Bates saddles

[Ashgrove]

New(ish) horse has come with an adjustable Wintec saddle, which I believe fits well, he seems happy in it. It squeaks like buggery though!

And I much prefer leather saddles anyway, have a fetish for cleaning leather, lol.

Does a Bates adjustable saddle have the same tree as an adjustable Wintec saddle?

The horse is unfit so will have a bit of shape changing to do, as and when he fittens up I'm happy to get a saddle fitter out and try different ones, but until then would the above be a reasonable plan?

 

[lucindakay]

i had the same thing and i bought the bates, but its fit will depend on if its flocked or if it has the cair system

mine arrived with a wintec and so i bought the bates version and asked the saddle fitter to change it, but she said in a year or two i'll be looking to buy another saddle anyway

 

[Ashgrove]

Thanks for your reply lucindakay, why did your saddle fitter think you'd want a new saddle in a year or two?
Are Bates saddles poor quality?

 

[twiggy2]

of the three saddle fitters I know non of them like bates saddles,

 

[Ashgrove]

of the three saddle fitters I know non of them like bates saddles,

Interesting, but why? What's wrong with the saddles?

 

[twiggy2]

they all say quality is not good for price, and the master saddler hates anything with cair in it and also reckons due to the shape of the tree you can get a bates saddle to fit lots of horses ok but he has never seen one that he considers a great fit.

all three saddlers rate the kent and masters for the price they reckon it is the best saddle around-apart from the blip with the leather quality a few years back but that has not re occurred

 

[Ashgrove]

they all say quality is not good for price, and the master saddler hates anything with cair in it and also reckons due to the shape of the tree you can get a bates saddle to fit lots of horses ok but he has never seen one that he considers a great fit.

all three saddlers rate the kent and masters for the price they reckon it is the best saddle around-apart from the blip with the leather quality a few years back but that has not re occurred

Thank you for that, worth bearing in mind.

 

[bounce]

You will get very mixed views on this I think.

I love my Bates and the Cair system and two very good saddle fitters I use also rate them really highly. They are good quality. My Kent and Masters saddle is definitely not as good quality. My bates is now 3 years old and still looks brand new despite being used on almost a daily occurrence and not cleaned as much as it should.
You will also find that if you look on ebay you will find that a Bates saddle will hold its value and there are not many that come up second hand very often.

Yet other saddlers, generally the ones that aren't a stockist for that type of saddle don't rate them, they only rate the ones they are stockists for, not surprisingly.

 

[Patterdale]

My Bates is 10 years old this year, has had heavy use, and is still in as good condition as it arrived.
I honestly can't fault it, it's been made to fit dozens of horses and I'd have another in a heartbeat.
It was £725 new and its some if the best money I've ever spent

 

[LittleRooketRider]

absolutely adore my bates saddle.....bought it secondhand two years ago for £400 looked new at 4 years old and its just fab. too many brands (ie wintec) will insist on excessive knee blocks etc. but bates always look in proportion love it would also buy another in a blink of an eye.

 

[Queenbee]

New(ish) horse has come with an adjustable Wintec saddle, which I believe fits well, he seems happy in it. It squeaks like buggery though!

And I much prefer leather saddles anyway, have a fetish for cleaning leather, lol.

Does a Bates adjustable saddle have the same tree as an adjustable Wintec saddle?

The horse is unfit so will have a bit of shape changing to do, as and when he fittens up I'm happy to get a saddle fitter out and try different ones, but until then would the above be a reasonable plan?

I'm another fan, I've had wintec and bates and I love them. I'm just selling my bates as it's a jumping saddle and I need a WH saddle for Ben, I rang a local saddler who offers part ex to ask about par exing it and she said (with the most toffee nosed attitude) I'm not bates fan, I only deal in English leather!' And she lost a sale, because even if I'd had to sell the bates somewhere else, that didn't rule out buying from her, but she was so rude. I have no idea why in this day and age some people still insist on English leather, my bates is still in lovely condition and I got it second hand, it's comfortable, I like the cair and the flexibility in size it affords me, if the tree fits your horse then I'd definitely consider it.

 

[Ashgrove]

That's decided then, Bates saddle here we come

 

[twiggy2]

You will get very mixed views on this I think.

I love my Bates and the Cair system and two very good saddle fitters I use also rate them really highly. They are good quality. My Kent and Masters saddle is definitely not as good quality. My bates is now 3 years old and still looks brand new despite being used on almost a daily occurrence and not cleaned as much as it should.
You will also find that if you look on ebay you will find that a Bates saddle will hold its value and there are not many that come up second hand very often.

Yet other saddlers, generally the ones that aren't a stockist for that type of saddle don't rate them, they only rate the ones they are stockists for, not surprisingly.

2 of the three saddlers I know don't stock any saddles and the master saddler is one of them-so they are not biased, I also struggled to sell 4 bates saddles that my boss wanted rid off due to poor fit (obviously that can be down to the saddler fitter), I only managed to sell 3 and the best price i got was £330-they were in excellent condition as only 1 yr old and cleaned twice weekly

 

[Queenbee]

2 of the three saddlers I know don't stock any saddles and the master saddler is one of them-so they are not biased, I also struggled to sell 4 bates saddles that my boss wanted rid off due to poor fit (obviously that can be down to the saddler fitter), I only managed to sell 3 and the best price i got was £330-they were in excellent condition as only 1 yr old and cleaned twice weekly

That's really odd, they hold their price quite well in my experience