Wintec recommendations

[Ace87]

Hello one and all!

I am going to be needing a Wintec saddle for le nouveau cheval. Have decided on a Wintec as he has so little muscle and is only 4 so is going to be changing shape a lot!

Thing is I dunno which one I want? The VSD, 500 or 2000?

At first we will be doing a lot of ground work and basic flat work then progress to grid work etc...

Any suggestions welcome!!

[wildponies]

My suggestion is.. go for anything BUT a wintec :)

I like the thorowgoods personally or you could go treeless as pony will be changing shape a lot in the first couple of years.

[sharpsky]

get a thorogood T6

but if youve decided on a wintec get the 500

2000 is too ahrd to clean and the VSD is a more expensive version of the 500

[vikkig]

the vsd is good if you want a straighter cut so that your horse can move its shoulders.

i personally like the vsd over the 500 and 2000

[HorseManiac]

Lol I hate wintecs.

Get a SC saddle,lovely and soft on there backs and there adjustable. Lots of NR's love em.

[vimto92]

Wintecs have a very bad reputation on here and apparently there are very few horses that they actually fit to regardless of what wintec saddle fitters say.

I advise you to do a forum search, :)

[Ace87]

Well I basically want something that I don't need to worry about cleaning, that can get trashed etc. Already have a very nice fieldhouse that will fit him once he is fit so it's just something to use up until he's fit etc

[Ms Kitty]

My suggestion is.. go for anything BUT a wintec :)

Have to agree. Plenty other much better synthetic saddles available..

Nina x

[Pink's lady]

I'd steer clear of wintec too - it's highly unlikely to fit.

I'd got for a thorowgood saddle. The newer versions are adjustable like the wintecs and the older versions you can get for £50 almost brand new off ebay if you know what size you want.

[Ace87]

I know what size he is, my plan is to buy one either new or 2nd hand - basically depends on how good condition a second hand one would be - and my best mate will fit it (she's a saddler).

I'm not looking forward to synthetic saddle at all - I love leather saddles but it's lightweight and makes sense, is there a brand anyone recommends? I never thought much of the Thorowgoods, based on what I'd heard about them but then the T6 wasn't out then!

Is the T6 a good buy?

Sorry for all the questions it's 5.30am and I can't sleep!! x

[eventerbabe]

nowt wrong with synthetics. Thats all i use these days! my £1000 leather jeffries is barely off it's rack coz i love my thorowgoods so much.

Re the wintecs, if their fit suits your horses shape then why not? ANY BADLY FITTING SADDLE WILL DAMAGE A HORSE, NOT JUST WINTECS!!!! I have a 500 and my only critisism of it is it's quite forward cut. Was fine for the pony it was bought for but when i tried it on kezzie it was going to be impeding shoulder action (plus far too narrow for his tank like build). I don't like the new thorowgoods, all this imitation leather isn't for me. My 2 thorowgoods are the older griffin versions. Very nice and you can pick them up for under £200.

[Mimi + Me]

I've got a Wintec 2000, I've had it for the six years that I've had Mimi and I love it. She's changed shape a couple of times so I've had it adjusted accordingly.

And the one thing I prefer about it compared to the Thorowgood (although they might have changed now) is that the Wintec girth straps are leather whereas the Thorowgood ones are/used to be synthetic, making it very, very hard to do your girth up :mad:

Also, another good thing about my Wintec is when our tack room got broken into mine was the only saddle they didn't steal :o:o:p

[XxXAmeyXxX]

the Wintec girth straps are leather

they aren't are they?

I'm not a huge fan of wintecs to be honest it messed up my pony back no end even though it was supposedly fitted by a saddler and my new horse which I have just boght has serious muscle wastage from a wintec and he is a TB!

[Denbenj]

thorowgood saddles are good and have proved a nice fit for my horse. I do have my eye on the newer models out now and quite tempted to update:)

[shandy84]

I bought a wintec for the same reason had it fitted to my mare twice and it still damaged her back!

