Wintec Saddle

As you already know I have horses and to ride a horse, a saddle is an essential item. I know it is possible to ride without and I sometimes do to improve my balance, but really it is an important piece of kit. The saddle needs to fit the horse and horses can change shape. It also needs to suit the rider. Saddles are traditionally leather. The saddle that I have now for my young horse is a synthetic, Wintec saddle. The saddle actually came with the horse. I have a leather saddle for my other horse and I have always prefered leather, but am perfectly happy with the Wintec synthetic, at least for ... more

Wintec saddles are made by Bates Australia, founded in 1934. They originally produced synthetic saddles for racing, but over the years this has evolved into a wide range of saddles for all sorts of disciplines. The saddle I bought was a Wintec 2000 All Purpose back when I was breaking in my new forest pony. It is made with 'Equisuede', a convincing synthetic suede material that does not get slippery when wet and helps to keep the rider in position with its grippy capabilities. Equisuede is a quick drying material and is not damaged by wet weather. The Wintec 2000 also has adjustable knee ... more

Having owned 2 wintec saddles, I can't emphasise enough the greatest factor of all - not having to use saddle soap!!! With any style or model of wintec all you have to do to clean them is to just wash them over with the hose pipe!!! The first model wintec that I had was made of a gel type substance that in fact had no tree in it, so was impossible to break!! and because of being made of gel was less likely to cause any pressure points, as I am now breaking in my youngster this saddle is absolutely ideal for that job!! So i bought my other mare a new wintec, the syle that looks just like ... more

Benefits of a Wintec: Flexibility - Saddle width can be changed whenever necessary Durability - Tough and strong Care - No leather care necessary Wet Weather - Does not get slippery so is safer for rider Value - Maintains value. I bought a Wintec saddle some years ago to use for breaking in youngsters. Horses and ponies change shape according to the time of year, diet and the work that they are in. However, their greatest period of change is when they go through the starting process, when they combine physical maturing and development of first working muscle. I bought the Wintec to use on New ... more

After buying many cheap-ish leather saddles for my ever shape changing horse I decided to treat him to a Wintec 500 saddle. Being 31, Pegasus has quite high withers but as hes a quite chunky horse, narrow saddles get in the way of his shoulders and sit too high on his back. (A very hard thing to find is a saddle thats built for chunky horses with high withers!) Obviously there arent many horses who are this shape so no one makes saddles to fit them! Unless i scrimped and saved for about 20 years to have him a saddle made which I know i would only ruin in a matter of days, i oped for a wintec ... more