buying saddles yourself - false economy?

I certainly think buying new saddles is a waste of money! A bit like cars, they lose half their value as soon as you take them home.

I will never buy a new saddle again, I have come to the conclusion that older saddles are better in so many ways, the quality of the leather and workmanship, value for money, and older saddles don't seem to roll and slip like new ones do.

I flogged my new saddle on Ebay for less than half I paid despite having been hardly used. I shall be sticking to my old saddles from now on, an Albion, a Stubben and a Pennwood.
 
I have used one saddle on 5 horses with no issues! I agree a saddle has to fit to a degree but the only time I have ever had a horse with back issues is a pony I had a saddle made for and it was perfect when he was one shape but couldnt mold to fit him when he got fitter/fatter. Ill never have a made to measure again ill sick with my soft memory foam presteige which so far has fitted all horses well!
 
I got a great saddle off the internet last year. It was pretty old and looked a bit tatty and it only cost me £40. I've oiled it and got new girth straps on and it looks good as new, is really comfy and fits two of our ponies really well.
 
I would only ever buy a saddle new if it was adjustable, which is what I have just had to do for my haffy who goes between 2 sizes with the seasons, so for her it is worth it and it is a nice saddle, it was 'only' 700 quid so not as bad as some, and it is just impossible to find second hand (sells for about 550 so not too bad). I don't think I'd do it for a horse that didn't change as much. To be honest I'm not sure I'd use a saddle fitter to supply one again unless I was having real trouble finding something, I would much rather take the time to find my own and have it checked. Not sure about eBay unless it is very cheap as you can't really inspect it properly, unless it is from an eBay shop that does returns.
 
After my latest problems with buying a budget saddle off ebay, I will only go for second hand well known brands now. The saddle I received had lumpy and hard flocking, and the stirrup bars were dangerous. It was described as having 'generous wide panels' when in fact it had the narrowest panels I had ever seen in a saddle! Should have known better. It took a month to get my money back and it cost me £21 to send the saddle back.Add to that all my phone calls to ebay and paypal and it definitely WAS a false economy.
 
digitalangel said:
Interesting - so those buying from ebay, do you get a saddle fitter out afterwards? Or do people not bother nowadays?
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Nowadays, I would only get a saddle fitter out if I was happy with the shape of the tree etc but the flocking needed redoing or 'tweeking'. After some bad experiences with saddlers, I have more faith in my own judgement than some saddlers I have come across. I am not saying they are all bad, far from it, but so far, there is only one in a 30 mile radius of here that I would trust.
 
Wagtail said:
Nowadays, I would only get a saddle fitter out if I was happy with the shape of the tree etc but the flocking needed redoing or 'tweeking'. After some bad experiences with saddlers, I have more faith in my own judgement than some saddlers I have come across. I am not saying they are all bad, far from it, but so far, there is only one in a 30 mile radius of here that I would trust.
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None within 30 miles that I trust, but fortunately mine travels further, but he has taught us a great deal about fitting so we know what to look for but always good to have him check. saddle fitting isn't rocket science, and so often I have seen saddlers get it wrong.
 
I am currently trying second hand saddles from ebay (I've already sold one on, the next is in the post right now).

I have enough sense to know whether it's close or hopelessly wrong and when I put one on that I think is a good bet I will have a Master Saddler come out to check and adjust. If they say it is the wrong sort of saddle for the horse it will go!

It's not just a matter of cost but of choice... I want a 16 inch, working hunter in brown and I'm not sure that the saddlers round here carry enough second hand stock to bring out a good selection in that specification.

However, if I don't find the right thing soon I will try a saddler's selection to see if it yields anything.
 
Wagtail said:
Nowadays, I would only get a saddle fitter out if I was happy with the shape of the tree etc but the flocking needed redoing or 'tweeking'. After some bad experiences with saddlers, I have more faith in my own judgement than some saddlers I have come across. I am not saying they are all bad, far from it, but so far, there is only one in a 30 mile radius of here that I would trust.
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More or less the same here. I had a very respected local saddle fit a saddle to my horse which ended up marking him. Instead of trying to put it right, the saddler insisted it fitted, my horse and I disagreed! Now I just fit them myself.

