Wintec
Isabell 2009 with cair
Dressage Saddles
Manufacturer: Wintec
Model: Isabell 2009 with cair
Category: Dressage Saddles
Purchase: I purchased on the internet from a tack store. It was about $850 and then the gullet kit was around $100. The company that I purchased it from was very nice and they wanted to make sure that I'd be ok with a miniscule scratch on the underside, so they added a free cover with it. This was my first dressage saddle purchase.
Likes: Perhaps the number one thing is that I really liked is the materials it's made from and how grippy it is. It's been about 6 months and it still looks brand new. It's easy to care for and lightweight. I liked in general how the billets were. I really liked the extended stirrup bar. Wintec is an innovative company and the price was right.
Dislikes: For me, I almost had trouble sitting down into it. It was a 17 1/2 and perhaps it was too small and the twist might have been too wide. (Note that the deep seats fit around a 1/2 inch smaller than a regular saddle). As an adult, I probably needed an 18 inch, which might have helped. I'm more of a beginner and on the narrow side.
I also had a hard time fitting it to my narrow Arabian. The measuring and changing gullets was rather challenging. They need to have more teaching videos on their website. I tried to get help from the local tack shop. While they could help me change the gullets, they couldn't help me in fitting my horse. I think that this is a very common with tack shops. There is a real lack of knowledge about fitting. Also it was hard to get a hold of people at the parent company. I finally did though. I asked if saddles with cair could have flocking added to fit better, they said only very, very little. So basically not. They also have inserts, but I'm guessing that these are for only very slight adjustments. It's like if you have a hard to fit horse, you cannot really make big adjustments except for the gullets.
Quality: Excellent
Summary: I really wanted to love this saddle, however between me and my hard to fit horse it didn't happen. I would probably go with the flocking if I was doing it again. However, I'm still grateful to the company for coming up with innovative ideas and materials. Hopefully they will continue to do so.
Rating: 3
Author: Mae
Date: 2010-06-06
Usefulness Rating: 2.9 out of 5.
30 reader(s) voted.
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