Open your wallet wide: Ideas for owners to save money, find tack to fit drafts, persuade others to accept them

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Permalink Reply by Lori Tankel on July 13, 2009 at 9:03pm

When Tucker was ready to be broke to saddle, I realized my favorite Crosby would not fit. I found an OLD used Courbette, which did the trick and I used it for a few years, until last year when I felt confident that he was not going to grow too much more. I bought a Stubben Siegfried AP, they now come in XL. Paid about $1300 for it new and I love it!

Permalink Reply by Ann Hatfield on July 13, 2009 at 9:53pm

Lori, Do you find a difference in Tucker's shape from spring through autumn, unfit to fit? If so, do you pad differently or shim or what?

Permalink Reply by Lori Tankel on July 14, 2009 at 10:55am

So far, no, but he is pretty much the same condition all year. If there was a difference, I would adjust pads accordingly.

Permalink Reply by Donna Humber on July 15, 2009 at 9:17pm

I have the winter fitness thing too, as our winters can be horrible, with everything including the indoor footing frozen solid. Not planning on schooling on concrete, so am usually reduced to trails, and hoping the skididiots don't kill us. I have, after many trials, found a 32" spring tree stubben tristan that seems to do the trick. It appears to fit her no matter what I do. I have a BT Crump[Zaldi] for jumping in XW [also 32" with spring tree], that only fits REALLY well in the summer....fitter horse. It isn't the caliber of the Stubben, but heck, can't jump on the frozen tundra in the winter anyhow....so it all works. Took me over 2 YEARS to properly fit the horse, and it slowed down her training. She is wide WITH withers, and saddles rarely accomodate that.

Permalink Reply by Ann Hatfield on July 17, 2009 at 1:00am

Donna, I take it you, too, ride on skidoo trails in winter. My endurance horse got very good at this one winter in the hills above us; he stayed on the track and even seemed to know where the it had become soft toward spring.We have tough winters, both cold and snowy in the North Okanagan/Shuswap. I have been forced, on occasion, to take my tallest horse and tramp ot a circle in the snow with a few Xs across it, like the kid's game of fox and goose, to do some sort of schooling on. Another winter my husband drove the tractor, with the blade two-thirds down and flattened a track around the pasture. Of course at the first melt/freeze in February we should have just used it as a speed-skating oval until late March.

Permalink Reply by Donna Humber on July 17, 2009 at 8:34am

We have done the "speed skating oval" also !!! Worked beautifully untill the sun thaws a few cm's, and then darkness falls & evrything freezes overnight. I live in NL [ Island portion of Newfoundland], and as we are stuck out in the middle of the North Atlantic, we can have 15 degree [c] days in January, followed by - 15 degree nights. Snow in May is normal, but so are 20 degree days.
This makes blanketing fun. You need about 6 weights, and a team to keep chnging them!!
Skidoo trails are the ONLY place to ride at times here, most of the riders are great, but always a few fools who think it "funny" to watch a horse flip out. I have also used my young horse to tramp down a paddock or circle, so the older one could actually move around. However, as we say here, if you don't enjoy our weird weather, wait a few minutes, it will change.

Permalink Reply by Ann Hatfield on September 24, 2009 at 1:35am

We Canadian riders are nothing if not persistent. Floridians, Californians, Texans must think we are completly crazed to attempt to ride in our winters. However days of perfect winter riding are stuck in my memory forever, possibly, of course because there are so few of them!! Riding at a friend's (we just go to one another's homes and ride the other person's horses, saves trailering in winter) on her Arabs in deep, light, fluffy snow, one day, the horses snorting and blowing and cantering tails up. Then changing over to her young Fjords and cantering through the other parts of the huge rolling hay field at the foot of the mountain, the short Fjords breasting the snow and it pouring around them, the sun making everrything glitter.

Permalink Reply by Tralauney Farthing-Thomas on October 15, 2009 at 12:55am

I completely agree with you Ann!! I have 2 Percheron X's that are built very differently, that's how I happened upon Barefoot Treeless Saddles, I have been so thoroughly impressed with them that Ive become a retailer for them and own 4 myself. As an Equine chiropractor I think having a hard pommel or horn to protect the vulnerable withers is great and not an option that you can find in all treeless systems and because they come in different sizes you can swap them out and use the saddle on any horse you have. The only downside that I have found is, if you have a mutton or low withered horse the saddle can roll until you've had a few really good rides in it so it takes more shape. I am accident prone so I found this out the hard way...a few times...lol. I dont think they are ideal for ALL disciplines, but can be a perfect option for many.

Permalink Reply by Sue Benning on October 15, 2009 at 9:57am

I have a Percheron thoroughbred cross and the only saddle I found that fit him was a Duett. I worked through their website, www.duettsaddles.com, with tracings and now have a saddle that fits both me and my horse perfectly. They were wonderful to work with and the saddles are comfortable. They look and feel comparable to some of the $3,000 saddles out there, but are much less.