At the risk of being hung, drawn and quartered....!!!!

Evented Boss to intermediate with one GP sadde, 2 bridles and a cheap breast girth!
Moon has a wintec dressage saddle, a 2nd hand GP, one bridle plus the same good old breast girth!
I do have leather xc boots and a set of cheap sj boots
 
have you lower level people instead of gp's (which i hate as i realy dont get on with them) concidered a working hunter saddle? just a thought, they do put you in quite a good position for dressage and ive gone XC in mine and done working hunter no problem.
I dont event so am probably not qualified to judge but i personaly (showing bod who does WH and the occasional XC or show jumping round) find a working hunter saddle much much better then a GP
 
"Having watched an unaffiliated hunter trial I was amazed at how many horses had a devacoux breast plate - although a lot of the horses (& riders) didn't look fit enough to get round the course."



ALL THE KIT AND NO CLUE - couldnt agree more!!


(not a dig at the Devoucoux B.plate - I want one if i had the dosh! )- but at the end of the day a hunting b.plate and racing b.plate do the same thing! - Moreover saddle should fit propperly therefore saddle shouldnt slip........
 
Why not? I have a lovely dressage saddle that I also do all my hacking in as its sooooooo comfy and I basically cannot fall off in it as its beautifully cut. My jump saddle is more of a XC saddle and is nice enough. My parents offered me some money to go get 2 saddles - so why not? Doesn't do any harm!
What would do more harm and what really concerns me is the amount of people that ride in saddles that don't fit their horse.
 
I couldn't care less what people spend their money on.
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I am a big believer in spending money where it matters...ie on a good bed, a good pair of boots/shoes and a good saddle. As if I am not in one, I am in the other.
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I agree people can spend their money on whatever they like...it won't necessarily improve their performance though
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I don't event but I do SJ two horses. They both share the same saddle, bridle, bit and boots. My only concession to 'bling' really is the half-pad I put under the saddle as it makes the saddle a more generic fit for both, and Bo's 'ears' as I like the way he looks in them lol!

I use a GP saddle and have jumped over 1.50m at home in it with no bother and regularly compete up to 1.25m or so in it.

In fact a very successful former trainer has told me on more than one occasion that if you ride properly you don't need all the padding and knee rolls that a 'proper' jumping saddle give you
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He should know too...having won the Hickstead Derby and HOYS Puissance among other things
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I think a lot of equipment isnt needed. I think there's obviously MORE junk involved with eventing due to the 3 totally different disiplines. At the high-levels, I think all this stuff is needed. At Intro/PN/Novice level I dont think it is. The only real benefit I can see in having seperate saddles / bridles etc. is saving time in between disiplines!

I keep everything as simple as possible. I have 2 horses, one who's just done his first intro - I rode (and will continue) him in his usual Wintec Cob GP saddle! It IS unsuitable for XC as it isnt nearly forward cut enough, but for intro I can just about get away with it. He wore the same bridle throughout, I only changed the bit. My other horse who does Novice - he has a GP and a dressage saddle, but the dressage saddle was cheap. I only bought this because my GP obviously didnt help my position and also I felt I needed one to look a bit more professional! Same bridle (and bit) used for everything. The only thing I change properly is their boots.
 
i think we probably do all spend too much on non-essential but nonetheless useful things. But if you''ve got the money why not? what harm is it doing?

Ive got a dressage saddle and i wouldnt be without it! infact on saturday if very def helped keep me in the plate for the 20mins Hattie spent exploding in the dressage warm up! It happened to be a brand new ideal jessica and we found it on the internet - liked it and rung up the sellers - turned out it was an old neighbour of ours and she halved the price so we could afford it
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- happy accident! My 7 year old pessoa jumping saddle is gorgeous and was a fab second hand buy off ebay for half the price of a new one and it looks brand new
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Hattie wears our one and only pair of 4yr old tendon boots and i splashed out on some eskadron XC boots 3 years ago and Fiddly needed them - now Hattie wears them. Have two bridles - one is a cheapy for dressage and the other is one i bought for my birthday which is lovely
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have loads of bits that have accumulated over the years but atm just have a loose ring neue schule and cheltenham neue schule which are brilliant and all i need
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Well I manage to do everything with my dads hand-me-down 15 yr old GP saddle, one bridle and no boots!
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Maybe thats why I'm a bit crap!
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If i was less tight and/or more rich I would buy lots of stuff though, but we manage with what we've got.
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Having come from endurance, the tack in this eventing malarky is sparse in comparison! Although we generally only had one saddle & bridle, the number of bits, numnahs, girths, rugs and boots were absolutly phenomenal! And that was before you added the feed, water and hay!

