Saddle woes 😭

Jessey

Jessey

Well-Known Member
Dec 20, 2004
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Suffolk, UK
I haven't posted about this much as I am really upset and angry about it 😭 I haven't been really happy with my saddle fit all summer, my amazing saddler closed her business at the end of Feb and I have had 3 saddlers visit, a total of 5 times (early May, mid May, July, August and September) and although they keep telling me its fine, it's obviously not!
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It was difficult to tell initially as he gets much lighter spots and light dapples and even the odd random white patch which is nothing to do with the saddle, but it has got worse over the last few weeks and there is no mistaking it now.
June
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July
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September
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This saddle is great when it's right, but it seems most saddle fitters have zero clue how to work with serge panels. I am 95% sure it needs some serious regulating or a re-flock - but 2 of the saddle fitters I had out told me it didn't and convinced me I was wrong but that was the fix last time I went through this with this saddle on Jess and I can feel big hard lumps in the panels. I have even asked if I just need to quit with it and buy him a new one, 2 of them said no it's fine. I am just praying once it's sorted the white marks will disappear like they did on Jess. Monkey, bless his cottons, has not objected at all to the saddle, he doesn't even appear particularly sore, but his back seems more dipped than before.

So last week I again called the factory where it was made, and for the first time this year I was able to get through! The guy who made the saddle has given me the number of 2 people he personally trained and he confirmed he will re-flock it if I want it done. I called the first of the 2 people yesterday and hopefully she will fit us in very soon, I am just waiting to hear back from her 🤞 she at least has confirmed if the flocking is lumpy she will regulate it or re-flock!

I'm so upset it's happened, somehow on a young horse it feels so much more terrible, but it's always terrible. It's def crushed my desire to ride the last couple of weeks, I just can't get on knowing it's doing that to his back. I had a treeless that I brought back in June but hadn't used, and I have played about with it but it just isn't going to suit his withers so I have just sold it.
 
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My view is that saddlers may try to avoid asking owners to foot the bill for a high price solution. When I was going to buy Maisie, I brought in the saddler I knew and told him that, if it was suitable, I wanted her to have the same (expensive) saddle in which I rode my old share.
 
Skib said:
My view is that saddlers may try to avoid asking owners to foot the bill for a high price solution. When I was going to buy Maisie, I brought in the saddler I knew and told him that, if it was suitable, I wanted her to have the same (expensive) saddle in which I rode my old share.
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I have told them I am happy to pay for re-flocking, or to buy a replacement saddle, none of them said I needed it but obviously they don't know what they are doing, my flocking should never have been allowed to go lumpy and if they had of been regulating it properly it wouldn't have gone like that. It's because they are so used to dealing with leather panels they don't understand the different care serge needs.
 
I agree that flocking, whether leather or serge panels, should never be lumpy or hard, and to add insult to injury adjusting or even completely reflocking isn't that expensive. I wonder if there a fitters out there who simply don't know how to though, you don't need a qualification to call yourself a saddle fitter.

If the fitter you spoke to can't come quickly and he needs to stay in work then I wonder if a Thinline pad would offer him some protection against the uneven flocking? They do score very well on pressure mapping and evening out pressure irregularities, though obviously it's a sticking plaster not a fix in your case. The downside is if you have the serge panel because you both like the extra feel it gives the Thinline pad will reduce that a bit.

Try not to beat yourself up about it 🤗
 
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There def are those who aren't qualified to flock saddles, but the ones I had are all master saddlers, so definitely have done the training. The factory quoted me 50-80 quid to re-flock, so not expensive at all.

I am happy for him not to be in ridden work, I had planned for him to have a bit of down time now anyway, TBH I want his back to recover a bit so we aren't fitting a saddle to an already tense, misshapen back, when it comes to it 🤞
 
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Poor boy, I can see the change in his back shape. Try not to worry, I am sure his back will recover quickly once the fit is fixed.

If you'd like to borrow my Christ Lammfelle pad for a bit you'd be welcome to :)
 
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Jane&Ziggy said:
Poor boy, I can see the change in his back shape. Try not to worry, I am sure his back will recover quickly once the fit is fixed.

If you'd like to borrow my Christ Lammfelle pad for a bit you'd be welcome to :)
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That’s so kind of you, but I think I’m best to just let him rest and recoop for now.
 
3 weeks oh well you did say you would give Monkey some down time. Hopefully you'll get some time off over Christmas so you can proper test it out then. 🤞
 
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Yeah I have a big event at work the week before so will no doubt be pulling silly hours up until then anyway, so I wouldn’t have had much riding time between now and then so it’s no huge loss, and some downtime will do him good, as long as he doesn’t get himself into too much trouble!
 
Saddle fitter due here any minute and the rain is absolutely torrential, thank goodness I have the barn so she can look at it in the relative dry but I don’t expect I’ll be able to ride in it today - I haven’t sat on him in weeks and he dislikes the rain at the best of times and the field is so wet now. Not ideal at all.
 
Maybe not being under any pressure to ride in it when he's had time off is no bad thing, at least when you do you can take your time and go at a pace he's happy with. Good luck!
 
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Jessey said:
There def are those who aren't qualified to flock saddles, but the ones I had are all master saddlers, so definitely have done the training. The factory quoted me 50-80 quid to re-flock, so not expensive at all.

I am happy for him not to be in ridden work, I had planned for him to have a bit of down time now anyway, TBH I want his back to recover a bit so we aren't fitting a saddle to an already tense, misshapen back, when it comes to it 🤞
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i pay around £30 for each adjustment of flocking, from a master saddler who helpfully lives half a mile away
 
I’m happy with this lady, she agreed the saddle fits, but that the flocking was a mess. She spent 2.5 hours regulating it! It’s now soft and even, though it may need another session when it settles as she’s had to do so much on it. He was really good, i hopped on in the barn and had a walk around, now to do 4 hours of walking to settle it evenly (because it’s synthetic flock and serge) before we can up the gears 🤞
 
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@Jessey I've never heard of synthetic flock, when I had a saddle with serge panels it was still wool flocked. Did she say if there was a reason for using a synthetic flocking material? I'm just being curious.
 
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carthorse said:
@Jessey I've never heard of synthetic flock, when I had a saddle with serge panels it was still wool flocked. Did she say if there was a reason for using a synthetic flocking material? I'm just being curious.
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Yeah it’s because sheep’s wool doesn’t bind together so will move too much in serge panels as there’s less rigidity in them, so all serge should use a synthetic wool that will knit together which is why it needs regularly regulating (where they stick an awl through the bottom of the panel every inch or so and move the flock around to keep it even) otherwise it can ball up and cause pressure points, which seems to be exactly what we had happening.
 
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