Barefoot owners - Pommel inserts

molly34

molly34

devil's advocate ;)
Mar 9, 2006
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Surrey/Hampshire
I have a Cherokee which I love, and recently got the soft pommel insert as I felt the standard solid one was a bit too narrow. The soft pommel was a total disaster: Willow's so flat that without any support in the pommel the front of the saddle started spreading, and the third time I tried it the whole saddle slid over to the right (my strongest leg) and only stopped because I use a hunter breastplate. I've put the original back in for now but I'm not happy to keep it long term, but I also don't want to shell out another 30 quid for the wide pommel if that's not going to be right either!

So what are other Barefooters using?
Is there a 'soft' pommel stuffing that gives a bit more stability, or something I can do to mine to make it firmer?
How much wider is the wide insert.... and does anyone have one they don't need?
 
I stuffed the pommel of my trekker (like a cheyanne) with the insides of a pillow and made it quite firm, but the saddle was still laterally unstable.

With the barefoots I had I have the wide inserts, and the dartmoor treefrees have the wide and x wide pommel inserts in, which are fine on my welsh cob and Hw cob, and the treefree ones would fit in the barefoot, but they are a lot more expensive.

Maybe try stuffing the pommel more firmly with the insides of a pillow, and see if that holds the structure more, if not then a wider solid insert is going to be your best bet.
 
Hi,
We too are having a few fitting issues with my daughters Barefoot Cheyenne. I also think the pommel may be to narrow as we are only getting dirty marks on the numnah at the withers and the back of the saddle [ as though its bridging - which shouldn't be poss as its so flexible ]

We have tried stuffing the pommel with the inside of a pillow but found that it just flattened out on the wither and obviously then there was no spine clearance.

I did ring the place I bought it from and they were very helpful but definately said that removal of the pommel would affect the stability and they also thought that the pommel we had should fit our 13.2 Icelandic. My daughter is very light and they did wonder if there just was not enough weight to bed it in.

We are at present trying to shim the numnah in the area that doesn't seem to touch to see if that helps and are considering trying the larger pommel.

My daughter loves this saddle but it has to fit right, part of the problem is that I can't really find any information about people having fitting issues.

Will post some pics
 
Trú <3 said:
Hi,
We too are having a few fitting issues with my daughters Barefoot Cheyenne. I also think the pommel may be to narrow as we are only getting dirty marks on the numnah at the withers and the back of the saddle [ as though its bridging - which shouldn't be poss as its so flexible ]
Click to expand...
Yeah, it was the dirt on the saddle cloth that got me wondering. The dirt marks have always been pretty even (I'm guessing I'm a fair bit heavier than your daughter, lol!) but I noticed much more at the withers once she lost the extra padding of her wooly mammoth winter coat.

Looks like I'll have to bite the bullet and get a wide insert. Thanks guys.
 
if you use pillow stuffing you have to stuff it very tightly so its almost solid. i managed to squeeze two and a half sofa cushions into mine :p

went back to the fibreglass pommel thing though because the saddle went a bit offkilter with the stuffing. my pony is witherless/coffeetabled as well but we're ok with the standard one. i did stuff the cantle though!

Julia
x
 
I had to get the wide one for my arab x connemara, and he isn't the flattest withered. So I have both, if I can be of any use measuring or photographing them or anything to compare size wise:confused: If the wide is slightly too wide, you have the option of adding inserts to the numnah.

I attatched a diagram someone once did in this thread ( wont let me add same pic again! ) http://www.newrider.com/forum/showthread.php?t=143384 of how to fit the pommels, try on your horse out of the saddle.
 
A note about dirt & sweat patterns: dirt moves away from pressure and accumulates where there is least pressure. This also in part, applies to sweat patterns too.

It is impossible for a flexible saddle such as a Barefoot to "bridge". Once the riders weight is in the seat, the mid-section of the saddle has no option but to flex downwards and make contact with the horse's back. As the riders weight and seat apply the largest area of pressure, I would expect the corresponding area of the numnah beneath the rider to be the cleanest and the dirtiest areas to be at the front and rear of the numnah. If you want some more details on this, please go to www.goldfinch-equestrian.co.uk/pressuretesting2.pdf. It mostly relates to the Freeform but the section on dirt & sweat patterns will give you an idea of what to look for.

As far as fitting the pommel to your horse, the best thing is to take it out of the pocket and sit it over your horse's withers in the correct spot to check the bearing area is the same angle as the shape of your horse.

HTH.
 
freeform and Perdita thanks for those links, they're really helpful.

Now I wonder if I'm just seeing more dirt collecting at the front because it isn't getting trapped in fluffy winter coat! I haven't paid much attention to the dirt at the back of the pad, will look carefully next time to see if that bits grubbier too. I'll also have a play with the pommel on its own and see how it looks.
 
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