The other problem these days is that hardly any saddlers seem to stock second hand and if they do, they are twice the price of what you'd get them for on Ebay, which is why it's worth taking a chance.
 
Where I used to work every member of staff had their own saddle and padded it up to fit each horse ... Just the way they did it I suppose but it worked fine. We used different shims/back risers etc to adjust and we each had a very light weight saddle (I had a gold cup child's size saddle)

Personally I don't always trust saddle fitters. We've used a couple of people in the past who have turned out to be dodgy liars! You're supposed to be able to trust these "professionals" and feel very let down when they don't do their job properly, fleecing you out of money and costing you hundreds more pounds than if the job had been done right in the first place. I trust my own judgement now. I pad up my saddles until they fit, if I'm in any doubt I call a saddler to help but take their advice with a pinch of salt.

Both my horses have regular chiropractor treatment for maintenance only and I have no problems with either of them. I think some horses are harder to fit than others and it's fine to get advice if you're not sure but I think some owners are too paranoid, if the horse has no health problems, no soreness and is working well then why worry over nothing?
 
I have just bought a jump saddle privately. This is the first time that I have done so and only because my usual saddle fitter didn't have any secondhand K2 and indeed has a waitlist so I knew that there would be a market if I got one that was wrong. I had tried a few friends so I know what size I was looking at otherwise I would not have risked it and gone down trying saddles direct where you can try three and send them all back if none good and just costs you P&P and nominal fee. Saved me £500-600 over the cost of the same saddle new.
 
Interesting subject. I think most horses are straightforward enough to fit as long as the owners have a reasonable idea of how to fit a saddle.

I did all of my own but had a real eye opener with a big ID horse who was shown and did dressage. I had an Ideal Jessica on him with I loved, thought is fitted him and he scored regular 70%'s.

A comment on a dressage sheet got me thinking though. The medium steps were good but a judge said the horse was not using his shoulders as well as he could. Barry Swain came out and told me the Jessica did not fit and pointed out the muscle wastage behind the wither. The horse was 18.2h H/W hunter stamp and Barry basically said there was little to no chance of finding a saddle off the peg, that would not obstruct the horse's shoulders.

Some weeks and a lot of money later I had a bespoke saddle and the first lesson in the saddle was astonishing, different horse, cadence and elevation I could not sit on and the medium trot left me with both hands hanging on to his mane. The whole episode made me realise just how honest horses can be and what some of them put up with. Very sadly I lost the horse just 6 months after having the saddle and it has been sat in the tack room ever since. No one would want to buy it, it is a Heather Moffatt and looks very strange but it made the world of difference to the horse it was built for.
 
AdorableAlice said:
Interesting subject. I think most horses are straightforward enough to fit as long as the owners have a reasonable idea of how to fit a saddle.

I did all of my own but had a real eye opener with a big ID horse who was shown and did dressage. I had an Ideal Jessica on him with I loved, thought is fitted him and he scored regular 70%'s.

A comment on a dressage sheet got me thinking though. The medium steps were good but a judge said the horse was not using his shoulders as well as he could. Barry Swain came out and told me the Jessica did not fit and pointed out the muscle wastage behind the wither. The horse was 18.2h H/W hunter stamp and Barry basically said there was little to no chance of finding a saddle off the peg, that would not obstruct the horse's shoulders.

