Saddles

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ABC

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Hi,

I know this is a vague post, but I was thinking of/hoping to buy a nice leather saddle.

My saddle fitter is very good, and makes his own saddles, but they start at £2k, and although I will save up and buy one if necessary there are plenty of lovely second hand saddles for sale, meaning I could possibly afford a GP and a dressage saddle for a similar price.

My saddle fitter doesn't sell second hand saddles, so I'd have to buy a saddle, and ask him to fit it properly. To do this though, I assume I'll need the saddle to fit to a certain extent anyway ?

If so, how do I measure my horse to see the width etc? Is it by using one of the flexicurve-things?

Also, when I spoke to my saddle fitter he said a properly fitted saddle will fit even if the horse muscles up, although slight alterations needed. Is this true for any well fitting saddle, or just made to measure ones? :)

Thanks and sorry for all the numpty questions :o :)
 
Don't really want too, when he's always been great and really helpful. Always used him, and never had a problem so would rather not :)
 
My saddler will fit second hand saddles. I feel its such an important thing to get right, I wouldn't want to take the risk and do it myself, or risk buying one the saddler couldn't make fit.
 
I wouldn't fit it myself, I would get him to come and alter it as soon as it's bought...

I suppose what I'm asking is how do you know what length saddle, and how do you know what width?

Or is there no real way of knowing (without being a saddle fitter)? :confused: :o
 
ABC said:
If so, how do I measure my horse to see the width etc? Is it by using one of the flexicurve-things?

Yes. then draw the template onto a sheet of paper.

Also, when I spoke to my saddle fitter he said a properly fitted saddle will fit even if the horse muscles up, although slight alterations needed. Is this true for any well fitting saddle, or just made to measure ones? :)
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Hmmm. I think its pot luck how much horses change shape and whether or not saddles continue to fit. Is it a young horse or mature? I think you're looking at flexible panels, wow saddles or treeless if you want it to be as unlikely as possible to have to change again, and for that budget all those options are open to you.

Do you have an idea about different saddle makes and what sort of trees are likely to suit your horse, etc?
 
ABC said:
I wouldn't fit it myself, I would get him to come and alter it as soon as it's bought...

You would need to have a good idea about what you want or you will end up purchasing a lot of saddles before you find one that fits.

I suppose what I'm asking is how do you know what length saddle, and how do you know what width?

Length - it mustn't go beyond the horse's last rib and whatever seat size suits you. What do you normally like riding on? Or how big is your bum, lol? Width - go off the template.

Or is there no real way of knowing (without being a saddle fitter)? :confused: :o
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Well you need to have the makes and sizes narrowed down a bit more than just "a saddle" (not meant meanly btw :) )
 
What area are you in. You could take the horse to a shop where they sell second hand saddles and get the fitter to meet you there.

Or have you explained the predicament to him? He might know what sorts would fit and you could then look out for the right saddle.
 
what i would do is ask your saddle fitter to come out and measure your horse so they can recommend certain types of saddle/ shapes of saddle and can also give you the width (narrow, medium narrow, medium, medium wide, wide, wide extra wide etc) and length so that way you are more likely to get a correct fitting saddle the first time round rather than going through lots of saddles as that gets expensive!!
 
Thanks for all your suggestions :)

Will give him a ring in the morning and see if he can recommend some styles, he knows my horses shape well enough!

I'm in Lancashire, I didn't even know there were shops you could take your horse too :o but will definitely look into that - thanks!

Horse is 5, but still needs to muscle up :)

Bum is not too big, (well I think so :D :p ) so I think 16.5 " + would be fine for me, I'll need to measure my current saddle to check though! :)

I just want a nice quality general purpose saddle, I'm sick of synthetics! :o

Thanks for all your advice, will try and chat to my saddle fitter and see what he suggests. If he won't help, but only suggest his own saddles, I'll try some one else to see what they think :)
 
I know of three saddle shops near me and you can take your horse to all of them. You'd probably need to check it was ok to bring your own fitter in case that put them out but at the end of the day they probably just want to sell you a saddle so shouldn't mind.
 
FfionWinnie said:
I know of three saddle shops near me and you can take your horse to all of them. You'd probably need to check it was ok to bring your own fitter in case that put them out but at the end of the day they probably just want to sell you a saddle so shouldn't mind.
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Thanks, found one already, so will do some more googling! They have a saddle fitter on site, so I could use them and then check the fit with my current saddler. Thanks for that :)
 
I think that's a good idea. Once you know what width he is and what brands of saddle will suit him you should be able to go shopping.
I bought my own saddles this time instead of going to a saddler after the last saddler sold me a brand new saddle that didn't fit, hurting my horse and wasting my money.
I tried some friends saddles on mine and a kieffer looked to me to suit him really well so I bought two :p. I bought a 2 year old beautiful kieffer dressage saddle for £450, that retails at £1,700 and then I bought a one year old jump kieffer for £400 that retails at £1,400.
I got a different saddler just to come out and check the flocking on them and he said I had done a brilliant job as both fit my horse perfectly and just needed some minor adjustments to the flocking. He also couldn't believe how cheap I had got them.
Second hand saddles are cheap, saddles depreciate so much it's really not worth buying new IMO.
Also I was fed up of being mis-sold saddles, I'll always choose my own saddle for my horse from now on. If it doesn't fit as long as I get it at a cheap enough price I can sell it for at least what I paid and try something else.
 
Firewell said:
I think that's a good idea. Once you know what width he is and what brands of saddle will suit him you should be able to go shopping.
I bought my own saddles this time instead of going to a saddler after the last saddler sold me a brand new saddle that didn't fit, hurting my horse and wasting my money.
I tried some friends saddles on mine and a kieffer looked to me to suit him really well so I bought two :p. I bought a 2 year old beautiful kieffer dressage saddle for £450, that retails at £1,700 and then I bought a one year old jump kieffer for £400 that retails at £1,400.
I got a different saddler just to come out and check the flocking on them and he said I had done a brilliant job as both fit my horse perfectly and just needed some minor adjustments to the flocking. He also couldn't believe how cheap I had got them.
Second hand saddles are cheap, saddles depreciate so much it's really not worth buying new IMO.
Also I was fed up of being mis-sold saddles, I'll always choose my own saddle for my horse from now on. If it doesn't fit as long as I get it at a cheap enough price I can sell it for at least what I paid and try something else.
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Thanks, you did get them for a good price!! I agree about secondhand, just looking on ebay has shown some real bargains.

I've found somewhere 20 minutes away from me that has a massive selection of saddles, so I'll take him there, I don't have transport, but with the difference in price it'll still work out cheaper.

Thanks for the advice, will probably post again asking for reviews on saddles now :o :)
 
If you can get the fitter to come to you you are protected by the Distance Selling Regulations which means you have a 7 day trial so I wouldnt' advise travelling to a fitter. I do think you need to use a fitter that has the types of saddles you want to buy ie second hand - even the basics of seat length and tree width can vary massively and that's without taking into account the shape of the tree and the panels which have WAY more variables.
 
Thanks sbloom, I'm going to try and speak to my current saddle fitter later and see what he says. It just seems a shame if I have to find another fitter when he's always been great, and a few in the same area don't have a great reputation.

Just wondering, what type of saddles normally fit thoroughbreds? Just so I can get an idea of prices :) after this thread I definitely won't be buying any saddles without further guidance :)
 
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