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Member
Posts: 13
| Having a hard time fitting my horse and was looking for suggestions on saddles/trees to try. He is a 14 hand cutting bred horse, short and built pretty square. He has larger shoulders, I guess somewhat bulging, a slimmer barrel that his shoulder and a short back. He is also pretty straight backed. Most saddles I have tried are either too curved or don't have enough shoulder clearance. If I find a saddle that's wide enough for his shoulder, its generally too wide for the rest of his back. I am not interested in anything flashy looking, needs to have more a ranch/ all around look. |
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 Buttered Noodles Snacker
Posts: 4377
 
Location: NC | Sounds like Meleta Browns new flat bar saddle may work. Her saddles have a flare to allow shoulder clearance and her new saddle has flatter bars. I havn't tried it my self but thats my understanding. I have two I want to try one on. |
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 Accident Prone
Posts: 22277
Location: 100 miles from Nowhere, AR | Sounds like my gelding, except he's bigger (about 15.1). He's running/cutting bred top and bottom, and his back is just weird.
Meleta's regular tree was too tight on his back, but had good shoulder clearance. We think the new one with flatter bars will work, but it's only available in a 15" right now, so I haven't tried it. I found a Lisa Lockhart that fit, but they quit making the tree with more shoulder flare. I haven't tried a Lynn McKenzie, but those have a lot of shoulder flare, so might work for you...it comes with 3 different trees, one is wider, one is a flatter bar angle. I was using a Crown C and shimming, but wasn't happy with it (love the saddle, don't love shimming). Found a Merrill with the new stronger tree at a really good price, so I bought it because I knew it would work for my easy-to-fit mare if nothing else. Wonder of wonders, it works awesome on my gelding. Just looking at it, I wouldn't have thought it would. He is short backed too, and the round skirt works better for him. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 330
| My horse is built the same and he fits great in an older Martin. |
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Member
Posts: 13
| ^Which Martin? Is is before they changed the tree and "improved" it? |
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 Expert
Posts: 1454
Location: kellyville ok | Steinhoff's offer their saddles in regular, semi and full quarter horse bars. Their trees allow for shoulder movement. They are great to work with |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 330
| CoronasJoe - 2014-09-10 10:55 AM
^Which Martin? Is is before they changed the tree and "improved" it?
Mine is a 2008; I think they called it the Ironhorse tree. |
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Member
Posts: 13
| Thanks for the help. Haven't tried a merril, or actually had my hands on one for that matter. Whats the quality like and how do they ride? I don't like anything that gets my feet forward. |
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