... | I was having the exact same problem with my mare and my Cowboy Classic saddle that had a flatter seat. My horse isn't really built downhill but she really drops her front end in her turns and I was getting thrown forward.
I bought a Martin a Ironhorse for her and LOVE it. Those are the older models with the dropped riggin. The seat is just deep enough I stay down in it (but not deep enough I feel sucked down in there) and the front is elevated just enough that I stay upright in it through the turns.
I do have a younger mare that IS built downhill and carries her head really low. I tried several saddles and kept feeling like I was going to fall over her front. Tried my Martin Racer on her, which I liked because it is built up higher in the front, but it made her back sore. Finally tried the Ironhorse on her and it worked good. So I bought a second one!
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Another saddle post but I really DO need help.