This message is from: Karen McCarthy <weeg...@hotmail.com>
Laurie, I totally understand about what the saddle fitter is telling you about the Fallis saddle. I have ridden in one (my friend has a nice older one for her QH) and they are different in that you get a truer seat position, not too chair-like and built up so you get behind the motion as most other western saddles tend to.The stirrups hang under you and the saddles are rigged differently w/ less bulk. But I digress. I think for most fjords, IF you are going 'traditional' western, unless the saddle is custom made, and that means from the tree up, that you will never get a 100% good fit. I know because I worked w/ a really good saddle maker ( Rick Ricotti) to make my saddle (wow, has it been over 20 years ago??!! OMG.) Rick also happened to be a very good civil engineer and was really into getting the tree to fit. Took us 3 attempts at sending the tree back + forth w/ the tree guy in Utah. This is not for the faint of heart as yes it will cost you. But the good thing is I still ride in that saddle and it fits 97% of what I ride, even non-fjords. Its also kept a good value should I ever part with it (no). Here's what we did: 1. Shortened the bars - in standard trees bars are too long and are the most responsible aspect for "bridging" 2. the bars need to curve more to fit through the back 3. the ends of the bars need flaring also called "rocking" @ each end, esp. in the front to allow a wider stance/gullet. Anyways, I know this isn't what you wanted to hear but it's just what I know from experience. Maybe go all english? Good luck, Karen in Oregon Important FjordHorse List Links: Subscription Management: http://tinyurl.com/5msa7e FH-L Archives: http://tinyurl.com/rcepw Classified Ads: http://tinyurl.com/5b5g2f
