Battling my inner tack hoarder

[Caol Ila]

Trying not to bore everyone with a long story because it's not even a good story, but the crucial issue here is that my lovely TreeFree Tor does not fit either one of my horses. I was using it on Hermosa for a while, but she told me exactly where to shove it, and she now has her own fitted saddle. I had originally bought it for Fin, and tried riding him in it again after Hermosa got her new saddle, and it didn't work for him, either. It used to, but it was fitted to him a while ago, before he was established in full work. He currently goes in a little TreeFree Exmoor, which seems perfect. The Tor and Exmoor are different shapes.....and just different, I suppose.

I feel a bit sad about selling it but I also think I should sell it.

The reasons for selling it include:

*I have limited storage space for crap at home and at the yard.
*It's worth actual money, and I could do with that. Who couldn't?
*It would be nice if someone was using it, rather than having it collect dust.

The reasons for not selling it include:

*They are hard to get.
*It might fit some horse some day. I don't know who, or when, or where, but it might.
*I had a lot of adventures with it and I'm irrationally attached, which is definitely the worst reason.

So I dunno. First world problems, huh.

 

[tda]

I can't help sorry I think you're possibly asking the wrong group of people , someone will say buy a horse it will fit

 

[poiuytrewq]

So I’m terrible at buying stuff, constantly, like really constantly buying horse stuff.
However I also sell a lot, often a year or so on I really really regret it
In particular my favourite saddle, so, that probably doesn’t help you either, sorry!

 

[rextherobber]

Keep it! It will (probably) fit something, someday...

 

[Lucky Snowball]

I currently have 13 saddles and 3 horses so don't ask me!!!

 

[Boulty]

Will it give you joy to know it is being used again or sadness because it’s being used by someone else? If that brand has a buying / selling FB page you could always stick it on there in the hop it will find someone specifically looking for that brand and more likely to look after it? Or maybe someone on here might want it & then you can follow its new adventures?

I am of course useless with this myself! The only reason I parted with Princes leather Flexee was because the person I sent it to repair a few bits on offered to buy it after they had it in their possession and I didn’t think it would fit or work for Fuzzball as more than a backing saddle.

 

[MiJodsR2BlinkinTite]

I have had both of these TreeFree saddles! Both the Exmoor and the Tor. Have had both - and have sadly sold both.

So OP I am feeling your pain. Intensely so. The Tor particularly I loved to bits! The one I had was one of the first ones that Johan ever made, and I had it for my old boy. It fitted him perfectly and I had many many happy hours of riding him in it; such precious memories. I also used it for a sweet little Welsh D mare who I had on loan and whose owner eventually gifted to me. Both of these horses it fitted perfectly.

The Exmoor: I used this on both my big lad (15.1 cob) the Welsh D (as well as the Tor), and a 12.2 Exmoor pony here on loan. It fitted all of them perfectly; tho' as a 17" it did look a little big on the Exmoor, but it was actually OK on her.

I sold the Exmoor to fund the Tor. And then when I got my just-backed youngster who was the next horse (well pony actually) to come into my life, I wished I'd got it, coz for some reason the Tor never really fitted her. I wish it had done, but it just didn't. I tried different gullet plates (have you done this?) but it always seemed to have a problem with slippage. Like yours, it was just sitting in my tack-room collecting dust, and one day I knew I was really gonna have to make a tough decision about it. So on Ebay it went. That was a sad day! Like you OP I kept saying to myself well it might fit another horse one day. Plus I didn't want to jinx anything by getting rid of it, if you know where I'm coming from.

Sadly, you will probably find that if you DO sell it, you won't get much of a good price for it. Unfortunately these saddles are not really very well known; not even in Devon where I am and where these saddles are made, and so they don't really make much £££ secondhand. If you do have the room, and don't need the money, I'd be inclined to package it up and keep it nice and safe. Yep you never know you might have a horse that'll be good for it one day.

PS if you wanted to try another gullet that might be an option: I've still got some gullets (Barefoot??) here in my tackroom. See, I'm a hoarder too................

