Is it actually worth buying a brand new saddle?

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PooJay

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Firstly....Happy New Year to all :) I'm back to work now so am going to pester you all with yet more saddle questions!

I was initially going to spend £450 on a 2nd hand dressage saddle but have managed to save around £800 myself (wow, i am impressed, if i could only do this for paying off credit cards too!) so my lovely OH has offered to up that to buy a new one that would cost around £1200.

I've never bought a brand new saddle before and kind of think - is it really worth buying one brand new?

For the new models i really do like the look of the ideal suzannah (nice deep seat and long flaps - i'm quite long in the thigh so this kind of shape really appeals to me) and this would be available to me new...but then i could go for maybe a 2nd hand SLK Ultima....

I am getting a master saddler out on the 14th to try as many different models as i can to find what suits me and the beast best but i really am in a quandry about whether to bother buying new or not....what are the advantages to it? Apart from it being all shiny and new and mine! :D

No tasty treats to offer as payment for advice as i am on a strict lettuce and water diet after the big Christmas eat...but lettuce and water offered to anyone who can offer any advice :) thanks!
 
I bought a brand new saddle for my old horse. Tragically she died before it was 6 months old, so we never got to use it to the full extent. It did not fit the next horse, so I sold it, at a huge financial loss. If I bought a new one again, I would only buy one that had an adjustable tree, I know that my bum and leg length won't change, but the width fitting for the horse will very possibly change.

The nice part of buying new, is that you don't compromise on the colour/style/size you want, because you buy exactly what you want. You also know the saddle has not been dropped/twisted/damaged by the previous owner.
 
BigRed said:
I bought a brand new saddle for my old horse. Tragically she died before it was 6 months old, so we never got to use it to the full extent. It did not fit the next horse, so I sold it, at a huge financial loss. If I bought a new one again, I would only buy one that had an adjustable tree, I know that my bum and leg length won't change, but the width fitting for the horse will very possibly change.

The nice part of buying new, is that you don't compromise on the colour/style/size you want, because you buy exactly what you want. You also know the saddle has not been dropped/twisted/damaged by the previous owner.
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It's a minefield :D I guess the risks are more with money when buying new but the risks are with your horse buying 2nd hand.

I guess the best thing to do is to wait and see which is our favourite and then decide what to do. :)

thanks
 
If you can decide exactly what you want and the size etc I should think a second-hand one would be better value for money (assuming it's in good condition of course).
Rosie has - at last - managed to find the 17.5" Albion Kontact Lite (in whatever width it was she wanted) recently. She's been looking since last summer and it's saved her £700 over buying brand new.
 
Rosiefan said:
If you can decide exactly what you want and the size etc I should think a second-hand one would be better value for money (assuming it's in good condition of course).
Rosie has - at last - managed to find the 17.5" Albion Kontact Lite (in whatever width it was she wanted) recently. She's been looking since last summer and it's saved her £700 over buying brand new.
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This is it - photo's from the internet are all well and good but if it does have faults then i won't pick them up until i've bought and paid for it. It frightens me :(

that is some serious money saving and i would rather save cash than buy brand spankers just for the sake of having a brand new saddle to my name. I'd rather have a snazzier model 2nd hand i think :)
 
I had been lucky until now and managed to buy the size and model I wanted "as new" and still with tags etc for less than half the original cost price. However I've just been looking for one jumping saddle for the past four months with no success and decided to buy a new one. I have absolutely hated doing it, I know I will lose a fortune on it. The only good thing about it is that I already had an as new matching dressage saddle that I bought at a bargainous price - such a good price in fact that although it isn't currently right for the new boy I can have a correctly fitting tree put in and it modified to suit and it will still only cost me about half the price of the saddle when new and be perfect on him.

I still wish I'd been able to find the saddle I wanted second hand though:(
 
*hic* said:
I had been lucky until now and managed to buy the size and model I wanted "as new" and still with tags etc for less than half the original cost price. However I've just been looking for one jumping saddle for the past four months with no success and decided to buy a new one. I have absolutely hated doing it, I know I will lose a fortune on it. The only good thing about it is that I already had an as new matching dressage saddle that I bought at a bargainous price - such a good price in fact that although it isn't currently right for the new boy I can have a correctly fitting tree put in and it modified to suit and it will still only cost me about half the price of the saddle when new and be perfect on him.

