Saddle Fitters/Dealers

[Dovorian]

I hope that I'm not unreasonable........ Had a visit from a retailer/fitter today who had absolutely nothing which fitted my brief (quality gp saddle), I haqd expressed interest in Albion Ultima, maybe Keiffer etc. What arrived was Bates, GFS and synthetics. I was prepared to spend £1300 but having been given hard sell on saddles I felt uncomfortable with and not even good fits for the boy, I was unimpressed. The final straw was the £45 'visit' charge, had I not been specific in my initial call they, fine BUT I was quite clear what I had in mind and even said that I wasn't interested in synthetic!!

Is this the norm now? Do 'fitters' come out even if thay have nothing suitable just to claim a call out???

All turnout out OK as I bought a fab Albion Ultima from a friend........ just need to get the flocking tweaked!

 

[mizzymoo]

yes i had a local fitter out to check flocking on my saddle, fitter - said the fit was good but could do with a gullet change..?
i went with it thinking well known saddle fitter, qualified. .
charged me £85 cos all of a sudden it needed a bit of flocking, OH and now the saddle has rubbed both sides of her withers nice big white marks, i rang to complain
reply....change of shape due to summer! wtf!
where do i go from here?
RUBBISH! cant trust anyone these days! just out to make money..

 

[gothdolly]

No, I dont think you are being unreasonable - you clearly expressed an interest in "quality" saddles and they brought saddles which are more at the budget end. Im sorry you had a wasted day and paid money out

 

[Toby_Zaphod]

I haven't found this the norm, but I suppose it depends on who you call out. We use a really good saddle fitter & when she arrives she has a car full of quality saddles. She listens to what you want before she comes & brings saddle she thinks will be suitable. She spends as long as it takes to get the fit, she'll even leave saddles to try for a while.....well she's known us a while

She doesn't charge call out if we buy a saddle however she does for checking & flocking etc. It's understandable really as she lives about 50 miles from us

 

[PucciNPoni]

I have the same type of experiences as Toby_Z. My saddle fitter is great. She charges about £20 for a visit for a saddle check. She doesn't charge if she's selling me something. She came out not long ago to check a saddle, but I was also looking to buy a dressage saddle. She brought what she had in stock for second hand (which I was looking for) as well as some new. Nothing suited on that visit - but as they have three shops, she has some brought down from one to my local shop - I picked up three to try - kept them for a few weeks to play around with -- and then bought one of them -- which she came to check at no charge. She has given advice on how to fit, how to pad if necessary, all advice to save money. My massage lady always goes on about how fab the horse's back looks, which I think is down to good advice and fitting from the saddler (well, in part - I know some of that is how she's being worked and fed).

I get my saddler out for fitting checks 2x a year. She will look at every saddle I have (I've got three) and still only charges me for the one visit per horse. I always try to get a group visit together so that she's got several to check.

 

[Birker2020]

I know many people who are currently experiencing terrible problems with a saddle fitter who believes that this person may have bought in bulk a particular make of saddle and finding that they were unable to sell them, in desperation is claiming that they fit owners horses when they clearly do not, by trying to get the saddle to fit the horse by the use of flocking to such an extent, instead of finding a saddle that fits the horse. I know of at least four people that this has happened to in the last two months by this one person. The make of saddle is a fantastic make, it really isn't the saddle manufacturers fault. One horse a narrow TB mare and another horse a slightly cobby type on the same yard had exactly the same saddle, tree, seat size. They could not have been unalike in their fits. One animal is so traumatised by its incorrect fitting saddle this fitter fitted to it, that when the owner walks towards it with any saddle the horse acts terrified due to the marks left on its back by the saddlefitters saddle and thus the pain endured. Very sad.

 

[Donkeymad]

It was very wrong for this fitter to come out knowing they had nothing of the quality you wanted. However, due to Joe Public, saddle fitters are being left with no option to charge for their time. This fee is normally waived if you buy a saddle from them.