 

[Vermeer]

I would be more inclined to keep a treeless just in case, rather than a traditional saddle. I almost sold my treeless when I had a saddle fitter out for my gelding, only to use it on him 6 months later. Very glad to have held on to it.

But I am a hoarder and operate with the vague hope that all the crap I cling onto will one day be useful. And sometimes it is!! I would say keep it for now and check back with it every so often and see how you feel.

 

[Caol Ila]

I have three gullets for it! Four if you include the Barefoot pillow gullet. I just could not stop it from slipping forwards on Hermosa. I have a Christ Lamfelle endurance pad with shims, and I couldn't even shim it in a useful way. She never liked the Exmoor, which was how Fin ended up in it.

After like a year and a half of not being ridden in the Tor, I put it back on Fin, schooled him for half an hour, and the damned thing slipped forwards. Deid easy to tell because he's a dun with prominent shoulder bars. It did not do that when I first got it for him. But like I said, he is a totally different pony now. I didn't really bother fighting with it because the Exmoor seems to work well for him, and it doesn't move.

They seemed designed for native ponies. Hermosa had flatter withers for about five minutes as a baby, but now they have developed into a much more prominent shape. Fin has a bit more wither as well, but that's due to losing the fat pads on either side of them since he is a working man these days. He's still roundy and Highland-like.

@Vermeer, I currently own four treeless saddles and two horses. LOL.

The fourth one belonged to my old horse. It's a leather tree thing that my friend gave to me for free. I could not get it to fit Fin for love nor money, and I maybe could have got it to fit Hermosa but was at a point where I wanted a pro saddle fitter to just give her something nice and new. Her current one also has a leather tree. My old horse's saddle is currently living in the attic.

You are all tack hoarders. Clearly.

 

[MiJodsR2BlinkinTite]

I would be more inclined to keep a treeless just in case, rather than a traditional saddle. I almost sold my treeless when I had a saddle fitter out for my gelding, only to use it on him 6 months later. Very glad to have held on to it.

But I am a hoarder and operate with the vague hope that all the crap I cling onto will one day be useful. And sometimes it is!! I would say keep it for now and check back with it every so often and see how you feel.

^^^ Yep, good advice.

There's still a part of me that yearns for my lovely black Tor saddle............ if I ever get another horse I'm gonna really wish I'd still got it, I know that.

 

[Caol Ila]

Here it is on Hermosa. Good looking saddle. But I did not start that ride with it that far up her shoulders.

 

[pistolpete]

I’m no help currently hoarding two saddles with no rideable horses! I’d let the highlands saddle go if it was a straightforward sale I suppose. Don’t want to post to someone who may be awkward and not pay!

 

[Caol Ila]

And Fin wearing it in 2022.

 

[Vermeer]

@Vermeer, I currently own four treeless saddles and two horses. LOL.

You are all tack hoarders. Clearly.

Guilty! I know I would be shoving it in the attic for a potential future horse lol. And the one after that and the one after that....

Your horses are beautiful!

 

[splashgirl45]

Well I’ve still got my last saddle and it was used by me for the last time in October 2018!!!!! I cannot ride anymore and will never use it so why is it still here? I must make a proper effort to sell, it’s such a waste keeping it in the wardrobe, I give it a clean every so often to keep it in good condition …

 

[Nicnac]

I have both my last horse's saddles plus the one I bought for current horse when he was a youngster plus his 2 saddles, my daughter has 2 for hers and the shetland has her own. I still have last 2 horse's bridles plus far too many other bits and pieces. My June job is to clear out tack, feed and rug rooms (apparently I have too may rugs) and get some order restored..... Have a box of leather bits and pieces has saved me money though.

I do think you need to get a horse to fit your Tor rather than selling it. Would be an interesting wanted ad!

 

[D66]

When I sold my horse to go to college I kept the saddle - just in case I bought another horse and it fitted. 10 years later having been stored in mum’s spare bedroom cupboard it was unsaleable and worth nothing. Wish I had taken the money when I could.

