Albion selecta saddles?

SpottedCat

SpottedCat

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Having managed to end up with what is apparently the widest horse in the world, and having tried 4 or 5 wide saddles on said horse, who is also very small, being only 15.1, today I picked up from the saddlers a second hand albion selecta to try on him.

Has anyone ridden in one? Are they any good? My feeling is the flap that is on it is probably forwards cut enough, and it certainly seems flat enough to sit on him (haven't stuck it on him yet - he resembles a barrel with no wither and a table back), but is it going to be any good for me? Jumping more important than flat really, wanting people's experience of them (if any).

Am a bit sceptical that putting the dressage pads on will make it into a dressage saddle - surely it will be a straight cut jump saddle?! I am sure the stirrup bars are in a totally different place on my dressage saddle from my jumps saddle (sadly the proper saddles for the proper horse do not fit the small fat hairy one).
 
Only thing I found with one was where you can change the flaps it made my legs feel unsteady/odd, but maybe stirrups were too long or something. Other than that not sure as only rode in it twice.:)
 
my 'jump' saddle is a selecta with XC pads sewn in place (by the previous owner)!

I can't do dressage (well!) in it as the stirrup bars are too far forward so if i school in it I tend to cross my stirrups over and ride without them!

It's not perfect for me but it does the job and I feel safe XC without being a hinderance and Fleur goes well in it so can't complain. add to that I paid under £200 for it and it fits her so I couldn't go far wrong!
 
Yes, we had one for a 14.2 con x pony. It was ok; fitted the pony really well anyway.
Used the gp flaps for dressage etc., they were pretty straight cut anyway. Used the jumping flaps for jumping (obv!), benefit was that you could get your stirrups right up without the knee being over the flap.
It's a gp saddle that you can jump in with short stirrups.
But it was a comfortable saddle and the flap changing thing worked very well - only took about a minute to change.
 
i've had 3 in the past and i really rate them
The problem you might have is if your used to close-contact jump and dressage saddles as it won't feel as supportive as those but they better than your typical GP saddle and even some Show jumping styles/ models like a pessoa
I went happily around BE Novices with mine but make sure the flap is the XC not the SJ/GP
 
A GP saddle you can jump in with short stirrups sounds ideal for what I want on this horse actually - we aren't about to jump anything much bigger than 3ft3 in the immediate future, and by the time we do (if we do!) then he'll have changed shape anyway I suspect as he's only young. I think for the purposes of an intro or PN we can cope. Good to know thanks. Hopefully being an x-wide with specially lifted points of the tree it may just fit him and not dig into his shoulders, here's hoping!

ETA: I am used to a close contact jump saddle, I love my impala pro which is what the proper horse has, but there is no way this horse warrants a saddle that expensive at this stage! I dunno what the flaps are on this saddle, is there an easy way to check?
 
I have one owned for about seven years. Love it. Use on a wide Welsh part bred for dressage, jumping and eventing. Feel very comfy and safe. Bought the saddle new because it was the only one that would fit her but wouldn't change it anyway.
 
Hopefully these will help you SC - i sold both sets on ebay

SJ/GP ones
albion004.jpg


XC ones
albion002.jpg
 
Thanks Langside - I'll have a look at the ones on the saddle and compare to your pics! I must say I did not look very closely at the flaps as I was more concerned about width, tree shape and the angle of the points of the tree! I can make do, but fat pony is starting to object to other saddles.
 
SpottedCat said:
Thanks Langside - I'll have a look at the ones on the saddle and compare to your pics! I must say I did not look very closely at the flaps as I was more concerned about width, tree shape and the angle of the points of the tree! I can make do, but fat pony is starting to object to other saddles.
Click to expand...

In the end thats whats important :) plus if the pads are wrong its still cheaper than buying the wrong saddle ;)
 
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