HM Dressage Saddle

[Janey Painy]

I'm sooooo excited!!! A Saddler is coming out tomorrow to take templates and measurements of Esther's back, to get her Heather Moffett Dressage Saddle made by Thorowgood! :D I don't think it will be here until the end of August, I'm just so excited!
Is anyone else getting one? Or has anyone seen a sneek preview?

God Bless,
Jane

[Wally]

Oh yes, I had a sit on one at the BETA trade fair, it is mega comfy and so easy to sit in.

I'm a Thorowgood stockist and distributor and I've got some on order, but they tell me the folk that supply the special foam are messing them about, I was given a delivery time of 8 weeks yesterday! It will be well worth the wait so be patient, Thorowgood are doing their best but cannot get the seat foam supplier to come up with the goods!

[ros]

Yes, I'm waiting for mine right now. I rode in the leather version at Heather's, and I kid you not, you won't BELIEVE how much difference it will make to your riding (provided the saddler fits Esther properly, of course).

Merlin is very wide, and I tried to get a synthetic version while I was waiting for him to be measured for the real thing, but the wide wasn't wide enough, and I didn't know Thorowgood will make to measure09ou87iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii (cat on keyboard), so I had him measured by a different saddler who fobbed me off with a Wintec extra wide - still not wide enough so I sent it back, and now I have no saddle at all (at least not one thatI can use) and I've wasted most of this summer, what with Foot and Mouth and all, but I refuse to compromise, and I know it will be worth the wait in the end. That's how good Heather's saddles are!

[Janey Painy]

Ooooh Pants! :rolleyes:
Well Esther turned out to be a typical Lipizzaner! The saddle fitting man said he's never seen such a wide horse! And she's only 14:3hh!!! The template looked hilarious; basically it was a straight line with a slight bend in it! But sadly it's not that funny. He doesn't know if Thorogood can make a tree that wide. :( He is going to have a talk with them and get back to me on it. Oh dear. I have my heart set on the HM Dressage.
He brought out the GPX version, which was so narrow on her that it stood so high on her back that a giraffe could have walked underneath without touching the pommle! :eek:
I guess I just have to wait and pray...

Ros, it sounds like we have a lot in common! What breed is your horse?

God bless,
An eagerly awaiting Jane!

[ros]

Sorry you're having trouble - I know how it feels.

Merlin isn't the sort of horse you'd imagine to be so wide - he's cobxTB, don't know any more than that but Heather said she thought he had some Shire in him somewhere! He's not what I'd class as a big horse (only 16.1hh ish) but he's filled out a lot in the last year and is fat on top of that!

I do think a lot of horses are much wider than their owners - and a lot of saddlers - realise. It's also amazing what people are happy to put on their horses. Little Midnight here is only about 13.2hh (Dales cross) but he's so fat his withers are actually more or less flat. What the hell do you do with a pony like that! His owner "fell in love with" a synthetic saddle and appears to have bought it without even bothering to try it on him, because it looks like narrow/medium, and I don't know how she rides in it. It must tip her back something rotten! It certainly won't be doing Midnight much good but she doesn't ride very often and he's like a little Sherman Tank so he probably copes. just about.

Don't give up, Jane. If Thorowgood don't come up with the goods maybe Heather or Sue might have some suggestions, or someone may know of a leather version up for grabs.

[Heather]

HI Janey,

I haven't been able to speak to Vanessa at TG for weeks as we have both been away a lot and have missed each other when we have been around. I had thought that TG were going to buy the foam through Feedmark who bring in large quantities to make the Seatbone Saver, so i will have to find out what is going on. So many people have been waiting so long- it was supposed to be out in April, having been launched at the BETA trade fiar and Equus.


As for your Lippi being wide, par for the course with this breed I am afraid to say Janey! And as for Ros's Merlin- suffice it to say that i think he is the second widest horse that I have ever fitted- second only to Juniper the Lippi in my book. Good job Ros is tall and has long legs! However the plan I think is to slim him down as soon as she can get a saddle to ride him in! Hope that Ros should have one by the end of next week- she came to try a couple of ex demo models yesterday.


Cheers,


Heather

[geneva2604]

Is anyone else aware that Wintec/Bates do in fact make a wider gullet than extra wide. A haflinger gullet which is very much wider. I had my wintec 500 dressage saddle reflocked to take away the banana shape, added the Haflinger gullet, and bingo, I have a saddle that fits my table-topped; no withered sometimes fat, highland!!!!! If anyone wants furtherinfo. I will gladly supply the name of the saddler that has a few Haflinger gullets. I hope this helps.

karen

[Janey Painy]

Just got off the phone to the saddler. He says he has been in touch with TG but they don't make tree's made to measure. What is made to measure then?!? Anyway I just have to wait until they are in production and then he'll send the templates and measurments off to TG to see if the extra wide is wide enough. Personally I doubt it.....but what else can I do but wait? Unless I win the lottery I won't be able to afford a leather one :(

Hmm, I thought second hand sadles were a no go area? Aren't they supposed to be dangerous? Well not dangerous, but dodgy. :confused:

God bless,
Janey

[Janey Painy]

Oops! I forgot to mention this:
Thanx Karen for the info on the Wintec 500. I would be interested, but Heather's Saddles are made differently and help put the rider in a more classically correct position. If it wasn't for the fact I only want a HM saddle, I don't think I'd be so stuck!

I will be patient!!!

[Janey Painy]

Well here's the latest...

I rang TG earlier today, just to see if they were any closer to a date for the saddle being out. Well, now it seems to be the end of October! :( :mad:

Heather, is there anything we can do to speed things up? I went through a load of old threads in this forum yesterday and it seems lots of people have been waiting even longer than me!!! Is it time to start writng 'get your act together!' letters to Feedmark/thorowgood?

Hmmm....big sigh...:(

[Heather]

Yes, Janey,

I think that it is time that TG etc got thier act together. They told me the foam had arrived last time I spoke to them. I will speak to Feedmark tomorrow as they are supplying it. It really is getting a ridiculously long wait, and regarding not making the saddle in the extra wide, which I had absolutely asserted the necessity, as dressage horses develop wider as they progress. Certainly, other than Ringo, I haven't a horse on the premises that their ordinary wide fitting would go anywhere near. Not a lot of cop if I can't even demonstrate my own designs on my own horses.

I do hope as many of you as possible will lobby TG to let them know that these days, horses are getting wider because enlightened saddlers are fitting them with wider saddles enabling them to develop. I just can't understand their attitude- surely public demand is the best possible market research any company can have?

And Janey, we can most likely lend you a leather saddle for you to ride Esther when you get here, until you can get sorted.


Heather

[Janey Painy]

:) Thanks Heather! Do let us know what happens with Feedmark tomorrow...

[Heather]

Spoke to Chris Townsend, owner of Feedmark today and he assures me that TG have the foam- they sent it the day after it was ordered.

I know that Vanessa Roberts at TG said to me that they have suddenly been inundated with orders following things picking up after FMD, she said they have never been so busy, so I think it is just sheer volume of orders that are holding things up. They are absolutely snowed under.

However, if everyone who wants extra wide saddles would inundate them too with complaints, we might make some headway there too!



Heather