I had a black dressage saddle but he went better in his gp, which is brown, so now i ride him in that and nobody minds. I was riding in a black saddle with a brown bridle at one point and nobody actually noticed
Judges don't mind at all what colour tack your horse is wearing, black or brown is fine, I judged a beautiful grey that was turned out in tan and he/she looked stunning.
They are only interested in how your horse is going for you....although obviously the tack should be clean and supple.
My boy recently got fitted with a dressage saddle and his is dark brown leather with a lighter brown suede seat and knee rolls. I was told black would look better but when we tried saddles it was in fact it was really harsh against his gingerness, so stuck with the brown.
I have brown & have never had any negative comments. My dressage saddle is a Wintec & is a fairly light brown & I think it looks o.k. Saying that, I'm off to do two tests tonight & have decided I ride better/horse goes better in my jumping saddle so will be using that (dark brown) so I'm sure the judge won't be looking at the colour, he'll probably be staring in horror at the massive knee rolls & v.forward cut flaps!
Go with whatever colour you want/like. I'm sure the BD rule book actually states that tack can be black, brown or grey. Never seen a grey saddle tho.
black!!! either if fine and allowed, but black is standard issue, and the die hard DQ's may look at you like you have 2 heads if you turn up in brown.
i prefer black anyway, easier to match stuff up-theres only one shade of black!!! only exception might be a very pale chesnut, where black could look harsh i guess. but on bay-go black!