I still wish I'd been able to find the saddle I wanted second hand though:(
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There are plenty of 2nd hand dressage saddles for sale on the interweb, i don't think i'll have any problem finding one i want...eventually!

My problem is i'm a little bit like veruca salt when it comes to saddles. I want it and i want it now :D
 
I bought my first brand new saddle last year and had a similar internal struggle deciding what to do!

In the end I did it because i wanted a suzannah (which i rate!) and I couldnt find the one I wanted after months of looking. Also, the second hand ones that were in good nick weren't drastically cheap enough to warrant not getting a brand spanker.

In the past I have plumped for second hand ones because of the cost, but also because I find new ones stiff and weird for quite a while. Somehow I coped with this though and I was very happy with the decision.

I am wary of buying from ebay and other non-regulated sellers as you have no idea what the saddle has been through and what weakness/unseen repairs it has. The second hand saddlers offering checks and warranty often don't offer such a bargain.

A saddle is only a terrible investment if you dont get much use out of it for the horse that it was purchased for, and like the poor person above who couldnt get it to fit their next one. If you look after it well, and are lucky enough to get decent wear out of it...second hand values are not a bad deal. I know a friend who traded theirs in recently after years of use and they got a fantastic amount of money back considering.

Treat yourself!!
 
The one Rosie eventually found was way over the other side of the country but the postage was only (only :eek:) £15 via the post office and she calculated that the risk was worth taking as she could bung it back in the same packaging and send it back by return of post if it didn't match it's described 'very good' condition. It did come from a proper saddlery shop though and she'd paid by credit card.
Sorry - can't help with your veruca salt syndrome ;).
 
PiggyB said:
I bought my first brand new saddle last year and had a similar internal struggle deciding what to do!

In the end I did it because i wanted a suzannah (which i rate!) and I couldnt find the one I wanted after months of looking. Also, the second hand ones that were in good nick weren't drastically cheap enough to warrant not getting a brand spanker.

In the past I have plumped for second hand ones because of the cost, but also because I find new ones stiff and weird for quite a while. Somehow I coped with this though and I was very happy with the decision.

I am wary of buying from ebay and other non-regulated sellers as you have no idea what the saddle has been through and what weakness/unseen repairs it has. The second hand saddlers offering checks and warranty often don't offer such a bargain.

A saddle is only a terrible investment if you dont get much use out of it for the horse that it was purchased for, and like the poor person above who couldnt get it to fit their next one. If you look after it well, and are lucky enough to get decent wear out of it...second hand values are not a bad deal. I know a friend who traded theirs in recently after years of use and they got a fantastic amount of money back considering.

Treat yourself!!
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:D if the ideal suits i will be hugely tempted to go brand new. I mean, how often to OH's offer to buy such lovely expensive pony gifts :D
 
I could not agree more! How can you pass up the offer of a new saddle?! Although then the doubt creeps in...what other loot could you purchase with the money you save!! I went round in circles for months.

The ideal is lovely, well worth the money and good value. I also found that since i was buying new, my saddler was a little more fleixble on price and I did my first ever bit of bartering!

Go for it!
 
Rosiefan said:
The one Rosie eventually found was way over the other side of the country but the postage was only (only :eek:) £15 via the post office and she calculated that the risk was worth taking as she could bung it back in the same packaging and send it back by return of post if it didn't match it's described 'very good' condition. It did come from a proper saddlery shop though and she'd paid by credit card.
Sorry - can't help with your veruca salt syndrome ;).
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Yeah i think this could be the way of buying second hand safely, through a shop! :) I am the only one that can help with the Veruca Salt syndrome....i've done well so far, i've kept off ebay and saddle shops over christmas. Put the money in my knicker draw and have vowed to wait until the saddler has been before i start looking. :D
 
If you are looking at getting a new Ideal it is worth remembering that they can customise the saddle in terms of width, panels, length of flaps etc for no extra charge.

this, for me, is the main advantage over 2nd hand and imo is the only way it is worthwhile paying the new price Vs 2nd hand.
 