I have a thorogood now and couldn't be happier :D

[Back2Black]

I find it quite odd that this is the only site that is anti wintec... I wonder why! :o

[shandy84]

I don't know but I do know from the vet report that I used to get money back on the saddle that it was the main cause of her problems, anyone who thinks they fit all are wrong, also on a personal note I think they look very plastic :)

[eventerbabe]

B2B has a point. ANY ill fitting saddle will damage a horses back. Wintec have made a saddle that does not fit all horses. jaguars don't fit all horses either, nor do ideals or jeffries or GFS or albion....... We should be pointing the finger of blame at the rip off fitters who sell this saddle as a one size fits all saddle when it's not. My ideal grandee caused scar tissue over the right side of toby's withers. Pointless me ranting about how crap ideals are coz they aren't! the master saddler who regularly checked and fitted said saddle was fairly and squarely to blame. I also take some blame myself and it's why i've done a fitting course myself to stop my horse ever going through something like that again.

As for the thorowgood Vs wintec debate, i HATE the new thorowgoods. Both mine are old griffin versions and i adore them. I wouldn't buy the newer models coz i think they look cheap. I quite like the look of the wintecs. The brown colour in particular looks rather smart.

Go for whatever fits your horse and if in doubt of your fitters ability get a second (or third, or fourth) opinion.

[Joyscarer]

I find it quite odd that this is the only site that is anti wintec... I wonder why! :o

I'm not anti wintec, I found mine comfy and it was great for me.

I am anti fitters that fit the wintecs to unsuitable shapes.

I think that is the problem and so many of us have been victim of this.

I wonder if anyone have had a Thorowgood or other make badly fitted.

[wildponies]

My friend (Riley_Roo) has the wintec 2000 and had it fitted yesterday by my saddler who said it was a perfect fit!

Any ill fitting saddle will damage a horses back. Treeless saddles also don't suit all horses.

As long as it fits well, the make is irrelevant. As long as the purchaser isn't relying on the fact that it can be adjusted to fit the changing shape of a youngster etc :)

[Razzledazzle]

OK.... I haven't bothered to read all the posts on this thread as most of them are anti Wintec..yawn yawn. The thing is yes.... plenty of you may have valid reasons for not liking Wintecs BUT has it occured to anyone that if any one make of saddle is so widely available and cheap there are going to be a huge number of people who try them, so obviously there are going to be some cases of badly fitted, wrongly advised and just plain not suitable. Funny thing is Bates saddles are the same but leather and 2-3 times the price, the Isabel Werth dressage saddles ....still the same principle but you you NEVER hear anyone moaning about them being cr#p or the work of the devil...could it just possibly be because they are more expensive people take more care getting them fitted correctly. Just as a matter of interest how many of you who tried and hated the wintec actually bothered to use the gullet measure guide..??? The onle saddle fitter I had out to fit a wintec tried to convince me my Welsh D who at the time was round as a barrel, needed a medium narrow gullett:eek::eek:...funny but it didn't fit, if only he had used a gullet measure he would have known he needed a red..wide gullet.
Anyway..I have had my say and as you may have guessed by now I have Wintecs for 2 of my horses and have not had a problem....:eek::eek:
So call out the saddle police....I must be so cruel to my horses..:rolleyes::rolleyes:

[Ace87]

nee naw nee naw saddle police on their way :p


I think a wintec would be a good idea in the meantime, he won't be doing much work in it so it's not going to totally ruin him by any means.

My best mate is a saddler and just reflocked Ace's saddle as she thought it was getting a little low, she always keeps an eye out and I trust her judgement on saddles! She's recommended a Saddle company one once he has muscled up and matured but has said to get a wintec just now!

[Joyscarer]

Luckilly I didn't go yawn yawn when I kept reading the same problems coming up about the Wintec's shape making them not a good choice for many native types dispite the saddles being fitted to them.

I did have a reputable fitter come out (everyone in the area tends to use him) and assure me it could be adjusted to fit and to be fair the front did fit nicely, shame about the back. You can do a search of my previous posts to see how the fitter let me down and this wasn't a do it yourself fit. To be fair, he was doing everything the marketing said he should and spouted all that back at me.

Now do a search for 'Wintec' and 'fitting' and be amazed and delighted at the way wintecs are marketed.

Phrases such as "Wintec Saddles "No more Fitting Problems" Why?..." and "The Cair system is available on all wintec saddles which is an air panel rather than the conventional wool flocked panel. This eliminates pressure points as the air moves to fill any voids and away from any protrusions."