 

[palo1]

2nd hand saddles are really tricky; very rarely do they sell for what we hope, regardless of quality unless they are relatively new and a well known brand in very regular sizes or types. It can be really a bit heart breaking to sell a really good quality saddle for very little, especially if it has been good for you.

But they don't improve with keeping either and will decrease in value quite quickly ime! I would accept that your first loss is the best one and sell now, for whatever you can tbh. Would Tree Free buy it back? (I don't know if they sell second hand!). There does seem quite a bit of buying of treeless saddles on fb and the Tree Free is a good make so hopefully will sell relatively easily, if not quite for what you would hope.

 

[rabatsa]

I have both a tack cupboard and several trunks full of unused tack. I sold two of my nine saddles, no horse, and then purchased a pony that came with a saddle. I did try to reduce stuff, honest.

I have about five sets of driving harness that are surplus to requirements and as for bridles... There must be close to 20 in the cupboard. I really should sell some of those too.

 

[MuddyMonster]

I'd sell but I'm not a hoarder and don't like having stuff for stuff's sake.

 

[MiJodsR2BlinkinTite]

Here it is on Hermosa. Good looking saddle. But I did not start that ride with it that far up her shoulders.

View attachment 138332

^^^ What a fine-looking horse you have there!

My Tor had the totally-suede seat. Wished I'd gone for that design you have there TBH.

Oh dear! This is making me wish I'd not sold it now............ flip flip flip.

But don't anticipate (fingers X'd) having to go horse-hunting for a good few years yet if my little mare sees me through OK.

 

[Goldenstar]

I have two horses and more than a dozen saddles I really need get on with parting with them .
CI , if it was not for the storage issue I would tell you that you should of course keep it along with every piece of leather you ever bought .
Do you have a loft at home .

 

[JFTDWS]

I have four treed saddles at home - two of which hurt me in different ways, one which is my very well used jump saddle (that is my go-to if I need a proper saddle, but no longer fits my mare), and my old dressage saddle that I rarely use as I don’t do dressage.

Given that I only have one horse in actual work right now and he currently wears a TCS, I’m not sure what I’m doing with them all.

Full on hoarder here

 

[Caol Ila]

I think what we have learned from this thread is that most of HHO has a tack hoarding problem.

I have a bunch of rugs that Hermosa has grown out of. I did try selling them, but 5'9 seems to be an unpopular size. Gypsum's old 6'9 rugs sold like hot cakes.

I do have a loft. Things get dusty up there, but they ar out of the way.

 

[Cortez]

When I became horseless 2 years ago I sold 14 saddles including 2 sidesaddles (I had an average of 5 horses in work and also needed to supply specialist saddles for displays of up to a dozen horses regularly). I've kept 2 Baroque saddles and 3 - 4 bridles, that's it. Do I get a medal?

 

[Squeak]

2nd hand saddles are really tricky; very rarely do they sell for what we hope, regardless of quality unless they are relatively new and a well known brand in very regular sizes or types. It can be really a bit heart breaking to sell a really good quality saddle for very little, especially if it has been good for you.

But they don't improve with keeping either and will decrease in value quite quickly ime! I would accept that your first loss is the best one and sell now, for whatever you can tbh.

This has been my experience too. I've got a couple of saddles that I kept but they're pretty much valueless now and tbh I'd only use them as a short term solution as things have changed so much that although I loved these saddles when I had and used them, they're not what I'd choose now. I'd have been far better selling them for what I could earlier on.

 

[Annagain]

I never thought I would be sentimental about a saddle but when I bought Charlie and then Wiggy, I said a horse that fit a 17.5" wide saddle and 6'9" rugs was my top priority. I was only half joking as I'm strangely sentimental about my saddle. It's nothing special, just an Ideal Event GP but I've had for 20 years now, ever since I first had Archie. I was very relieved when the saddle fitter said that Albion that came with Wiggy wasn't as good a fit on him as my trusty old Ideal.

Having said that, I'm nearly 2 years in with Wiggy and still have that Albion that doesn't fit him. I keep meaning to sell it, I just haven't got round to it