Happy Mother’s Day to you all, also.
I just got a basic AP dressage when I first got a gaited horse. I thought I might go to a country boy show with Daisy. I just really didn’t know how to get started.
I’ve only used it around the house and in parades. The kind of trails we ride I need something more substantial. I also have different fitting issues for most of the horses, so they all pretty much have their own. Daisy gaulds on her right white underarm pit (no matter what kind of girth), so I have a Miller Plantation that girths further back. Faith was getting white hair all over her back with the trooper I loved, so I got a couple of flex panel saddles for her and they work on Sassy, too. Hal’s horse was getting white spots over where the girth rings were on his western Tucker, so he got the new Tucker that has the English style girth. I still use western on the quarter horses, but not going up hills to get gouged by the horn. That’s a long boring answer to your simple question.
No - I understand all those issues! I had to trade in the old Stubben that I’d ridden in since high school for the Wintec, because the Stubben just couldn’t fit bay... too narrow at the spine, too wide in the wither.
But even with the Wintec, he’s got a custom Cashell pad that is inside the white pad that helps fill his old sway back.
And he galls REALLY easy, now that he’s gotten older. If it helps you, I’ve solved it by making sure his girth area is VERY clean (hose before every ride) and I show sheen his armpits so they’re extra slippery, and I ride with the girth on the loose side. If I don’t to all those things, he gets rubs. The smooth leather girth works best too, better than when I had the fleece cover on it. Last year, he even got a rub under the back of the saddle pad because it wasn’t clean enough. So now... he gets a bath before every ride, and I’ll wash the pad every ride too.