And the worst bit was most of that was wet, sweaty and muddy by the end of the day.

A couple of saddles and an array of boots means I can actually get in the car now!

I think the principle is good, but if people want to buy and use something good on them. I confess to having a devoucoux breastplate but I bought it years ago before they became the must have accessory for the said endurance as it was the only thing that kept my saddle in place. Exmoor and a horse with shark fin withers do not mix! I use it now to event it as I feel I might as well get the most out of it!
 
I do everything in a GP saddle, my knees are over the front when I have my stirrups jumping length so it's not perfect but it does its job. I'd love to have two saddles for dressage and jumping but can't afford it and the GP fits her really well. I do have 3 bridles and loads of boots but none were very expensive and I use them all.

I think if you have the money then why not, it's up to you what you spend it on, why not spend it on your hobby?!
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I think the standard is a lot higher now than in the 70s. Then if you had 2 clear rounds you got in the money, almost regardless of the dressage. Now you need to be doing good dressage as well! So people take it a lot more seriously are will probably have a dressage saddle. Mind, I agree with not using one on a young horse too soon.

Most people don't go out and buy everything at once, it just sort of accumulates over the years and shopping trips. I am still using tack that is over 30 years old - my best bridle as it happens that I had made for one horse. If you buy good quality it does last well. Often things go out of fashion rather than wear out, or modern things come out that are better, and the old things clutter up the back of the cupboard - like boots and bits.

I can sympathise with eventers taking more stuff - after all it is three different disciplines - the dressage/show jumping people are only doing one!

I hadn't done a competition for some time and I was amazed at the amount of stuff I had to take - and finding it all was a serious challenge too (where DID I put the spare girth????)
 
I can cite the day CCJ forgot her girths and had to borrow a stud girth for her jumping saddle, the horse did the best dressage score to date..
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She changes her boots from Sj to Xc onnes because in Sj they are open fronted the theory being if he whacks a fence it will remind him not to; in XC he needs tough protection hence the thicker longer boots.
Choc has the same bridle (happy mouth cheeked plain snaffle) for all three disciplines.
I would say however look at the way riding standards have upped over the last thirty years, many of those Badminton dressage tests wouldn't stand a chance nowadays..
A decent dressage saddle helps the rider sit correctly and not hinder the horse, from that point of view, yes I think they should be used.
then again a decent rider can ride in any old saddle...
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Afraid I'm the minimalist type. Have a jumping saddle that I use for everything. XC, Dressage, hacking, hunting.

I have stretched to a show bridle though, a Pariani - Italian make with a nice simple snaffle and cavesson noseband and matching reins with a similar colour breastplate bought off ebay for £15, as the Pariani one was £100!

2 pairs of cheapo brushing boots, just the fronts for SJ and both pairs for XC.

None of the expensive boots seem to fit my girl or stay up!

And have had the same saddlecloth for about 15yrs. A Nag Rags one and it still looks good!
 
Well I am guilty of 'all the gear, no idea', Im afraid. I have a deveocoux breast plate and my saddle fits perfectly well. Have dressage and xc saddles too and different bridles for each phase. I work hard so dont see why it makes a difference if I have nice tack. Surely its all about personal preference. I do believe a well made saddle puts you in the correct position and I need all the help I can get!! lol! Also we always joke that my Patey hat gets me an extra mark in the dressage too!!! tee hee
 
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