Eh no it is foam that is prone to compressing and holding that shape and eliminating pressure points just doesn't happen with Cair although it tries to cash in on the sucess of Flair!

Also note how it is marketed so that you don't have to buy different saddles to fit if you have more than one horse. Who else markets like that? Iresponsable or what!

Now look at all the marketing for other budget range saddles and tell me they do the same as Wintec do!

I do wish that the Wintec VSD had fitted my horse because it fitted me perfectly but it didn't and despite the assertions the maketing says, a saddle fitter couldn't make it fit.

Yet again I see someone using the 'gullet' argument about the fitting of Wintec's. It isn't just about the fitting of a gullet. The whole saddle has to fit.

Of course I could just wack a really wide gullet into a standard 500, 2000, or VSD but the very fact that a horse would require such a wide gullet means that the rest of it bends out of shape, the gullet clearance down the length of the saddle wouldn't be sufficient and the panels wouldn't mirror the width needed to suit the back end to the front. Despite this the very wide gullets are sold for fitting the 500, 2000 and VSD despite the fact the panels wouldn't be suitable for such a gullet setting.

I would be willing to bet that many Wintec owners if they took a look at the panel angle of the saddle and compared it to the angle of the back (when stood looking at the fit from the tail) would see they don't match. Mind you of course that doesn't matter because the revolutionary Cair panels "eliminates pressure points as the air moves to fill any voids and away from any protrusions" so of course the saddles do fit despite this don't they :rolleyes:

[Razzledazzle]

Excuse me...I didn't say anything about them fitting every horse, and I would be more than flabberghasted if they did..impossible...and I didn't say anything about being a huge fan of CAIR, personally I would have preferred my vsd to be flocked but they only come in the CAIR version and as mine fits fine...everywhere...yes...IT FITS I am happy to keep it.
As for your argument them about not fitting along the panel, just because this may be the case with one horse doesn't mean it will be the case with every horse that is fitted with a wintec. I do agree with you that the marketing is irresponsible in saying you only need one saddle for all your horses..if that were really the case why do they make different versions.? It doesn't make a bit of difference what make a saddle is if it doesn't fit ...it doesn't fit. THAT is the point I was making.....just trying to reason out that many many more people have tried a Wintec than say a jefferies or any other more conventional make, so more problems are the likely result....OK ???
All in all I don't think anything I said was a million miles away from your earlier post........ saddle fitters are mostly to blame for saying they fit when they don't. Now I will get off my high horse if you will..!!

[JustJas]

I had a wintec 2000 on my newfie/arab- was perfect and a 500 on an ID mare with similar success so I really like them.
But our cob and arab were not wintec candidiates. Kiz cob toow wide for a saddle and not keen on the xw fit. Jazz-arab the saddle was too narrow at the back panels and pivoted on her back- she has a made to measure now.

I miss my wintec easy to keep!

[speedqueen]

Excuse me...I didn't say anything about them fitting every horse, and I would be more than flabberghasted if they did..impossible...and I didn't say anything about being a huge fan of CAIR, personally I would have preferred my vsd to be flocked but they only come in the CAIR version and as mine fits fine...everywhere...yes...IT FITS I am happy to keep it.
As for your argument them about not fitting along the panel, just because this may be the case with one horse doesn't mean it will be the case with every horse that is fitted with a wintec. I do agree with you that the marketing is irresponsible in saying you only need one saddle for all your horses..if that were really the case why do they make different versions.? It doesn't make a bit of difference what make a saddle is if it doesn't fit ...it doesn't fit. THAT is the point I was making.....just trying to reason out that many many more people have tried a Wintec than say a jefferies or any other more conventional make, so more problems are the likely result....OK ???
All in all I don't think anything I said was a million miles away from your earlier post........ saddle fitters are mostly to blame for saying they fit when they don't. Now I will get off my high horse if you will..!!

I do agree with razzledazzle ...but joyscarer does have a couple of valid points too..
You had best send the "saddle police" on to me when they have finished with you razzledazzle as I too have a couple of wintecs which fit really well..:D:D
BUT I have a thorowgood on my other horse so 2-1 to wintec .. ha ha ;):rolleyes::o:confused::):eek:

[chev]

I have a Wintec. It fits a couple of mine but not all. I wouldn't expect any saddle to fit all horses, not even a treeless.

