Saddle company saddles

[djp48]

Having a BIG problem finding a saddle to fit my 5year old Arab mare. Saddle company have recommended a working hunter close contact saddle made to measure.
Does anyone know anything about any of their saddles or the company in general.

 

[Scarlett]

If you do a search you'll find loads of posts on here.

I had two of their saddles and my reaction was initially very positive, until I discovered it was the saddle that was negatively affecting my riding and I got rid of it and found my horse was much happier in a different traditional saddle. The saddles were great at the time and fitted well etc, but they did need regular fitting as the sunk/widened.

Definately a great idea on a growing youngster though.

 

[Kallibear]

Nice saddles with good design that fits many horses.

However they are NOT one size fits all: like the wintecs only the gullet width at the front can be changes. The tree's a much better design than the wintecs though!

I've got two and really like them. Nice and light weight, lovely soft, moulding panels ( I had mine reflocked with proper short-fibre white wool and they're anazing!) and the width is easily changable for the horse. They're also comfy to ride in.

 

[orin]

my friend has a working hunter saddle company saddle for sale?

 

[suzysparkle]

I love them...the WH and the event are the better models IMHO. I'm not so keen on the GP due to the position it puts you in. Need reflocked yearly as the serge panels are soft. If you have it made to template (no extra cost) it can easily have adjustments if your Horse changes shape. Get the suede seat and knees....well worth the little bit extra and it's the Verona models I've had (half leather half synthetic). Mine is 2 years old, rarely cleaned and still looks great.

 

[CBAnglo]

[ QUOTE ]
Having a BIG problem finding a saddle to fit my 5year old Arab mare. Saddle company have recommended a working hunter close contact saddle made to measure.
Does anyone know anything about any of their saddles or the company in general.

[/ QUOTE ]

I fit saddles for the Saddle Company and have fitted them (in particular the WH) for several arabs, including my own anglo (he has the dressage and event models).

In general, I dont like the WH model because of the stirrup bar placement but it is the most popular model so I always have the bars put further back when I have my saddles made, to give a better position (more like a dressage saddle). And they dont come in "close contact", the only CC model is the jump saddle.

The panels are made from serge, which is very soft and forgiving on the back. The gullet and front part of the tree is adjustable using a retemplating machine that most fitters will have, so they are good for youngsters. But they do not fit every type of horse - they fit a good majority of the horses that are around the standardish sort of shape and size, but I dont like them on anything wider than an XXW.

I have never experienced one widening of its own accord as described above. However, the flocking is not the standard white wool, but a softer grey wool which is specifically designed to be used with serge panels (the white wool is too hard and stretches the panels which distorts them and makes them appear skewiff) and therefore the panels tend to drop a lot when first ridden in. This depends, in degrees, upon the size of the rider and the shape of the horse, but in general the larger the rider and the rounder the horse, the more the drop in the panels. This does need to be looked at by the fitter very carefully in the first few months as the saddle is bedded in, and very frequently it will require more flocking in the first 6 months.

As an alternative, have you looked at the Arabian Saddle Company saddles (no affiliation with the SC) as these are designed specifically for arabs and are very well made?

 

[simplyhunting]

i had a saddle company saddle done for my boy, the event version. it was ok for the first ride or so.. unfortunatly it began slipping all over the place, rubbing behind and in my opinion had too much padding for my liking (but this was within the budget at the time). However the leather soon rubbed away where the riders legs go and ended up with a large rub patch either side after hunting in it only twice! also the stitching came undone along the seat

so this was sent back...
after this i had a lady from kentaur come with a large range of saddles and tried all of them in attempt to find one that fits! fortunatly i found a lovely latex pannelled saddle which fits perfect

and got to choose the colour

this was the ideal saddle for a horse that had tried everything with nothing that had previously fitted well!
have since used this saddle on many different horses and it fits everything from the 13.2 to th 17hh!
so maybe give them a try but my personal experience of the saddle company saddles i would not buy one again

 

[Jingleballs]

I loved my SC saddle but due to the lack of a good fitter in my area I had to part with it. If you can find a good fitter then I'd definately recommend one.