PiggyB said:
I could not agree more! How can you pass up the offer of a new saddle?! Although then the doubt creeps in...what other loot could you purchase with the money you save!! I went round in circles for months.

The ideal is lovely, well worth the money and good value. I also found that since i was buying new, my saddler was a little more fleixble on price and I did my first ever bit of bartering!

Go for it!
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Well this is it....what else could i buy with that £300 extra! All kinda things for myself, but i really can't think of anything else that the girly needs except for transport and i need to pass my test first (lol)

I've had her 2 years now and had a 2nd hand saddle company saddle (which will still be used for jumping) and never a brand new all singing all dancing saddle and she deserves one cos she's ace! :D

Roll on 11 days from now and i'll be in even more of a quandry because the ones i thought i'd like, I probably won't like and more than likely the one that fits her best is the £3k amerigo and i'll have to find that for £1000 :rolleyes::D
 
have to agree that 2nd hand ones could be dodgy but i have been v lucky with both mine- both Barnsby and both checked by Barnsby and almost new, coming from private sellers and at least half the original price. i will be looking out for a dressage saddle soon and will take the same route - as i say, i have been lucky and found honest people.
 
Personally, I think new saddles are a bit like new cars - they depreciate terribly and I wouldnt have one unless someone else was paying!

If you want an Ideal Suzannah you wont struggle to find a decent 2nd hand one as there are loads of them around.

Really the only time i'd buy a new one is if the horse is very tricky to fit - we bought a made to measure Sue Carson for Fitz as we couldnt get anything else to suit him.

Prob is that resale value is so much lower - we sold a Devecoux at a 1.5K loss from what we paid new.
 
I'd always go for the better saddle but second hand if I could, but if your horse is tricky to fit you might end up going new... or if you fall in love with a new one when the saddler comes!

If you have a young horse, or one which is likely to change shape, then def go second hand, or get something adjustable (I love my Wow which is now fitted onto it's third horse since I've had it).

The BD website is fab for good quality second hand dressage saddles - mostly in the £500-800 range...
 
Polotash said:
I'd always go for the better saddle but second hand if I could, but if your horse is tricky to fit you might end up going new... or if you fall in love with a new one when the saddler comes!

If you have a young horse, or one which is likely to change shape, then def go second hand, or get something adjustable (I love my Wow which is now fitted onto it's third horse since I've had it).

The BD website is fab for good quality second hand dressage saddles - mostly in the £500-800 range...
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I don't really know much about wow saddles tbh, or close contact - i'd love to try a close contact saddle! :)
 
When i was looking i tried on both new and second hand saddles. The saddle i really wanted didn't fit my horse. I ended up with second hand in the end as i could get a better saddle for less money. I manged to get a really good deal with my jumping saddle as it was like new only used a couple of times, but got it for much less than a new one. Quite a few of the second hand saddles were in excellent condition so it's worth looking at both.
 
indi4 said:
When i was looking i tried on both new and second hand saddles. The saddle i really wanted didn't fit my horse. I ended up with second hand in the end as i could get a better saddle for less money. I manged to get a really good deal with my jumping saddle as it was like new only used a couple of times, but got it for much less than a new one. Quite a few of the second hand saddles were in excellent condition so it's worth looking at both.
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I'm definitely going to keep my options open with the advice i've had here. I've got a saddler who doesn't really hold many 2nd hand saddles coming soon to try brand new saddles so i can kind of decide which shape/brand suits and then see what saddles are available second hand and what prices they're at. We don't really have many 2nd hand dealers in our area which limits me somewhat but i'll get there....eventually :)
 
PooJay said:
I don't really know much about wow saddles tbh, or close contact - i'd love to try a close contact saddle! :)
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Wows are a bit marmite I think... I got mine originally because I had a loan horse I knew I wasn't keeping long term, and a youngster who I hopefully will be, so I thought I'd invest in a nice saddle, but wanted one that was fully adjustable. Plus a friend of mine had one and raved about it, which I got to try to make sure I liked it!

