Best saddle for a tubby standard shetland and 3.5 yo dd?

[Wearegoingtobedlehem]

Hi all,

Dd has a wonderful standard shetland. Se has been riding in a safari cub but it starting to outgrow it in size and her ability. Now the pony is tubby, and we do have trouble getting the cub to sit straight and stay straight ( the old round pony situ). I was thinking about thorowgood pony club, but not sure.
Happy to get a saddle fitter out but there really aren't many/ any good ones that I know of round here. Equally not too keen to splash out beyond a few hundred ( ie synthetic really)

Felt pad. DD14 still rides our shettie in ours. ITs great for encouraging balance and a good seat.

It Dd is quite light then a tree less saddle. AS tree's do speed the weight better
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/YESRD-All-purpose-Synthetic-Treeless-Saddle-16-17-18-/300937334425?pt=UK_Horse_Wear_Equipment&var=&hash=item4611434e99

Without sounding stroppy, we have had one of those. There's a reason d
They are only £50. Research treeless saddles, the proper ones cost hundreds.
Those don't fit nicely, perch you way up high, give a terrible leg position and have to be girthed in extremely tight to stay put. They are cheap imitations, mass produced in India to make a quick buck.
I you want a treeless saddle which is in any way nice, you're going to need a Barefoot or Heather Moffat. Both of which will cost you a LOT of money.
I have a barefoot Cheyenne. It's flipping lovely, but from a child's point of view makes them pretty much a passenger. You don't get much contact with the pony.

Is the outgrowing more of an issue or the slipping round? Just 3.5 still seems quite young to be too big for the cub, ds was using his for much longer. We completely solved the slipping sideways problem on our shetland with a crupper, although I know some people don't like them. Dshetland was always quite happy with it as she'd been driven for most of her life so was used to it.

Agreed. And cubs do come in bigger sizes. Skinny bum dd14 can still fit in our normal one! I really like pad saddles though. It teaches them great balance, they have a handle like a cub the pony gets lots of freedom to move and they come in a leather version for showing! And when your Shettie suddenly balloons in the spring, you don't have to worry about it pinching!
And, if you fancy a ride, there's no issue of the saddle being too small for you! my Shettie will carry about 12 stone quite happily!

I've noticed a lot of the ponies in the shetland grand national appear to have proper saddles but when you look more closely you realise they are really little more than pads, like the traditional felt ones but leather all over. I imagine it's quite difficult fitting a normal style saddel to a shetland. The 12.2 pony that ds borrows has a Thorowgood saddle, but personally I'm not impressed with the way it fits her (she is a barrel shape with no withers). It has to be done up tightly to prevent it moving and the little girl who owns her looks very perched to me (ds is happier bareback so doesn't use it). It was fitted by a saddler and cost quite a lot but if I'd been the one who'd paid for it I think I'd have been disappointed.

Cross post about the leather pad!
I think ds's cub must be one of the bigger ones as I've seen some really tiny looking ones too.

Mine has withers and is more a medium fit. I do have a leather saddle for her, but it took trial and error to fit it. I quite often buy cheap second hand saddles that look like they might work, try them and then sell them again if they don't work an buy another! eBay is very good, second hand leather is pretty worthless nowadays.

Hi all thanks very much for your replies, only just looked back in as been away.
She is quite tall and the cub just looks like it interferes to be honest, I could be wrong tho- all new to this being a horsey mum although have lots of experience with horses myself. I have to admit i had looked at suede pad types (£200+!) and I do like the idea of them, but I did get a little put off by price. That said I reckon slipping would be resolved. Meanwhile I have bought, via eBay a 2nd thorowgood pony club saddle- which I am more than happy to move on if it doesn't fit.

Here
or here
this is very nice

Sorry no advice here but your Title just screamed to me Thelwell and that is all I can picture now

Funnily enough I had one just like Saggy's third choice on ebay this week. I thought I'd sold it but the person cancelled the bid because she'd got one somewhere else bit of a cheek. It's here.
I was going to relist it when I got back from my holiday but if you are interested you are welcome to PM me. (btw the girth has got buckles both ends, it's just that I took the pics in a hurry and it got folded over).

Won't get my email for a few days though, just so you know.