Saddles and consumer rights

[Mrs Trotter]

Has anyone else had the joy of having horse "fitted" for expensive saddle only to find it doesn't fit? Would like money back but suspect going to have a tussle! Anyone else had this experience - it seems that in the horse world we accept this whereas if it was anything else you'd bought you expect an exchange at worst. Any thoughts?

 

[ISHmad]

Yes this happened to me a few years ago. Saddler tried to tell me that in less than two weeks the horse had changed shape so much he had outgrown the saddle. Horses can and do change shape a lot of course but not quite that quickly.

Told the "Master Saddler" that unless he gave me a full refund we would be reporting him to the OFT/Trading Standards as under the Sale Of Goods Act the saddle needed to be fit for purpose. We did get a refund in full, he was just trying it on.

How long have you had the saddle for?

 

[unicornleather]

The Sale of goods act should cover you for saddlery as it does everything else.
Yes as the other poster has mentioned, horses do change but not that quickly,I agree with you!
In the past I have sold saddles that do fit and the horse after a few days has reacted to it, for neither love nor money I could find anything wrong with the fitting of the saddle, I went over it with a fine tooth comb.
The horse in question is notoriously misbehaved as I found out later but the best thing I could have done on that occasion was to refund in full, take the saddle back and let someone else with different makes of saddles take over, which I did.There's no point in making customers angry as you only get a bad reputation whether you are in the right or not!
The horse comes first and it's comfort is the determining factor.
As it turned out with this particular horse other saddlers had the same problem so it was not me in that instance it wasn't anything I had done wrong!
I'm not saying either myself or any other saddler are never wrong, we are, we are only human.
Some horses react to the best fitting saddles after they have had a badly fitting saddle on for years, it really doesn't make sense sometimes but that's equines for you!
The best thing we can do as saddler's is to listen what the horse's body language is telling us, listen to the customer and try to sort it out or refund if there's any doubt!
Oz

 

[clairefeekerry1]

i'm currently going through this at the moment so will read replies with interest. have just sent of a letter to the saddlers asking for a full refund so we will see. i have a vets report and another saddlers report saying my current saddle does not fit. i have sent these reports to the saddler

 

[Mrs Trotter]

Thanks for your replies, only had saddle a week and ridden on it once. Too narrow for my cob and digging in her shoulder , fitter did get in touch and came to yard but saddle at home preparing to go on so unable to have a re fit.
Not happy at all and feel a tussle coming on.

Certainly wouldn't put up with this normally but why do we always feel like we're in the wrong when we know our horses? We are the clients after all.

 

[gillianfleming]

I'm going to be going through this as well, i had a saddle made for my boy, lovely working hunter saddle, had the chiropractor out today and she asked to look at his saddle as he's been having problems with his back, and its too long.
I never though to look at the length, i trusted what the saddler told me and it probably means that my other saddle doesn't fit either as its the same length.
I'm upset that i've been hurting my horse when i was trying to do the best for him.

 

[Dexydoodle]

Bought a saddle from a 'highly recommended' saddle fitter who's used by a number of other people at my livery yard. Had the saddler out a few weeks ago as my mare has lost loads of weight (phew!) and the saddle was moving. So she (in her words) reflocked it and charged me £30 for the priviledge along with a £40 call out fee as she brought other saddles (at my request) - the one I have currently is a show saddle as it was all that fitted her when I got her, and I want to start doing some jumping. She had no other saddles that fitted and was going along the lines of recommending made to measure. Had someone else out (recommended by a trusted friend) and not only is her saddle too long for her and making her back sore, but its also too narrow, and the 'reflock' was actually just an overstuffing - took her 10 minutes to do - and its been done wonky. The right panel has far less in it than the left - when I said I felt wonky she told me its because I was sitting wonky.

Have now ordered a GP saddle from 2nd fitter and rang 1st fitter to say i'd got a saddle from somewhere else as she hadn't been able to get me one (she promised to part ex the show saddle against a GP when my mare had lost the weight as she knew I wanted a GP and the show saddle was a temporary solution) and she's offered to sell the saddle on for me minus a cut - so it could be ages before it sells and I get the money. Haven't dared broach the subject of the fact it doesn't fit etc - think she'll just say its subjective.

Wish I had the guts to tell her but I'm just so disappointed that after years of my mare being ridden in a saddle far too narrow, I got her something that I thought fitted and actually i've been hurting her every time I rode her

 

[Indigo Moose]

I don't know what the actual rules are, but from my experiences, if the saddle is wool flocked, they will usually refit/refund/exchange, but if it's latex/foam/whatever panels, as soon as they've got your money they want nothing more to do with you.

It's sad, but true, and it's why I would always buy through a saddler rather than directly from a saddle company.