Billabongchick
Well-Known Member
Hi, does anyone know how adjustable these are? As they have a flexi-tree? Would a medium be able to be re-fitted to MW or is there not enough give in them? Thanks!
Humphries and Swain Holistic Saddle
- Thread starter Billabongchick
- Start date
Bluejazz
Well-Known Member
I have a semiflex (and stamped as such) which is adjustable, but I believe not all models of swain / humphries saddles are. Best to contact Kay Humphries or Barrie swains team direct to identify model to find out.
Bosworth
Well-Known Member
Many of them can be altered by going back to Kay or Barry, or they can actually put in a replacement tree for you, but they will ba able to advise you on the best way forward
Billabongchick
Well-Known Member
Thanks, wasn't confident enough to bid over a certain amount on it in the end not knowing whether it would fit... bit too risky although someone else got a bargain!
I never knew finding a saddle would be such a pain in the rear end! Nobody decent seems to stock 2nd hand any more or if they do then they seem to be untrained. Is this the norm now with 2nd hand saddles as have been told by 2 recommended fitters to buy through freeads/ebay and then come back to get them adjusted?! It wasn't like that 10 years ago when I last had a horse...
Don't really like the idea of forking out money I don't have a lot of for something just to effectively try it. One saddler recommended buying 2 or 3 second hand and hoping that one would fit leaving you with a 2nd and 3rd to resell?! I looked at the Saddles Direct website too - great idea but the cheapest they have is £450 and top of our budget is about £350 so by the time you add in postage costs for trial/return and paying a fitter for adjustments/checking they are way over budget. We're not looking for anything amazing just a basic dressage in fair nick for a growing horse!
I never knew finding a saddle would be such a pain in the rear end! Nobody decent seems to stock 2nd hand any more or if they do then they seem to be untrained. Is this the norm now with 2nd hand saddles as have been told by 2 recommended fitters to buy through freeads/ebay and then come back to get them adjusted?! It wasn't like that 10 years ago when I last had a horse...
Don't really like the idea of forking out money I don't have a lot of for something just to effectively try it. One saddler recommended buying 2 or 3 second hand and hoping that one would fit leaving you with a 2nd and 3rd to resell?! I looked at the Saddles Direct website too - great idea but the cheapest they have is £450 and top of our budget is about £350 so by the time you add in postage costs for trial/return and paying a fitter for adjustments/checking they are way over budget. We're not looking for anything amazing just a basic dressage in fair nick for a growing horse!
sbloom
Well-Known Member
There are a couple of vicious circles at play here - retail saddle fitters have to add on a decent margin (a used saddle takes as long if not longer to fit than a new one and makes us a lot less money) so second hand saddles from a fitter look expensive compared to online - years ago there WAS no online. Online has meant that sellers expect to get decent prices for the saddle, buyers expect to pay as little as possible. There isnt any room left in there for a margin for someone to earn a living.
Also, synthetics being easily availabel and "adjustable" mean that more and more people are opting for those when they have a low budget, especially if they, as they believe, can change the fit themselves. So fitters tend to stock those - no sellers to offend when buying the stock, and customers like them.
We get enquiries all the time for used saddles but hardly get any traded in, we do take in other brands (we only stock and fit our own brands) and one unusual in that respect, but we don't fit them so we have to sell on ebay and so offer a lowish price - we still sometimes lose money on them but offer it as a service to our clients.
Also, synthetics being easily availabel and "adjustable" mean that more and more people are opting for those when they have a low budget, especially if they, as they believe, can change the fit themselves. So fitters tend to stock those - no sellers to offend when buying the stock, and customers like them.
We get enquiries all the time for used saddles but hardly get any traded in, we do take in other brands (we only stock and fit our own brands) and one unusual in that respect, but we don't fit them so we have to sell on ebay and so offer a lowish price - we still sometimes lose money on them but offer it as a service to our clients.
eatmoremincepies
Well-Known Member
I would ring Kay's shop and ask, 01494 676583, and explain your budget and situation, see what she suggests. I think she can change the older Saddle Company saddles quite easily and they are around your budget. They have a policy of not selling saddles unless they fit them, which may sound fussy but I can see why.
In 10 years she has never steered me wrong on a saddle, or anyone I know, so I trust her.
In 10 years she has never steered me wrong on a saddle, or anyone I know, so I trust her.
Billabongchick
Well-Known Member
Thank you for the replies sbloom and eatmoremincepies! - yes it is the same with everything unfortunately; I work in print and huge companies like Vistaprint drive the price down to unsustainable levels online and then customers don't get proper service and the true 'craftspeople' can't make ends meet and disappear taking with them the specialist knowledge for more bespoke things... if it wasn't for that I would have more cash spare to spend on something higher end saddle-wise!
As it happens I put an ad on our local website last night and a lady rang who has just moved to the yard next door to mine with what seems like a good saddle. It will need adjusting but she was lovely enough to let me hack out in it this afternoon and other than the flocking needing adjusting it seems to fit well to my uneducated eye. Have had a lot of response from my wanted ad (5 people have replied already!) and most have offered to bring saddles over to try as are very local so hopefully something will work out and I can then pay the saddler to adjust.
Am not a big fan of adjustable saddles as I just think it is too easy to try and do it yourself and potentially mess up your horse's back. Would rather pay to get a decent 2nd hand properly adjusted/fitted!
As it happens I put an ad on our local website last night and a lady rang who has just moved to the yard next door to mine with what seems like a good saddle. It will need adjusting but she was lovely enough to let me hack out in it this afternoon and other than the flocking needing adjusting it seems to fit well to my uneducated eye. Have had a lot of response from my wanted ad (5 people have replied already!) and most have offered to bring saddles over to try as are very local so hopefully something will work out and I can then pay the saddler to adjust.
Am not a big fan of adjustable saddles as I just think it is too easy to try and do it yourself and potentially mess up your horse's back. Would rather pay to get a decent 2nd hand properly adjusted/fitted!