Are all cheap, lightweight synthetic saddles poor quality?

[wench]

Not including wintec, thorowgood.

So my horse needs a nice lightweight saddle, preferbly lighter than the wintecs/thorougoods. However all you tend to read about the "other" types that are made of light/cheap material is they are just horror stories.

Is there such a thing as what I'm after?

 

[FfionWinnie]

I find any synthetic makes riding unbearable. Have you thought about a Christ lamfelle pad?

 

[Enfys]

I have a Supra dressage ,not the prettiest of saddles, but it fits (needed very narrow) and is very lightweight. The horse seems fine in it, no rubs, or sores or other issues, works for us. She is gaiting better than before.

 

[Regandal]

How light are you talking? I have a thorowgood cob t4. Very light.

 

[HufflyPuffly]

Liked my Tekna dressage saddle, which was light as well as easy on the budget.

Adore my Equipe which is super light, but not synthetic or cheap .

 

[wench]

I've already got a tg, and an older type of synthetic saddle that is reasonable, but about half the weight of the tg.

Budget does not stretch to the lamfelle pad, comfy as it looks, and I think horses other riders would object profusely to one!

 

[Casey76]

What about a HM FlexEE - you can get a 2nd hand synthetic for around £250

I also have to say my Prestige is amazingly light, in fact my stirrups and leathers almost double the weight of the saddle - but again not synthetic or cheap

 

[saddlesore]

My thorowgood T4 is very light, and a great saddle 😊

 

[SallyBatty]

If you are happy with your current saddles but just want to reduce weight, you could just change your stirrups from the usual metal ones to ones like the Thorowgood Tuff stirrups:-

http://www.rideaway.co.uk/thorowgood-tuff-stirrups

I have these. Really like them and they are so much lighter.

 

[Bertolie]

I have a GFS Genesis GP saddle which tips the scales at around 3.5kg. Lovely looking saddle, and very well made. Unfortunately it doesn't fit my new horse 😭

 

[Deltaflyer]

I have a Thorowgood dressage and it's incredibly light and extremely nice to ride in too.

 

[rowan666]

i have a thorowgood and several maxam saddles, all extremely lightweight, so much so my 2yr old daughter can carry her ponies saddle by herself, yes they are cheap as chips but I find them so ridiculously comfy that I honestly hate riding in a leather saddle now, especially long distance for me would be unbearable in a leather saddle unless I had layers of sheepskin padding lol although it is very much a personal prefference and I know many people who loathe synthetic. There was a thread on here a couple of months back about a cheap make synthetic that definatly sounded like one to avoid as they caused havoc for lots of ponies backs but I can't remember what make it was

 

[Boulty]

I used to have a Heather Moffett FlexEE synthetic and it was gorgeous. Mine was the suede / biothane version with no gullet plate just adjustable memory foam panels with velcro to adjust the width (the versions after mine had the gullet plate to adjust width). Very VERY lightweight (I never weighed it but we're talking 2 or 3kg max) and the most comfortable saddle I've ever ridden in with awesome sticky-bum suede that was brill for sitting to spookiness and stupidity. I only sold it as I ended up getting the leather version (in fact in hindsight I do regret selling it and wish I'd kept it as a spare... I may yet get another suede-seated one at some point if I see one going cheap)