I love mine for it's deep seat and huge knee rolls, but some people don't like the fact you are sitting on a "sausage" because the seat of the saddle is very waisted - i.e. your inner thigh muscle sits in under the edge of the seat. It makes me feel secure, but my mum can't stand it!

I was lucky... mine came off ebay a lot cheaper than new would have been - I was comforted by the fact that if one part did turn out to be damaged I could just buy a new version of that part from Wow, which you can't do with a normal saddle.

Oh, and some horses don't like them either (no tree and air flocking so feel different to a normal saddle), def one to try before you buy!

Sorry, don't have a close contact so can't offer any advice there ;0)
 
Polotash said:
Wows are a bit marmite I think... I got mine originally because I had a loan horse I knew I wasn't keeping long term, and a youngster who I hopefully will be, so I thought I'd invest in a nice saddle, but wanted one that was fully adjustable. Plus a friend of mine had one and raved about it, which I got to try to make sure I liked it!

I love mine for it's deep seat and huge knee rolls, but some people don't like the fact you are sitting on a "sausage" because the seat of the saddle is very waisted - i.e. your inner thigh muscle sits in under the edge of the seat. It makes me feel secure, but my mum can't stand it!

I was lucky... mine came off ebay a lot cheaper than new would have been - I was comforted by the fact that if one part did turn out to be damaged I could just buy a new version of that part from Wow, which you can't do with a normal saddle.

Oh, and some horses don't like them either (no tree and air flocking so feel different to a normal saddle), def one to try before you buy!

Sorry, don't have a close contact so can't offer any advice there ;0)
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hehe i don't think i want another marmite saddle, i want a normal one! lol i had a treeless before and it would not stay still. I have trouble with saddles slipping forward though :)

I'll have to investigate close contact myself then. Thanks for your help :)
 
I have to say I always tend to go for second hand saddles! There's something I just don't like about brand new ones - couldn't tell you what though.. LOL.

I got my Albion Style as-new barely used for a bargain price from my saddler friend. It fitted perfectly and was my first dressage saddle. I have already been guaranteed more than I paid for it as part X on my next saddle - again a secondhand Albion. My rubbishy wintec 500 GP i bought for breaking my youngster many years ago again I got as new with tags on still for £150 including all gullets and postage from eBay! Can't complain!

Saying that, I had a very difficult to fit pony when I was younger who I had a custom made jumping saddle for which was £900 (this is well over 10yrs ago) it was perfection for him, had it reflocked a couple times as he changed shape and got older but always fitted so well and never had a problem with it. Until it came to selling it. It was immaculate but I could only get £170 for it as it was a custom fitting somewhere between Medium Narrow and Narrow and a 16" seat. :(

That's probably what put me off buying new to be honest! Losing a LOT of money!
 
ace87 said:
I have to say I always tend to go for second hand saddles! There's something I just don't like about brand new ones - couldn't tell you what though.. LOL.

I got my Albion Style as-new barely used for a bargain price from my saddler friend. It fitted perfectly and was my first dressage saddle. I have already been guaranteed more than I paid for it as part X on my next saddle - again a secondhand Albion. My rubbishy wintec 500 GP i bought for breaking my youngster many years ago again I got as new with tags on still for £150 including all gullets and postage from eBay! Can't complain!

Saying that, I had a very difficult to fit pony when I was younger who I had a custom made jumping saddle for which was £900 (this is well over 10yrs ago) it was perfection for him, had it reflocked a couple times as he changed shape and got older but always fitted so well and never had a problem with it. Until it came to selling it. It was immaculate but I could only get £170 for it as it was a custom fitting somewhere between Medium Narrow and Narrow and a 16" seat. :(

That's probably what put me off buying new to be honest! Losing a LOT of money!
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hmmmm that's why i asked about the advantages of buying brand spankers. There aren't many really! lol I don't think my girl will be difficult to fit at all, she has normal withers although is quite short backed...but hopefully not shortbacked enough to be a problem. Everything should be pretty easy once we know what suits :) ooooh i'm so excited - except for buying horses and houses i think dressage saddles are the next most exciting thing to buy ever!! :D
 
Saddles can move forwards for a variety of reasons but the most common one is probably that the saddle is cantle low. Otherwise it can just be that a slightly unstable saddle (unstable again for a variety of reasons) will make it move forward on that particular horse.

