Barrie Swaine Saddles

sjp1

sjp1

Well-Known Member
Sep 14, 2009
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I know we have recently had a post about a Barry Swaine saddle that is the devils spawn. And clearly it had been altered - I can't believe that Barry Swaine would actually have made a broken saddle - there are far too many good reviews about his saddles. I know he makes a flexi treed saddle which appears to be cut, but is intended to flex.

After Tobes many injuries, tendon and then his nightmare of being caught up on the stable bolt, had a back lady out who said he had an old problem in both shoulders and because of this his bottom was unbelievably tight, and his back was like a plank of wood. Indeed, with pressure down either side of his spine, he didn't move. After she had worked on him a bit, not a lot, because she said too much was as bad as too little, he then moved his hindquarter when she ran her nail down beside his spine.

I have exercises to do, and she is a great advocate of Barrie Swaine saddles having trained with Kay Humphries. She is suggesting a second hand saddle, fitted wider with pads, a saddle with wide panels anyway which Tobes appears to prefer, and one of the older style.

We have exercises to do, not masses, we need to long rein, but I was amazed at how whizzy he was going down the track after his small amount of treatment. Was like leading a different horse.

He used to have an amazing long free walk, over the years he has got shorter and shorter in front, and I when riding used to have to trot to catch up with the others at walk -just goes to show what you get used to.

So am sure they are much like any other saddles - marmite - but I do think that wider panels make for a wider weight bearing surface.

I am not a huge rider at all, Tobes is a big 15.3 appy who is like a power house of muscle. I do have long legs and a short body, but am around 9.5 stone so not really hugely big.

I have to say that his back was better with treeless - that however was not without its problems, but am not having much luck with treed saddles at all. He preferred the saddle I bought him without having it properly fitted, but clearly the issues have occurred over time.

Thoughts?
 
Given the stable bolt incident, how could she tell the both shoulder injury is old and not related to that? And did she think it is saddle caused? Ive generally experianced saddles effecting one side more than the other, but im most certainly no pro, Ive just learnt to question any new therapists judgement after the saddle fit/haematoma issue with jess, I felt an immediate difference in her but it appears we treated a symptom which had been possibly incorrectly interpreted.

Foot balance could have been effecting his walk and youre already working on that, tripping a lot would put anyone off striding out.

Sorry, feel like devils advocate, just my first thoughts. And no help on the saddle im afraid, just remembered domanes post when commenting on that other thread.

Glad tobes is feeling brighter :D
 
My RI has two Barrie Swaine saddles, jumping and dressage, and she loves them. She did say Barrie himself has an 'interesting' personality and she didn't really recommend me to go to him. Like you I am looking for saddles with wider panels and have somehow worked my way round thinking about Barrie Swaine, Wow, Strada, Balance and eventually settled on Lavinia Mitchell (who I think you mentioned). All these, except BS, seem to be highly recommended on an Arabian forum I sometimes go on.

I'm having a LV saddle consultation with a local fitter (not Lavinia herself) next week, and really hoping I like the saddles! My only concern is that one of the things I found annoying about the treeless was having to position the pad perfectly underneath and hope it still appeared to be perfectly positioned once mounted - the number of times I got on board then found the pad was slightly to one side and had to get off, un-tack and rearrange was a huge drawback - and of course the LM method also uses pads, with a wider fitting saddle. Anyway I can only try.

Have you any idea why Toby is such a saddle fitting nightmare? I know Arabs are notoriously hard to fit because of their shape and short back, but wondered what it is about Toby that makes it such a problem.

Also be interested to know what exercises you have been given (so I can compare). I've got pole work, carrot stretches (which I've abandoned because Raf is so obsessed with the carrot he won't concentrate on what he's supposed to be doing) and now lunging in side reins and an elasticated tail bandage around his back end. He enjoys the poles, but isn't keen on the lunging, it's so hard!
 
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I have a Barry Swaine saddle and I love it. It came with Ben and I have had it checked a few times and it's perfect for him. I have no experience with other saddles so can't comment further.
 
Personally, and of course I fit the saddles I fit because I believe they're the best solution for the market I serve, I do not understand why you'd want the saddle to become effectively more curvy when you sit in it. I would want my saddle to resist my weight coming down into it, not bend in the middle and push that into the horse. I don't get it. Of course like any saddle they will work for some I'm sure, but I do see the ones they don't work for and they can be unstable - they use I believe only one or two tree shapes for all horses everywhere and the rest is done with flocking. Again, I of course do a lot of flocking and know how much, and how little, that can change a saddle's fit. The tree has to be right and that doesn't always mean wider, it certainly doesn't often mean as curvy as some some of these trees can be (as two brands have been mentioned).
 
