does anyone have a shires optimus saddle?

china

china

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Ride away have these at a good price at the moment and im looking for a saddle for my mare so i dont have to keep using my dressage saddle for everything! ideally i would like one with a changable gullet as she is one for changing shape summer to winter. And i dont have a big money tree to buy nice fitted english leather saddles, atleast not untill i have finished uni anyway. im looking at the optimus puissance synthetic.
http://www.rideaway.co.uk/SHIRES-PUISSANCE-SYNTHETIC-GP-SADDLE/default.aspx
 
Can't comment on the synthetic ones of these but I bought the leather version of the optimus jump recently and was amazed at the fit and quality for just under £400.
It isnt a beautiful saddle, but I have seen far worse 'branded' saddles for much more money. It was cheap enough to be affordable as an 'extra' saddle but a good fit and the adjustable nature of both gullet and flocking was a bonus! It's perfect for the youngster I bought it for; especially given that I thoroughly dislike the fit of wintec/thorowgood saddles. It has had some fair use so far and I have used it in preference to a pessoa recently as it is very comfortable especially for hacking.
 
I've just bought a close contact version of the Shires Optimus saddle, they're on offer at the mo here. GP, close contact and dressage. So far I'm really pleased and although I would have rather had a leather version I'm pleasantly surprised and secretly think I prefer it for being synthetic as it's much lighter and my horse can be a bit cold backed at first.
http://www.horseandfarmsupplies.co.uk/category/equestrian-supplies/tack/saddle
 
Sorry to buck the trend, but if your horse has any wither at all, regardless of the gullet I wouldn't recommend them. They have very narrow panels down the back so concentrate your weight on only a small, rolling pin-sized area down either side of the spine. The front panels are quite short and the saddle tree tips are consequently short: I had mine looked at by a Master Saddler and he simply couldn't stop it from tipping whichever gullet he used.

He said they would be fine for flatter backed, wider horsey types but would recommend using with a good numnah.
 
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