I always say that there are basically three factors in the ease and cost of saddle fitting:

Ease of fitting horse and rider both indivisually and as a combo
Budget
Preparedness to wait

If you don't have an easy to fit combo then you need to either have a high budget ie new, or be prepared to wait a long time for something suitable to come up. On average of course, anyone can get lucky :). I fit mainly hard to fit horses and ponies and many have gone through a ton of second hand and/or new saddles at great financial cost and sometimes at the sake of their horse's health.

The best saddle is one that fits. And adjustable is no magic fix - you may say you'll only buy an adjustable saddle, but you cannot guarantee it will work for your horse or for you. From a fellow saddle fitter:

http://saddlefitter.blogspot.com/2009/11/from-tree-up-sub-topic-adjustable-trees.html#more
 
sbloom said:
Saddles can move forwards for a variety of reasons but the most common one is probably that the saddle is cantle low. Otherwise it can just be that a slightly unstable saddle (unstable again for a variety of reasons) will make it move forward on that particular horse.

I always say that there are basically three factors in the ease and cost of saddle fitting:

Ease of fitting horse and rider both indivisually and as a combo
Budget
Preparedness to wait

If you don't have an easy to fit combo then you need to either have a high budget ie new, or be prepared to wait a long time for something suitable to come up. On average of course, anyone can get lucky :). I fit mainly hard to fit horses and ponies and many have gone through a ton of second hand and/or new saddles at great financial cost and sometimes at the sake of their horse's health.

The best saddle is one that fits. And adjustable is no magic fix - you may say you'll only buy an adjustable saddle, but you cannot guarantee it will work for your horse or for you. From a fellow saddle fitter:

http://saddlefitter.blogspot.com/2009/11/from-tree-up-sub-topic-adjustable-trees.html#more
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I am unlikely to go for an adjustable saddles again tbh. I've got that in a dressage saddle atm (in the form of a saddle co saddle) and if it fits me, it doesn't fit her...but the GP one i've got for does work bizarrely! (although needs alterting desperately atm)

I really don't think she'll be hard to fit, her girth groove is in the right place, average wither, shortbacked but should be big enough for a 17.5 - potentially may need a 17" but i am a size 10 so that probably won't be big enough for me. She's a warmblood (nearly 8 y/o) and is really filling out in the right way. I believe she's a wide fit (certainly is in the albion SLK range, mw just too tight) and i just really need a saddler to come out and show me what fits us both best with regards to shape as well.

I will wait for the right saddle - i'm not spending all this money on something that might not be right, it's got to be perfect. It's why i'm spending £60 getting a master saddler out to advise what fits us best with a number of saddles to try out :)
 
I've just bought a brand new Ideal Suzannah. It is apparantly very much like the Albion SLK and imo comfier than the Jessica. I bought it from an online shop
http://www.thehorseboutique.co.uk/tack-saddlery/new-saddles/dressage-saddles/cat_31.html who have a sale on at the mo. I saw it before Xmas and it's only £830 for a brande new Suzannah, made to measure, including postage to me in Wales! I thought it was too good to be true so rang Ideal to check it was cosure and it's all above board so my saddler (master saddleR) took a template of my horse and all the right measurements etc and posted it direct to Ideal so the saddle was literally made to measure. It's in the post as I type...yay!!! I never htought I would buy a new saddle or my 6yo who is likely to change shape but this offer was too good to miss and a second hand suzannah wasn't much less than the £830 cost of new one. I'm so excited!!
 
Just FYI, not just the OP but for everyone, some fitters, such as ours, will adjust beech laminate trees. They can only be adjusted by maybe two widths up, and perhaps one down, and only maybe 3 times, but that gives a lot more scope than people realise, especially with a flocked panel which can also be adjusted.

Good luck with your hunt :)
 
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