Saddles - bit disappointed :/ (long, sorry)

Another Voter for Farrington, I have an older WH type on my Fjord its a slightly curved tree which she needs as her confirmation is bum high its the most comfortable saddle I have ever sat in and ive had ideals before this one.
 
I feel your pain......recently been through this myself.

I ended up with an Ideal WH - its for an arab with smallish withers but who is also wide and flat backed- its the only one which fits , looks good and he is happy with. Its fairly straight cut - enough to show in, but plenty of roll for hacking and low-level jumping. It doesn't lift up at the back either.
 
Saddles are such a total nightmare!
Second the suggestion of ideal - the will do alot of bespoke changes to a saddle and they have a really excellent range for fairly reasnoble £. OH mare has an ideal and she is akward to fit (massive shoulders, std wither, short back (long OH!) and a fairly flat wide barrel) but the ideal she has now is just fantastic! I have a fairfax which I love - though at first it did give me that perched on feeling a bit before I had had a few rides and the flocking settled down.
Have you tried Laurence Pearman from Stoud? He is very good and stocks ideal aswell as a good number of other brands that I would consider to be reasnobly priced as well as good quality. (I wouldn't have anyone else from stroud mind but Laurence is very good and thorough).
 
I second bridlepath international, they will definitely travel. Cost me £30 to get them out to north Notts but was originally going to get them out to glos (uni). I have a barrel shaped mare with withers and tried on a few of their saddles. Rode in Harry dabbs - no use, ideal WH - gem went well but I wasn't a fan, and finally barnsby omega GP - bought.

They're really friendly and said unless me and gem were both 100% happy they'd not sell me a saddle until they had the perfect one.

Don't like saddle company personally, they just don't look amazing quality.
 
Saddle company is quite good.
You could try and contact a few of the saddle companies and ask how much they would do a made to measure saddle for?
I know a lady who templated her horse, told the company what she wanted and got a lovely saddle for around £550. Good quality full leather gp, fitted like a glove!
 
Have the same problem with my girl, she's 5yrs and 15.2hh, very long legged but is the length of a 13.2 pony, she has a whither but her back is just completely flat, she isn't over weight either, if anything slightly too lean!

Had a saddle fitter out last week (now onto our 3rd saddle in 18months) The saddler is bringing down a few saddles Thursday to try, one I no for sure is a Kent and masters, it's changable if she changes shape and has a rather flat pannel underneath which is apparently ideal for flat backed horses . Also really smart looking, if we have it, we r looking at £800 brand new:) or there's the bates but can't say I no much bout this make.

Only heard good things about k+m, can't wait till thurs to try!! Good luck with your saddle search!
 
I'm another Ideal fan. I just got my new mare 4-5 weeks ago and had to buy a new saddle. Fortunately we didn't have to go through such a hassle you have had to go through. I paid £700 for the Ideal saddle brand new, the leather is of excellent quality, its very supple and so comfy!
 
poppymoo said:
Be wary of the K+M.....the panels may be flat, but they rather long- useless for my short-coupled arab. Bit bulky too......I didn't like at all- although admittedly it was very comfy.
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Oh gosh really? Gem is extremely short backed, it's a jumping saddle she's bringing and 17" seat, will just have to see!! IF not I will mention the ideal!
 
marmalade76 said:
Right, here goes.

It did not look much like the old model I had admired or the one pictured in H&H and IMO, didn't look terribly good quality.

I other saddle I found more comfortable, but my boy went less well in it. The fitter said that this was probably because this saddle had gel pannels and some horses didn't like them and he would probably be fine with a flock pannel.

Both saddles, I felt, were not made from particularly nice leather. The fitter said the Comfort was made with better memel (sp?) leather, didn't look that much cop to me. This saddle was nearly £1200, and I would expect a saddle costing that much to look like it cost that much!
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Which fitter did you have out? Was it one from the contacts list on the Native Pony website, or someone from the contacts list on the Saddle Exchange website?

Native Pony Saddles has recently broken away from the Saddle Exchange and although the saddle exchange still sells the native pony type saddles, they are made by someone else.

I
 
Did you go through Saddle Exchange or the Native Pony Saddle Co?

The 2 founders of the Saddle Exchange have split and Andrea who was the originator and designer of the Native Pony Saddles has set up a new company, the Native Pony Saddle Co. http://www.nativeponysaddles.com/index.html and the saddles are as good quality if not better than they have been.
 
I have had Ideal saddles on both my boys for over 20 years - I love em and they last. If I were you, I'd get a really good saddler out and ask them to bring a range in the price bracket etc. I may love Ideals but they may not be the best for your horse, so its best to try loads of different makes, and you never know you might get a secondhand one and save a bit of dosh.
 
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