The problem I have with Wintec is the 'It fits all' philosophy... but have to say the same is true of treeless saddles who proclaim the same (or any saddle that claims that to be honest).

I like my Wintec; the horses it fits like my Wintec. You just need to be careful about having it properly fitted, is all.

[Razzledazzle]

I have a Wintec. It fits a couple of mine but not all. I wouldn't expect any saddle to fit all horses, not even a treeless.

The problem I have with Wintec is the 'It fits all' philosophy... but have to say the same is true of treeless saddles who proclaim the same (or any saddle that claims that to be honest).

I like my Wintec; the horses it fits like my Wintec. You just need to be careful about having it properly fitted, is all.

:):) THANK YOU:):) A voice of reason ..and commonsense.:D
And speedqueen....listen out for the sirens the saddle police are on their way..........:eek:

[Pink's lady]

plenty of you may have valid reasons for not liking Wintecs BUT has it occured to anyone that if any one make of saddle is so widely available and cheap there are going to be a huge number of people who try them, so obviously there are going to be some cases of badly fitted, wrongly advised and just plain not suitable.

There are so many wintec out there, many badly fitted, because the wintec marketing is good. Very good. They are cheap and affordable and when they are marketed as 'fitting any horse', people beleive that.

I have seem many wintecs badly fitted. Far more badly fitted wintecs than well fitting wintecs.

They do suit some horses - TB's (and other narrow, sloped backs). That's what they are designed for and that's the only type of horse they fit. They CANNOT fit flat-backed, wide horses due to their design. As a general rule cobs and natives are flat backed and wide and therefore wintecs CANNOT fit those kind of horses. There will be the odd cob/native that isn't flat backed and wide but they're not common. But there are plenty of poor wide, flat-backed cob/natives who are wearing wintecs:(

Funny thing is Bates saddles are the same but leather and 2-3 times the price, the Isabel Werth dressage saddles ....still the same principle but you you NEVER hear anyone moaning about them being cr#p or the work of the devil...could it just possibly be because they are more expensive people take more care getting them fitted correctly

Check you're facts first. The leather Bates saddle and the Isabella werth saddles are totally different (as is the cob saddle). Different tree, different panels. The fact they fit much better is because the design is different, nothing to do with their price. And certainly nothing to do with 'taking more care in fitting them'. The majority of badly fitted wintecs have been 'proffesionally fitted' - you can't take more care with saddle fitting than that.

Just as a matter of interest how many of you who tried and hated the wintec actually bothered to use the gullet measure guide..???

I have a gullet guage, and I know how to use it. Doesn't make a blind bit of difference - even if the width is correct the rest of the saddle generally doesn't fit. And incidently the gauges are rubbish too - the only way to be sure the width is correct is fitting the gullet directly to their back.

The argument that not every saddle suits every horse anyways is a fair one but it doesn't take into account that wintecs are a poor design. And they very definintily are. The tree starts to curve as they get wider (despite being marketed as happily going up to an x-wide) and the panels are stupidly sloped due to bad design. I haven't seen any other make of saddle where the panels slope so much. There is very very few horses the panels fit - they are even too sloped for many TB's.

Sadly there are many ardent wintec fans out there who will ignore poor fit staring them in the face becuse they like the saddle:rolleyes: If their horse doesn't try and chuck them off everytime they get on the saddle MUST be a good fit:rolleyes:

I have had my say and as you may have guessed by now I have Wintecs for 2 of my horses and have not had a problem....

You say you have a welsh cob? I would be extremely grateful if you would be willing to take a couple of pictures of him wearing his wintec please, esp from behind, showing the panels sitting on his back. I'm still trying to get a good picture of wintecs that are well fitted and suit the back they're on and as you are adamat the saddle fits a couple of pictures would be much appreciated.

[mikh]

My friend (Riley_Roo) has the wintec 2000 and had it fitted yesterday by my saddler who said it was a perfect fit!


