Butet / latex panel saddles

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TwoStroke

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I'm setting out my budget for the next two years, which must include the purchase of 3 saddles (gulp!). I covet a butet jump saddle for eventing, but I do a lot of hacking, and have heard dodgy things about riding in latex panel saddles for long periods of time. Is this a myth, or would I be better off getting a wool flocked saddle?

The other two saddles will be a dressage for the same horse and a jump for another one, which is very unlikely to fit both - so I'll have to hack in the latex panel saddle, if I get one.
 
I've got an Equipe latex panelled saddle I do everything in. I would say the thing to check with the close contact saddles is make sure you can't feel the stirrup bars through the gullet of a saddle, as this can transfer to the horse. I have been put off using some french makes of saddle on wider horses due to seeing one where the stirrup bars were visible through the gullet, as it was a narrow tree to give rider comfort, but the panels were set wide for the horses fitting... not great!!

Other than that, I would say latex is just as forgiving, if not more so to the horses back than a flocked one as there is no danger of pressure points due to uneven flocking/balling up etc. I do use a half pad under my saddle now, just because my mare has decided she prefers it, but she has been worked for a long time with just the saddle on a thin cloth and been fine.

When I was saddle hunting, we tried a LOT of saddles on her, and all the ones she agreed with were latex panelled, not wool flocked...
 
We hack and do everything in our Butet saddles. Have dressage and xc. No problem whatsoever and horse seems to prefer them to our wool flocked saddle.
 
I had the same concerns as you initially and kept an old GP for hunting etc. However I eventually had to sell the GP and ended up hunting (which I guess you could call 'extreme hacking'!) in my Butet XC saddle. Have done 7 hours in it with no apparent ill-effects for horse or jockey
 
I have had a prestige single flap event saddle for several years but only use it for jumping my old horse in. I was told by a reputable saddle fitter that although it fitted my young horse I would be wise not to use it. He explained that the gullet was quite narrow and because it is very close contact every movement I made would transfer to the horse, and on a young unbalanced horse this may not be a good idea. The way he explained this made perfect sense. I now use an GFS event to jump the young horse and a dressage saddle to school and hack out (I feel more secure with more leg round the horse) He also explained that a lot of riders have to use various pads and padded numnahs under close contact saddles to make sure they fit which seems to defeat the object.
 
In regards to the narrow gullet mentioned by rossiroo, this can be a concern with some makes of CC saddles, but you get that with flocked saddles too. No matter what the make of saddle is, I would always be checking the gullet is nice and wide for the horses confort. Originally CC saddles were very much narrow treed saddles to suit the rider, hence not being suitable for lengthly use. However, with development, this is no longer the case with a lot of makes, so this is no longer a valid point :)
 
Also, re pads, why does that defeat the purpose. Some horses are more comfortable with a particular pad and a selection of pads can offer fine adjustments much more readily and easily than always waiting for the next fitter's visit. I don't know anyone who jumps at high level in anything other than a close contact saddle - usually with a pad!

Re hacking, I will freely admit that many of the older cc saddles are not the most comfortable for the long haul - I grew up riding in Hermes, Crosbys etc which were virtually skateboards - but modern designs reflect a much less Puritan ethos now! :)
 
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