Bates/Wintec easy change gullet tutorial

I recently purchased an older Bates Caprilli saddle. The saddle came with the easy change gullet system and I needed to change the med-narrow gullet which was installed to a medium gullet plate. This post outlines the process in photos, I hope it is helpful to anyone looking to change out a gullet on one of these saddles!

Things you will need:

• Bates or Wintec saddle equipped with the easy-change gullet system (there are other interchangeable gullet saddles out there, this post only shows the procedure for the easy-change system!) 
• Gullet plate you wish to install
• The shortest Philips head screwdriver you can find 
• Patience/free time (probably don't attempt this 5 minutes before your horse goes in the ring at a show etc.) 
• Hand strength
• Beer
• Bottle opener (for the beer)

Step 1: Get your saddle and place on a level, firm surface, I did not need to remove my stirrups or thigh-blocks. There are 2 screws positioned at the head of the saddle. Using a short screwdriver unscrew and remove both screws and put them in a safe place.

 Step 2: Grasp the head of the saddle firmly and pull the lower section away, it will open easily as there is velcro. You can now see the gullet which will be removed.

Step 3: Pull the panels off the tree points on each side (this took some hand strength/ wiggling to do on my saddle). This will expose the screws holding the gullet to the tree.

 Step 4: Grab your screwdriver and remove the screws on both sides of the gullet, put the screws in a safe place. The short screwdriver really comes in handy here as it is a bit of a tight spot!

 Step 5: Now the gullet can be easily popped out!

Step 6: Insert the new gullet (I was changing it to the medium, which is black). I changed from narrow to medium which was not too big of a change. I have heard it is a bit more difficult when going from narrower to wider (from narrow to wide, for example). There is a small leather flap that goes behind the gullet to help hold it in place while you replace the screws. Also be sure the velcro pieces are not stuck under the gullet plate (I had not yet pulled them out in this photo!)

Step 7: Replace the screws holding the gullet to the tree. New screws are best but I did not have any so I re-used the old screws. Bates/Wintec recommends using a loctite type product if you are re-using screws. This took a little doing to get the screws to go in straight, what worked for me was inserting both screws loosely and alternately tightening each screw a little at a time.  

Step 8: Almost done! Slide the tree points back into the pockets on the panels and re-attach the velcro on the saddle head.

 Step 9: Get the screws from step 1 and replace them. Like the gullet screws it can be a little tricky to get them to go in straight, but I had success inserting each screw loosely and alternately tightening them.

Step 10: All done! You can replace your stirrups and removable thigh blocks at this point if you chose to remove them.