Dressage saddles, gullet size..?

Question

i'm looking for a dressage saddle on e-bay (i'm completly not made of money, so i'm looking for something reasonable) but many of them say "5 inch gullet" or whatever, so what is the 5 inches? as in, how would i measure my horse to find out his size?

I probably wont be able to return the saddle, so i wan't to be PRETTY sure that it will fit.

-i also have an experienced saddle fitter to help wit the rest, so i just need to find a gullet/tree size that will fit.

thanks!

Answer 1

under the pommel in the gullet, there should be two buttons. measure the distance between the two and that is the gullet measurement.

to fit, try this-borrow a saddle that fits your horse and measure. Use a few different saddles because some measure weird.

http://www.trumbullmtn.com/Other_Pages/s...

a diagram to help you out!

usually a 4 or just under is regular

above 4 wide

5 would be xwide!

Answer 2

ok so i don't know a whole lot about gullets and sizes but if you're still in the lower levels of dressage or eventing you might want to look at a wintec with the changeable gullet system. when i got my tb he was severly underweight and had lost almost all of his muscle so i knew saddle fit would be an issue as he developed and changed sizes. i got mine for about $300 used on ebay and i think new ones only run like $400-500. its worked great for me at training level dressage and some 1st level schooling and has just been an awesome starter saddle for while were still learning and he's still growing. good luck

Answer 3

The gullet measurement is the gullet of the saddle not of the esophagus. The saddle goes no where near their esophagus.

The gullet is the underside of the saddle and is the opening basically for the tree. Meaning it is the widest part across the front of the saddle gullet when looking at the front of the saddle.

To get the right size for your horse, you need to know what size tree you need. They come in many sizes like narrow, regular, medium, wide, extra-wide, etc. Different countries and manufacturers and even types of saddles use different measurement means- inches, cms, words. Because of your name, I am guessing that you have a TB. Most of the TBs that I have dealt with have been narrow to medium trees, although I did have one wide.

Things to do in order to figure out the size you need....

1. If you have a saddle that fits, regardless of the type, and you know that it fits. Measure the gullet of that saddle and then see what it is. You can use that to go by although a different style or size of saddle may mean that that size gullet will not fit in the brand that you are looking at.

NOTE: there should be 3-4 fingers-width (3-4 fingers stacked on top of each other) of space between the pommel and your horse's withers. If you can fit more than four then your saddle is probably too narrow, whereas if you cannot stack more than 2 fingers the saddle is probably too wide. This rule of thumb can vary a finger or two depending on the specific type of English saddle as well as your horse's conformation.

2. Take a clothes hanger (one of the single thin wire types) and bend it over your horse where the front of the saddle would go (pretty much mid to back of withers). Once you have it molded around their shoulders/back, take it off and measure where the pommel would end and the saddle begins. This should give you a pretty good idea of how many inches your horse is for gullet size.

3. If you happen to know someone who has an CAIR Easy Change gullet saddle gauge, borrow it. It will give you a pretty close and accurate measurement as to what your horse is at least word wise as to medium, wide, etc.

If you are switching disciplines or using a different type/brand of saddle, it may fit differently than what you are used to. I have seen some horses be a medium in "x" brand close contact and wide in "y" brand dressage.

Sorry that I could not help you more. What I suggest to all of my clients is that they find some saddles on eBay that they really like. Then go to the local tack shop (which is two hours away....lol) and borrow on trial (act like you want to buy it and give them your credit card number so that you can take it home for the day to see how it fits) the exact saddle or the closest one possible in order to see how it fits on their horse. Brands do run differently. Trust me. Have seen it. Sometimes they are not able to be changed by a saddlery place to fit depending on why it does not fit right. The biggest complaint that I have in dressage saddles is that they often do not have enough room in the shoulders for horses with a lot of motion or that have large shoulders which is something that you can feel by placing your hand or attempting to place your hand between the flap and their shoulders. The tree goes down quite far on the shoulders before it is just leather, and usually you cannot even get a hand in there. If it is too big you can usually stuff it, but if it is too tight and is pinching you really cannot make it larger to get it to fit.

Btw, I saw a response you had to another question, Ariat does make dress boots for dressage since you love your field boots from them. Might want to get a pair so that they do not rub you :)

EDIT: You can also get a saddle that does have the CAIR changeable gullet or a different type same idea saddle so that you can keep the same saddle and change it out as to whatever horse you have. Bates has these saddles so they are in everything from low end synthetics through top of the line leather ones. They can be difficult to change so you dont want to change them every five minutes, but they are worth it if you want to invest in a great saddle and not have to get a new saddle if you get a new horse, or even if you have a young horse whose body is changing as he gets older and more muscle. The saddle size for a horse does change over time as they develop muscle and naturally age in most horses.

2nd EDIT: Just saw your edit..... Ok, what I do is measure from the buttons like the answer below me says and then I measure above it and below it so that I have the range from the smallest to the largest as to where it fits. Since you do have the saddle and it does fit, place it on your horse and see exactly where it is hitting your horse at and even measure that. What you are looking for is a huge difference in size. If one measurement is 3" and the rest are 5" and up, you really need to measure again and see where the problem is at. Since you are buying on eBay, ask the seller questions by sending them the sizes of your saddle if there is a question about it. Sometimes I have seen saddles where the gullet is one size, the pommel just above the gullet is amazingly smaller than it should be, and the flaps open up huge giving some crazy measurements. Not all sellers know where to measure the saddle at either. I try to buy saddles with a picture of the saddle being measured so that I know exactly where they are measuring it at and can compare that to my horse as to where I know that their measurement is at (thus the seeing where the saddle hits them at thing again). Hope that helps!

3rd EDIT: Ok saw the pictures... would be willing to bet that he is a wide to an extra wide. Main reason being that he is very upright over his shoulders which is going to be a problem with the fit in a dressage saddle. Also knowing that he cuts his stride when pinched equals you need to be very careful with what saddle you get. Have a belgian wb that does the same thing and had to get a saddle that they do custom flocking at the company for because of it. Would highly recommend finding a saddle with a cut away flap (the flap is cut and set back in order to allow for freer shoulder movement) with your horse which will help get rid of the chance of short striding. Your best bet would be to try some saddles out first and see what you and your horse like best, might even be able to do that at a show. Since you are just starting off in dressage, you can show in your event or hunt saddle in your tests and no one will even look at you oddly in the lower levels like that until you find what you want. After you find something that fits him and you, then you can look on eBay for what you want and know that you are getting something that really will work for you. He is a cute boy and you need to make sure that he is comfortable as priority number one and then worry about being in style with the proper saddle. Take your time and get something that will be the best fit for you and him as too many people just settle on something that means all the difference between a "10" and "1" for movement.

Answer 4

Ok, the gullet is the esophagus (throat), so the gullet size must be the measurement of the throat I'm guessing. So depending on the gullet size, determines if the saddle is going to block its airways,etc. Hope that helps!!! :D