Some weeks and a lot of money later I had a bespoke saddle and the first lesson in the saddle was astonishing, different horse, cadence and elevation I could not sit on and the medium trot left me with both hands hanging on to his mane. The whole episode made me realise just how honest horses can be and what some of them put up with. Very sadly I lost the horse just 6 months after having the saddle and it has been sat in the tack room ever since. No one would want to buy it, it is a Heather Moffatt and looks very strange but it made the world of difference to the horse it was built for.
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That is so sad! :(
 
It's interesting I had a horse go well in a self fitting saddle. I got a new fitted dr saddle and hi went amazing in it, continued to use the gp for jumping and hacking. Got resistance jumping - not much. Knew it was time to change that as the properly fitted one was allowing him to build muscle and old saddle couldnt cope. So i got saddle fitter out, tried sameish jump saddle to dr (on almost identical tree as de) so thought it would fit and didn't - rose everso slightly at the back. Tried another and my goodness, resistance gone, and forwardness back. That wasn't an exact fit do we had to get one made from the factory. My point is, you can self fit but run the risk of restricting performance. If I had never got that dr then the older gp would have fitted but my horse would be less developed muscle wise.
 
I sell my saddles on ebay - you get a much better return that selling to saddler etc.

I have bought saddles from websites before (Old Dairy Saddlery). I oped for the one in the size and width my horse currently had with the notion that if it didnt fit i would stick it straight on ebay. Luckily it fit like a dream, had it checked by saddle fitter and they said it was fine :)
 
It has to be eBay,Preloved or similar for me.

I hate new saddles, because the leather just isn't the quality it used to be, and would sooner buy a good quality second hand one and spend some of the savings having a saddler out to fit and adjust.

Sham's saddle came off Preloved for a song and it's the most comfortable saddle I've ever sat on - it's a Silhouette Legacy - and its gel seat is so kind to my old bones!
 
Wagtail said:
That is so sad! :(
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It was and very nearly ended my horse keeping days.

I have had a very interesting morning with a saddle fitter today and would like to share, if anyone is interested, what I have learnt.

The new horse, purchased last autumn, is a RID x Clyde, wide and deep. The saddler thought the horse was a wonderful stamp if a little 'agricultural', which made me smile because I describe the horse as a brick shxxx house.

The cob came with tack, the saddle being a very nice Jefferies Adler, and fitted as well as a size 8 would on Dawn French. I put my old Farrington on her and reckoned, in my limited saddle fitting knowledge, that it was a reasonable fit. The mare has changed shape, she has lost weight, been schooled, (well we tried), and she has grown taller in 7 months we us.

In recent weeks the mare has been pottering down hills, I have felt the need to continually shove myself back in the saddle and there are two tiny sore patches behind her elbows where the girth seems to ride forwards. She also cannot/will not trot in balance for more than 6 steps.

I got out all my saddles and explained the cob's history. We put the Adler on first, the cob, in her previous home had worn this saddle for 2 years. It is little wonder the cob gave her previous owners so much grief, she must have been in agony in a saddle that was far too narrow for her. Thankfully I had enough knowledge not to use it when she came to me.

The Farrington went on and I was relieved to hear the saddler say it does fit width wise but is 'bridging badly' which is tipping it and me forward and putting pressure on behind the wither and onto the shoulder. I was shown the gap which I could fit my hand into easily. After a session of stuffing and bashing it went back on the horse and the whole picture was different.

Hopefully it will feel better to ride in and she will be able to go down hill properly, and even better I will not have to explain to the OH that I need a new saddle. I had convinced myself the saddler would only be interested in selling me a new saddle, but no, he did not mention a new one, he told me I had nearly got the fitting right and that there was absolutely nothing wrong with my rather old Farrington, even though it has seen a lot of action on a previous horse, other than the flocking dispersing and being inadequate for the cob.

This morning has made my mind up and I would not buy or fit a saddle myself, it is a skilled job and although most horses put up with a less than perfect fit, why should they ? Fair play to the saddler, he had the opportunity to stuff a new saddle into me, instead he spent most of the morning looking at my old saddles, carefully explaining and showing me the problems and then fixing the problems. All I need now is to find out how to use ebay and sell the Heather Moffat contraption. Are they popular saddles second hand ?
 
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