Ideal vs Albion vs black country dressage saddle...help please!

kerryflower

kerryflower

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I currently have a wintec pro saddle which I hate but it fits the horse well.however i have officially graduated from unhand in doing so have become a proper grown up and opened a savings account with actual real money initial! :p

So Am saving for a black "proper" dressage saddle.I had a lesson on my trainers horse in an ideal Jessica and although it was an older one it was very very comfy and felt really secure (the horse was an extremely big moving stallion so was glad of being snug in the saddle!) she rides in a suzannah and recommended that to to me. What are your thoughts? She also said she liked the black country saddles. I have been looking at albions and like the slk but not sure if it would fit my horse as we tried and older Albion on him and it seemed to restrict his shoulders. My trainer said that albinos are great if you have a horse that suits them but sometimes they just don't fit.

What are your thoughts? I will probably be buying second hand as my hors is 6 and likely to change shape so don't want to spend a fortune for a couple of years. What do u think the chances of getting a good one are?
Thanks all!
 
I have the Ideal Suzannah and like it. It fits my boy and is not massively padded (no excessive knee roles etc).

I hate Albions - feels like I'm sat in a bucket - and have never tried a Black Country I don't think.

I do like saddles flat as a pancake but sadly as my big man has rather large movement and has a tendency to throw in the odd fly-leap-buck-bronc-spin I feel a little more secure in the Suzannah than my old, flat Barnsby.
 
Your friend is right about Albions, they either fit or they dont! I have an Albion K2 Jump which fits my WB lovely, and looking at getting a dressage saddle now too. Looked at the Ideal (i have an Ideal jumping saddle also) and liked them, but have no comments on black country, never seen one. I feel i will go with Albion as i do love my jumping saddle. I think you should try as many as possible as they are all very different on different horses, we have a Bates Innova for our ISH, tried this on the WB and was AWFULL!!
 
If you decide on the Ideal I am selling my Jessica, it is MW in black if you ae interested just let me know. I bought it earlier this year and have hardly used it as my horse has been off work.
 
Whatever fits your horse, and if you're buying second hand, whatever is available when you want to buy! I think Ideal and BC as brands have moe variation in fit between their various models whereas Albion tends to fit a slightly narrower range of horses, but if you're set on one model from each then that doesn't apply.

Best thing you can do is work with a good fitter who can bring out a large range of used stock.
 
I have an albion k2 which my horse came with and that fits him really well. i find the knee blocks handy when he's having a hissy fit at a dock leaf and the seat really holds me in. I also have a barnsby which is really good and fits nicely.
 
The Albion were the only one's that fitted my horse! Not sure if that is good or bad now ;)

Have the SLK and just LOVE it! Was gutted to loose my old dressage saddle but new horse meant that didn't fit but as soon as I sat in the SLK I knew I could part with my old beloved saddle.

Also got the Kontact for jumping. Took a while to get used too but then I had never had a proper jump saddle just GPs'!
 
kerryflower said:
i have officially graduated from unhand in doing so have become a proper grown up and opened a savings account with actual real money initial! :p

My trainer said that albinos are great if you have a horse that suits them but sometimes they just don't fit.
Click to expand...

I just want some of what you're drinking :D :D
 
hahaha Boolavogue (J :P) I wrote it on my sis' ipad with that stupid auto text thing on it and have only just seen how little sense it made :P Sorry all!

But thanks to everyone's thoughts and opinions etc. Am arranging a visit from my saddler to try some different ones and am going to borrow an albion and ideal to see what suits Ollie best I think. I just need to have something that I feel I can really sit "into" :)
 
Not the biggest fan of Albions, neither is the physiotherapist! Apparently they don't do the horses back any favours.

However I do like Ideals but at the end of the day I suppose it's what fits your horse :)
 
I think they're all decent makes. Black country saddle my boy has is really nice, well made and comfy for us both. Try them all if you can and see what works!
 
I have an ideal joanna, best saddle I've ever sat on.

From what I have seen ideal seem to be popular now as they have so many models of dressage saddle, there is one to fit most horses!
 
I love ideals just bought my third gp one just hope that I can sell the one my old mare had to help fund new one
 
I tried an Ideal jessica and Black country eloquence in a shop- they felt very similar, but SO different when on my horse. I hated the jessica- felt like I was sat on a very wide barrel, but love the BC eloquence. Just saving up to buy one now.
I had an Albion SLK- nice to ride it but never really fitted my horse well. Both the ideal jessica and BC saddles fitted my horse.
 
great to hear all of your views. I am goign to get a saddler pout and hopefully get her to bring an ideal, albion, bc and bates to see which would suit both me and my horse the most and go from there :) I think I'm being swayed towards an ideal at the moment though :)
 
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