Saddle for Trakehners: Don't Leave the Fit to Chance!

The Trakehner breed is over 290 years old. The noblest of the Warmblood breeds is Germany's oldest riding horse breed. It has been bred since 1732 – and continues to produce exceptionally beautiful and intelligent individual horses.

The typical Trakehner is an elegant, athletic sport horse:
 

• a harmonious build
• a large shoulder
• a pronounced wither
• a strong, round-ribbed back

Whether for dressage riding or as a pure leisure horse: when buying a saddle, Trakehner fans especially need to look for a large bearing surface combined with plenty of shoulder and wither freedom. This distributes the rider's weight well across the horse's back, while the sensitive withers aren't burdened and the shoulder isn't restricted even during expansive movement and knee action.

Individual measuring when buying a saddle is advisable for any horse's back – for a Trakehner saddle it's practically mandatory: the combination of round ribs and a high, wide wither doesn't occur in many horse breeds. It determines what kind of saddle Trakehners need. The wrong saddle can cause a lot of harm given this horse anatomy. The good news: your Trakehner will show you right away if something's wrong. Their tolerance for discomfort is, to put it mildly, not very pronounced – you won't get away with riding a Trakehner in a poorly fitting saddle as if everything were just fine.

• Individual measuring: An Iberosattel® is made according to the measurements of your riding horse – the basis is a careful three-dimensional measurement of the horse's back using the EQUIscan measuring system. Back length, rib cage, withers, shoulders, loin area: thanks to EQUIscan, there are no more dark corners when it comes to saddle fit.

 

• Wither freedom: On request, a head plate integrated deep into the saddle tree creates more dynamic wither freedom and avoids painful knocks during the canter, over jumps, or when sitting deep. The EWF System from Iberosattel® is especially recommended for the Trakehner saddle: up to 12 millimeters of all-round wither freedom are achievable this way.

 

• Flexibly adjustable: The outstanding fit of an Iberosattel® comes from adjusting the head plate and gullet width – not from adding extra padding to the saddle. The very welcome results: first, more comfort through optimal distribution of the rider's weight, and second, very good transparency for subtle weight aids – and therefore the best conditions for throughness in the horse.

 

• Plenty of shoulder freedom: Some of our models have a strongly cut-back flap, under which even large shoulders have free play.

 

• Suited to short, broad backs: Iberosattel® offers several saddle models that adapt especially well to horses with a relatively short, broad back. This gives the hindquarters enough room to move and keeps the sensitive loin area free of pressure.

And finally: an Iberosattel® grows with your horse. If your horse builds muscle or changes further with age, a simple adjustment of the gullet width creates a perfect fit once again. This means an Iberosattel® could be your Trakehner saddle for life.

So far, we've only talked about how horse-friendly our saddles are. But of course, for us, "rider-friendliness" is just as much a part of a good saddle.

You'll see: an Iberosattel® is wonderfully comfortable and can be adapted to very different "human anatomies" by varying the seat size.

Our Amazona Solution gives women much greater seating comfort. Extras such as selectable or interchangeable (Velcro) knee rolls adapt our saddles to different riders' needs. And of course, our customers also have the final say on the look: choose the leather type, colors and color combinations, decorative details and appliqués entirely to your taste.
 
Depending on where you live, our own saddle experts or our premium partners will gladly come to you for a consultation, measuring and fitting of various models.