Native Pony Saddle Company saddles

[123o123]

Very interested in peoples thoughts on the saddles, i am looking at getting the harrier jump saddle for my native pony type pony.

What are they like in terms of:
-Quality
-Service
-are they nice to ride in?
-are they reasonably priced for what they are?

Any other knowledge about them would be fab.

Thank you in advance.

 

[123o123]

anyone at all?

 

[shadowboy]

I don't have the jump model I had the GP mark 111 but it's a nice saddle- worn well over the 14 months I've had it. Service is good but I really struggled to get a good fit on mine- took 5 fittings and two of their fitters to get it to be sort of right. Basically it moves when jumping bigger than 2'3 so it's not been the perfect allrounder saddle I wanted but they did try to make it fit and didn't charge after the first fit. Price wise- I'd say the ideal saddles are better for the money - leather on the underside of flaps feels/looks nicer however I don't think there are many brands of saddle you can get new for £1100 anymore. Overall I'd rate them 8/10

 

[EquestrianFairy]

Can't comment on their saddles but the part ex prices are quite staggering.
I got offered £200 for a £1000 saddle that was a year old and in pristine condition.
- and £100 for a saddle that was 7 years old and in rather poor condition!

It put me off buying from them personally.

ETA: it was part ex'd by another saddler for £650 and the old saddle was sold for £200 privately.

 

[JJones]

I have 2. Beautiful saddles but neither are used on my horses. Look good in the tack room though.

 

[MiJodsR2BlinkinTite]

Can I just clarify which EXACTLY is the company we are talking about........ as there are a lot of companies "out there" with similar sounding names, which is unfortunately very confusing.

"sbloom" - are you there??? Can you help to clarify please????

The reason I am asking people to be aware is that I bought a saddle from here: www.thesaddleexchange.co.uk - who also use the Phrase(s) "native pony saddle company" in their website......... this company is run by Dean & Gini Woodward and they have other, peripheral companies under their main "saddle exchange" brand, which also use the phraseology "native pony". I have bought a saddle from this "saddle exchange" set up and because of the bad experience I had, would strongly dissuade others from doing so. There is another thread running on here in which THREE separate people posted, having had similarly bad experiences with the saddle exchange and/or their subsidiary companies - which I don't think are "live" companies as such, and no-one knows quite why they are there!

I bought a brand new saddle from the "saddle exchange", which later developed a defect. The customer service and aftercare I was given was zilch, I was told it was all either my fault or the horse's fault........ and I had to get really unpleasant in order to get anywhere. This in spite of me being a YO and putting over £4000-worth of business their way.

Their "saddle fitting" consists of nothing more than plonking the saddle on the horse, watching a few paces of trot, then hey ho stuff up the panels....... and that's £65 thank-you-very-much. All done in a tearing hurry as they've got "celebrity" clients to see to. Then you look at the saddle and realise that the panels have been stuffed unevenly.............. avoid, avoid, avoid!

The thread title to which I refer is "my saddle fitting hell" or something like that, where the OP was basically telling of their saddle fitting experiences!!

There is another company run by Andrea Hicks.......... this is NOT connected with the "saddle exchange".

Sorry, not meaning to be confusing, but just clarifying. My bad experience is with the "saddle exchange" (D & G Woodward) only and not any other similar-sounding company or person(s).

 

[JJones]

I'm talking about Andrea Hicks Native pony saddles.

 

[MiJodsR2BlinkinTite]

Ah, fantastic............... that's good.

Sorry, can't help in that case as no personal experience; wish I'd gone there instead of "t'other" lot tho'

 

[hairycob]

I've got one fitted by sbloom & it's lovely.

 

[FfionWinnie]

I have 2. Beautiful saddles but neither are used on my horses. Look good in the tack room though.

Why not?

 

[Walrus]

My saddle is from them and I can't rate them highly enough. I struggled for months to get a suitable saddle for my fell and went through 3 local fitters. Unfortunately native pony saddles don't have a fitter in my area but Andrea herself made recommendations based on templates, photos and video. She sent me out saddles by post to try and I also got my instructor to look at them. It took 2 styles of saddle and then an adjustment so we went backwards and forwards a few time, Andrea was very patient and we talked it through on the phone several times. The saddle itself is beautiful and has made a massive difference to my pony's way of going, it was worth every penny. I also met sbloom from here (one of their fitters) at equifest last year when she very kindly met me at the show ground to check my saddle and adjust the flocking.

 

[FreshandMinty]

I have an Andrea Hicks GP native pony saddle. Its a nice enough saddle, looks smart, fits well and i found their fitter and customer service excellent. Ive seen nicer saddles but when you have chunky natives options are limited. From what Ive seen, 2nd hand they really hold their value.

 

[123o123]

The issue is trees for the pony in question as most trees are too banana shaped as she cannot have a GP as explicitly said by a highly recommended saddler on here, she has a dressage but current jump is too narrow. So i thought this could be a good option, any more opinions? I know about the company split and am looking at AH saddles.

 

[w1bbler]

Highly recommend the ah native pony saddles & s bloom, fitter for my area.
Tweaked our connies saddle a few times now since purchase (pony lost lots if weight & got fit) - also seems happy to review fit & advise by email photos.
She also put right the botch up my previous saddler made of other horses black country saddle, for a very reasonable charge.

 

[Walrus]

The issue is trees for the pony in question as most trees are too banana shaped as she cannot have a GP as explicitly said by a highly recommended saddler on here, she has a dressage but current jump is too narrow. So i thought this could be a good option, any more opinions? I know about the company split and am looking at AH saddles.

I struggled with this - even an Ideal tipped forwards and rocked on mine. The AH saddle fits beautifully and they really understood about fitting to wide flat backs.

 

[OldNag]

I struggled with this - even an Ideal tipped forwards and rocked on mine. The AH saddle fits beautifully and they really understood about fitting to wide flat backs.

Someone on my yard had one for a wide, flat Connie and it worked a dream (it was a GP and she did a lot of jumping). I was really impressed watching the fitting too. (I'm v fussy about fitters, having had some pretty awful experiences as well as good ones).