Barrie Swain saddles

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Dr_Horse

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does anyone on here use them?

My new yard uses Kay humphries as their saddle fitter (any comments on her also welcome :) ) and she promotes Barrie Swain saddles.

Having never purchased a brand new saddle before I am a little cautious it is ALOT of money for one of these brand new and still many pennies for one second hand! BUT if my horse goes well (i will try one for a week before forking out) and is comfortable I am willing to spend the money on her as she is worth every penny!

I havent seen KAy yet, Infact my horse is still in Suffolk but she is going to that yard and they have already said they will have her out within the week to do a saddle check/ fitting.
My mare has an OK saddle now but if these saddles are rated I would love to upgrade :)
 
I've never had one of his astride saddle but I had two of his side saddles and they were TO DIE FOR. Buttery soft leather, so well made. Unfortunately he no longer deals with side saddles which is a shame as there are few good side saddlers about. If his astride saddles are anything like his side saddles and he will fit you personally, then I would say, go for one!
 
My mare came with one when I bought her. I believe it was a Jumping saddle. Unfortunately it was way too big for her I was Rather annoyed as It was such a beautiful and comfortable saddle for me. I can't say anything about comfort for the horse though.
 
Add on from my reply before... The saddle wasn't made to fit her, it was bought second hand and they used it without getting the 'all clear it fits' by a saddler.
 
I have a BS Workers saddle that I managed to buy off Ebay second hand.

It puts you in a correct classical seat and is very wide panelled to place your weight over a large surface are on the horse's back.

Kay has adjusted it for me in the past and she is a lovely lady with a genuine care for the horse.
 
our yard uses Kay she is a lovely lady who puts the horses needs before anything else I am about to have her out to measure my lad up for a new saddle - my friends have already bought saddles from her and they are very happy with theirs! Very comfy and the horses seem to be going nicely in them too!
 
I have had Barrie Swain make and fit a saddle for me, based on a Heather Moffat dressage design. Beautiful saddle totally bespoke for a very large heavyweight horse with massive shoulder movement.

I would use him again. Sadly lost the horse about a year after, still got the saddle, unsaleable, highly doubt it would fit anything else.
 
Looks like i'll be saving up my pennies then :)
Miss Bean where abouts are you?
Thank you everyone this is what I was hoping you would all say as the saddles look beautiful but it is always safe just to make sure that what I am seeing/ reading and hearing rings true everywhere :~)
 
as above, Kay's a fantastic fitter who absolutely puts the horse's comfort first. i've known Barrie for years, his guys make amazing saddles. I have an embarrassing number of them, I collect them! The last I heard Kay and Barrie weren't working together any more but that may have been totally wrong, I hope it was. Barrie can be difficult, if he's in a good mood he'll do anything for you, if not though... put it this way, two different people have told me that he's the 'rudest man they've ever met', oops, but he doesn't suffer fools gladly, especially fools with horses crippled by bad saddles!
i trust Kay more than any other saddler, definitely. can't recommend her highly enough.
 
Try before you buy - OP.

I've ridden in them - and don't like them at all.

I also had one with a previous horse I had and sold it pdq.
 
I have two semi flexes and have had a normal treed one previously. I'd never have another make of saddle now. If horse changes shape you can take saddle to them in Walsall and they will alter it to a wither template or they will come out. Horse loves them. Best of all I had a new osteopath see horse last week after no back or physio treatment for 18 months and she said she had one of the best backs she had seen even compared to her own horse! ( horse is ridden 5 days a week at least in medium work jumping n dressage) I was well chuffed. Credit to saddles I think
 
amymay is right in one respect... they aren't as helpful, although that's not quite the right word maybe, as some saddles. his dr saddles aren't hugely blocky, they won't lock you in. the jump saddles (i have the ones on the hermes tree, v v nice) are not as secure as some other saddles. they are v v comfy (can hack out for hours on mine) but they aren't helpful to position etc.
BUT they are amazingly comfy for the horse's back. there's a recent pic on facebook of 1 my old eventers, who is now 20 and still in work, and she's never had anything other than a swain saddle, and her back looks like that of a 12 year old. it's perfect. :) :) :)
 
Someone who used to be on my yard had one, it rained and all the surface of the leather was coming away, just peeling off, they said it was a bad batch of leather, not sure what happened as she left yard, I said I'd want a refund
 
Kerilli I completely agree with you re: saddle shape. They are not like for eg the bates inova? With the massive blocks. You do have to use your own balance to ride etc. although i hate feeling held in by a saddle and love the wide square seats
 
Had a couple. Nice leather, lovely wide panels, decent tree, comfortable without fixing you in position.

HOWEVER every single one I've seen have stupidly narrow gullets at the front, so the inside edge of the panels at the pommel pinch the withers. Fine if you've got narrrower TB types with narrow spines but rubbish if you've got the more common heavily withererd wide spined horse (ID, natives etc).

They also have very shallow gussets at the back meaning they often sit too high in front, if your horse is built up hill.

Both are something that came be easily alterered when being custom made though.
 
The ones I have seen would suit curvier backs - although the trees can be moderately flat, the panels I've seen are ungussetted and scoop up following the line of the tree. They lifted at the back on the flat backed horses I've been asked to fit.
 
Kallibear said:
Had a couple. Nice leather, lovely wide panels, decent tree, comfortable without fixing you in position.

HOWEVER every single one I've seen have stupidly narrow gullets at the front, so the inside edge of the panels at the pommel pinch the withers. Fine if you've got narrrower TB types with narrow spines but rubbish if you've got the more common heavily withererd wide spined horse (ID, natives etc).

They also have very shallow gussets at the back meaning they often sit too high in front, if your horse is built up hill.

Both are something that came be easily alterered when being custom made though.
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hmm, i disagree with that, none of mine do that (i have 5 at the moment). mine are flattish, in fact one was on a very flat-backed no-wither mare who a saddler told me was the flattest event horse he'd ever had to fit a jump saddle to. her Swain dr saddle fitted her perfectly and she went a dream in it.
i can show pics of the way mine are underneath and from the side, they are very typical Swain saddles.
 
I am currently using a Humphries and Swain saddle on my wide-backed Friesian. I got rid of an Isabel saddle to buy the H&S 2nd hand. Had a FANTASTIC saddler come down to fit it for me, which was incredibly easy as the saddle is adjustable, and the Owen panel means that it is very well suited to a horse with a wide flattish back.

The Isabel "locked" me in place. The H&S gives me the freedom to actually MOVE with my huge moving horse, and as a consequence, riding is so much more comfortable now.

If you aren't keen on Barrie Swain, try Nick Dolman, who makes more or less the same saddle, and is far less cantankerous than Barrie!
 
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