I'm sorry but so did my fitter, I think the conclusion is that the wintec tree is not suitable for 90% of horses, correct me if I am wrong but they are more suited to TB type. Personally I'd always stay clear, I had mine fitted in Jan and has gave my mare a tight sore back and muscle waste.

[mikh]

You say you have a welsh cob? I would be extremely grateful if you would be willing to take a couple of pictures of him wearing his wintec please, esp from behind, showing the panels sitting on his back. I'm still trying to get a good picture of wintecs that are well fitted and suit the back they're on and as you are adamat the saddle fits a couple of pictures would be much appreciated.

Pink's lady will show you in simple terms whether your saddle fits or not, she did me and am very greatful - my mare never bucked, bolted or reared despite being in pain!:eek:

[Razzledazzle]

Pink's lady will show you in simple terms whether your saddle fits or not, she did me and am very greatful - my mare never bucked, bolted or reared despite being in pain!:eek:

I am sure she could but I wasn't asking for or giving advice..only giving an opinion...I know my saddle fits, it was checked by an anti wintec saddlefitter who had every opportunity to try to sell me a different saddle but he had to grudgingly admit my wintec was a good fit.The welshie in question would have no qualms in letting me know if his saddle hurt, we had tried a dressage saddle on him for a couple of days in the past and the resulting behaviour that caused was very out of character..rearing, spinning.

[Fizz]

i am not against wintecs as such , i have had the bates gp & the wintec 500, they just didnt fit any horse i had or any horse on my yard which included 3 tb's, NF, welsh sec d , 2 idxtbs & a warmblood:o

[Back2Black]

I had one for my HW cob and it fitted him perfectly and my ID x Welsh Section D had one and it fitted him perfectly! I have seen major problems with saddles and horses and none of them have been wintecs... I do agree that they don't fit every horse but there are horses out there they do fit

[kaytenherponies]

I had a wintec 2000 and i loved it, fitted it myself :eek: and used it for 5 years! Dont particually like the other models tho especially the dressaage.

I only ran in to problems with wintecs when a saddle fitter got involved :rolleyes:

[kaytenherponies]

I am sure she could but I wasn't asking for or giving advice..only giving an opinion...I know my saddle fits, it was checked by an anti wintec saddlefitter who had every opportunity to try to sell me a different saddle but he had to grudgingly admit my wintec was a good fit.The welshie in question would have no qualms in letting me know if his saddle hurt, we had tried a dressage saddle on him for a couple of days in the past and the resulting behaviour that caused was very out of character..rearing, spinning.


Can i just ask was that any dressage saddle or did u just try the one???? Am having what sounds like a very similar prob at moment my boy seems to hate dressage saddles (am now trying my forth) and as we do dressage is a lil bit on the annoying side, ta

[wildponies]

I'm sorry but so did my fitter, I think the conclusion is that the wintec tree is not suitable for 90% of horses, correct me if I am wrong but they are more suited to TB type. Personally I'd always stay clear, I had mine fitted in Jan and has gave my mare a tight sore back and muscle waste.

MIKH - Before you quote me, please read my posts correctly.

I am not a fan of wintecs. HOWEVER, my friend has one and it fits her thoroughbred perfectly.

[Pink's lady]

I had one for my HW cob and it fitted him perfectly and my ID x Welsh Section D had one and it fitted him perfectly! I have seen major problems with saddles and horses and none of them have been wintecs... I do agree that they don't fit every horse but there are horses out there they do fit

I would be quite frankly amazed if it fitted you HW cob. They CANNOT fit flat-backed wide horses (i.e cobs) due to their design. Plenty of saddlers will fit them though.:mad: And plenty of horses won't say a word of complaint:( Poor Pink wore hers for 6months with not a peep until I did some research and decided it was an appaling fit:(

Incidently, who told you it fitted? I suspect it's the same saddler who told me mine fitted. And all the others badly fitted wintecs in this area:mad:

[mikh]

MIKH - Before you quote me, please read my posts correctly.

I am not a fan of wintecs. HOWEVER, my friend has one and it fits her thoroughbred perfectly.

In your post that I quoted it did not say your friend horse was a TB, the point I was making is that my saddler said it fitted 100% and it did not!

[k8_doran]

all I will say is check out my post, this is why i dont like wintecs http://www.newrider.com/forum/showthread.php?t=141184