Saddle Search.....4 A Friend's Horse.

[KathyZ1@aol.com]

Hi there ladies and gents.....

Is there an off the rack saddle that will fit a very narrow, high withered 
mare?
My friend has such a horse and needs a saddle right away.
She will then look into getting one specially made.
She had been riding in a Big Horn Western, but it's falling down on the 
withers and creating white marks.  Apparently this saddle used to fit this 
horse but now that she's much fitter it no longer does.
My friend is now riding in a bare back pad....
Not a lot of cantering going on.....Lots of "whoa....WHOA....WHOA's" 
accompanied by high pitched little screams, tho.    :o)

She prefers western style (as opposed to English) and was thinking about the 
Big Horn Endurance model.  Do these fit differently than the Western model 
(with the horn) even though they're both built on full quarter horse bars???  
The sales lady at the local tack store says they do fit differently and that 
the Endurance model fits Arabs better, but she looked kind of unsure and her 
knowledge about saddle trees seemed limited.

The reason I'm asking this is because...
although I've read quite a bit about them, I'm confused about the bar 
issue.....
What most confused me in this particular saddle search is that Big Horn 
builds most of it's saddles on full quarter horse bars.  They do have one 
Western model built on an 'Arab' tree.
Fabtron however, has it's Arabian saddle built on a full quarter horse bar 
tree with an 'Arab front'!!!
Egad!!!!   What does this all mean???

So.......Have any ideas for what we should be looking for to fit this narrow 
shouldered, narrow barreled, high withered horse???

My Zes seems to fit this mare well, but my friend finds the seat decidedly 
uncomfortable.  She's used to the big, sloshy seat of the Big Horn.

Thanks,
Kathy