I think that is a very good point. I am quite confused i must admit and if your saddles came up second hand, i would be very interested. U am however loathe to spend £1k ish on a saddle when there is no guarantee it will suit. Have been through a fair few saddles all of which promise a lot and don't work which is fine for a few hundred because you can sell them on, but as am fairly disillusioned with it all don't want to lose hundreds
 
Well ............. back lady came back again today. Today we had a look at the Black Country saddle Tobes had been wearing for some time that had been correctly fitted to him.

The saddle that he started to play up being tacked up in, so finally probably for three months I rode him in another saddle I bought that he was happy to have put on him, before he injured his tendon.

I hadn't taken the saddle he was in before he injured his tendon up to the yard, but the Black Country I had lent to a friend so it was there. Back lady didn't tell me what the problem was but guided me through - put both fingers into the curve where the stirrups go - and oh dear, one is further forward than the other. After various other ways of looking at it, including looking down the gullet, you can easily see one panel is further ahead than the other - it is fairly clear that the whole saddle is on a skew. No wonder I always felt a bit collapsed on one side, and no wonder Tobes got to the point where he said 'no way Jose!'.

The saddle I bought and didn't have fitted, I checked out last night, feels pretty symmetrical to me. However, I think I am going to go with what she suggests. She is well respected and seems to have the best interests of the horse at heart. We cannot have a gP saddle, it needs to be the half panels rather than the French panels and tbh, I really trust her.

We went over Tobes with her heat laser gadget - we have found an issue in his hoof which is setting back my massage of his shoulder and her releasing him. Poulticing last night, today and tonight, true enough, there is gunk coming out. I would highly recommend everyone getting one, I have bought one from her, bless her, for some peculiar reason she seems to like my quirky appy and gave it to me trade, prob because she knows it will be well used! - but you can buy them for around £60 from Robinsons.

Every area shows a different temp, it doesn't really matter what temp it is, but if you find on one side of the hoof it is reading 100 over all the other areas, there is a problem which if it hasn't arrived will. You can use it for joints, hocks, feet etc.
 
Oh dear. Clever Tobes for telling you it wasn't right though, and clever you for listening to him before he was hurt. Your new saddle fitter sounds good, I suppose Yorkshire is too far for her to come?!

The heat gadget sounds interesting - I had no idea you could buy them for every day use. Raf also has issues releasing one shoulder, I hadn't considered an abscess but it might be worth checking.
 
Tell us more about this heat gadget, I have a laser thermometer I used to keep checks on bo's stifle when he injured it but havent dug it out since. What was the temp variance you saw?
 
Because of the shoulder - he has a big shoulder and his issue is in the shoulder and has been for a long time. She thinks the shoulder should be free.
 
Are you still struggling / trying to find a saddle? Please give me a call; I fit treeless and treed saddles, so can give you an unbiased opinion! I also am one of Barrie Swain saddle fitters, so I can tell you all about them!
 
sjp1 said:
Because of the shoulder - he has a big shoulder and his issue is in the shoulder and has been for a long time. She thinks the shoulder should be free.
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I find you get a free shoulder from getting the basic fit right, I don't even need to go to a straight cut saddle very often to achieve it. I fitted a stonking great cob yesterday who has two of our saddles, he moved very sweetly in the WH straight cut version but not so much in the GPJ recently, I adjusted the flock to free the shoulders and he went equally well in both. So much is down to the right tree and panel/flocking and the saddle staying in the right place.
 
Well, I don't know, the whole thing is massively confusing. Having said that, I trust my back lady 110%. She isn't trying to sell me a saddle, she has suggested she will find one, and I will pay, so she isn't making a mark up and she is suggesting second hand.

I have thrown my lot in with her, she is making a difference to Tobes and she doesn't pull any punches. I need to go with her suggestions, she is the one who is sorting his muscular issues and if she thinks a Swain saddle will do the trick, I think that's what I need to go with. I have found one which I have now bought, should arrive next week. Not a kings ransom, so I can sell it on if she doesn't think it will suit. She has however okayed it as far as we can see.

I was quite shocked to find that my Black Country saddle was skew. One stirrup bar was different to the other and it would appear a lot of mass produced saddles are the same. Swain saddles are individually made therefore this shouldn't happen. As she said, 3 sets of people missed the issue on the Black Country. The manufacturer, the shop that sold it and the fitter. Quite worrying really - it seems to happen often
 
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