My saddle dilemma no.2: Believe

[Puppy]

My lovely little lady, who I was warned prior to viewing was very slight and narrow, now has the most awesome shoulders

and has really filled out this summer

but alas, this comes at a price

My two, spanking gorgeous albion K2s no longer fit her

which leaves me with a bit of a dilemma.

I would really, really love another K2, as I think they're fab!!

But unfortunately, it seems that the wider ones are like gold dust to get hold of second hand

My saddler has also said the narrower ones don't sell so well...

My options are:

1) To sell the two I have, for whatever I can get, and accept that it's going to cost a fair bit more money to upgrade both of them

To say oh s*d it to the cost, and just go ahead and upgrade them.

(I guess I do have more law worked lined up at xmas

)

2) To forget having a jumping one for now, and just sell them and upgrade the GP. I guess I can jump in the GP fine for now, and hold out till my saddler/ebay comes up with a jumping one that will fit her or get that maybe in the spring... Trouble is I was really hoping to be set to affiliate by xmas break, and as my saddler worded it "in my little ideal world"

I would like to still have two saddles for her...

3) OR, the proposal my saddler put to me last night: To send my GP back to the albion factory and they will change the tree in it, and in effect make it fit her, at the cost of about £325... Now although this sounds like quite a good plan, I am concerned that she is going to continue to change shape a bit (being a slow maturing WB) and that could leave me in several months time with a saddle that is stamped N/M, but in fact fitted as something wider, and will therefore be even harder to sell should I need to change it *again*, or cost even more expense to re-shape it again...

Plus I would ideally like the saddle to be 1/2" bigger....

4) To upgrade the GP, and have the jumping one sent back to the factory. Again, same problem as above, especially as I would prefer a black one for jumping (me?? picky?? surely not

) but also as my jumping one is in nice condition, but not stunningly so, so I wonder if it is worth spending so much on modifying it. My saddler seems to think it would be...


Argh!! I can't decide what to do for the best. I don't want to go and buy something, or spend a load of cash that I'm going to regret.

Has anyone else had an albion sent back for a different tree??

For some reason this idea doesn't grab me.... Having written it all out above, I am starting to think the best thing to do would be to sell both, get a new GP, and hold out for a jumping one...

Thoughts people??

Oh, and of course, as is now apparent from the above post,

I now have to two N/M, K2s for sale; both brown, GP 17", and jumping 17 1/2"

*waits for a spanking*

 

[Christmas_Kate]

Changing the tree will IMO devalue them, so i would sell both, get a nice GP and hold out for a jumping saddle in the spring. A GP won't greatly affect her or your ability to jump, and you can always put your plan to affiliate on hold for a couple of months.

 

[Puppy]

[ QUOTE ]
A GP won't greatly affect her or your ability to jump, and you can always put your plan to affiliate on hold for a couple of months.

[/ QUOTE ]

LOL! Well I know that.

And I certainly wouldn't put off affiliating just because I don't have a jumping saddle. I just was so pleased about actually having two saddles for one horse for the first time ever

that I'm a bit reluctant to relinquish one.

 

[catembi]

I know just how you feel!

I would sell them both & get a WOW because they are very, very adjustable & you could get jumping flaps & dr flaps & have a saddle & a half!!

If it makes you feel any better, when I changed horses a few months ago, I sold my Heather Moffatt dr & Barry Swain sj. Paid £800 & £900 for them 4 years ago, got £210 for one & £230 for the other on E Bay.

I've heard from one or two people that while you CAN change the trees on the Albions, the joints don't fit together quite properly as you're trying to wedge 2 things together that are at different angles. I had an Albion dr that I was going to get adjusted a few years ago & I sold it instead having heard that.

Horses...grrr. Why are they so expensive???

 

[KatB]

Wouldnt swap the tree....but heres another idea...why dont you sell both of them, and buy a jump saddle that fits her for the time being, as if this is your main discipline, they can be used for everything....and then you could perhaps hold out for a dressage saddle? Not a fan of GP's to be honest, you can do everything (if you need 2 saddles) with a jump and dressage saddle

 

[dieseldog]

When I was looking on Ebay for a jumping saddle all I could find was medium to wide Albions and no N/M so I would look around as I have seen loads of wide Albions for sale 2nd hand.

How old is your saddle? I think my sister paid about £450 for an 18mth old one

 

[Puppy]

It does sounds like a good plan Kat,

but I have no real need for a dressage saddle seeing as I don't do dressage

However, because I have an hours hack to my school, then I hack <u>a lot</u>, and have to hack, school and jump all in one ride often, so I think I'd rather have a GP than a jumping one. I did ride her just in a jumping one for a few weeks, and I didn't think it was great for my riding.

I'm glad everyone agrees with me about the tree changing. I think it was very helpful of my saddler to phone me as an after thought and suggest it, but after making this post and thinking it through, I don't think I shall go down that route

 

[Puppy]

My GP is not that old at all, and in very good condition, just a bit of stirrup leather wear. The jumping one is a bit older, and well "worn in", but still in nice condition. I am off for a browse on ebay now, thank you once again DD