What saddle should I get for my ISH eventer?

What saddle brand should I pick

  • Cavelleti

    Votes: 1 9.1%

  • Monarch

    Votes: 2 18.2%

  • Neither

    Votes: 8 72.7%
  • Total voters
    11
I'm not sure how anyone can know what sort of saddle will fit your horse since we haven't seen him/her and ISH come in all sorts of shapes. Mine had a high % of TB but others are chunky with a lot of ID in their breeding. Maybe if you give a general idea of the area you're in someone could recommend a saddle fitter.
 
ycbm said:
Whatever fits. Not a Bates if they don't fit, and they didn't fit several horses I've known, or me when I owned them.

This is a strange first post with a strange choice of user name and i wonder if you are actually advertising Bates saddles here?
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I’m not advertising anything my last name is Bates but it’s completely unrelated. What are you Sherlock Holmes 🤣
 
No one can tell a stranger on the internet what saddle will fit their horse. If you gave useful info about the horse's back conformation and some really good photos then people might be able to suggest saddles that have fitted similar types, but it's still of very limited use. You need a saddler and to try them on the horse. Given you already have a Bates that doesn’t fit, it doesn’t seem like the most obvious choice again.
 
ycbm said:
Well that's an interesting coincidence, then.

I'm puzzled about how you think anyone who hasn't even seen a picture of you or your horse can advise on a saddle to fit either of you.
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I don’t want advice on how to fit the saddle I was trying to see the quality of the brands, sorry if it was confusing.
 
i’ve seen both in person and prefer monarch, but that opinion is only any good if you know both would be an option for you. definitely get a fitter out and get an idea of what you need, i’d rather get a nicer saddle 2nd hand than one of the options you’ve put brand new. i have 2 chunky natives and managed to find lovely saddles for them, after the fitter came out and told me what i was looking for.
 
LBates_equestrian said:
I don’t want advice on how to fit the saddle I was trying to see the quality of the brands, sorry if it was confusing.
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OK I didn't like Bates saddles, one was sent back as faulty, leather quality was "odd" but this was a long, long time ago when they first introduced Cair.
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Best to find a saddler that fits a variety of brands and can (ideally) come out with a mixture for you to try, or at least measure him up and give you a rough idea of which might suit.
IMO most of the mid range brands are pretty similar in quality, it's just a question of which tree/panel shapes work for your horse best.
 
No point in having quality of you can't get the fit right, and having changeable headplate s doesn't mean they fit everything, far from it.

I would also suggest looking at wooden trees used saddles.

There will be little difference in quality in all likelihood but I don't know the brands that well. I have seen issues with both, but then not even top brands escape the odd blip.
 
sbloom said:
No point in having quality of you can't get the fit right, and having changeable headplate s doesn't mean they fit everything, far from it.

I would also suggest looking at wooden trees used saddles.

There will be little difference in quality in all likelihood but I don't know the brands that well. I have seen issues with both, but then not even top brands escape the odd blip.
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I don't want to sound stoopid but how do you know if a tree is wooden or not?
I have a Harry Dabbs, K&M and Discovery in my tack room and genuinely would have no idea what kind of tree they have.
Follow up question; why do you prefer wooden trees?
 
I have sat in both and hate the Bates. They feel hard. I also hate Cair, although Flair is OK for a dressage.

I have never heard of a Cavaletti saddle.

A client bought a Monarch. I'd not heard of the brand and had no idea, but loved the feel. It was comfortable and supportive. He said he'd asked the saddler to bring several 17.5 m/w GP type saddles and try them all but not tell him the price, as he simply wanted the most comfortable one for both him and the horse.

He chose the Monarch, which was more jump than GP, and was astounded at the low price.

I later looked at some for me, being as I liked them, but when I saw some off the horse, some seemed to have wonky stitching that concerned me.

I would do the same as my client. Tell a saddler what your price range is so they can bring both new and second hand. Try some and buy the one that is comfortable and supportive for both you and the horse.
 
dottylottie said:
i’ve seen both in person and prefer monarch, but that opinion is only any good if you know both would be an option for you. definitely get a fitter out and get an idea of what you need, i’d rather get a nicer saddle 2nd hand than one of the options you’ve put brand new. i have 2 chunky natives and managed to find lovely saddles for them, after the fitter came out and told me what i was looking for.
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Thankyou we’ve had a fitter and these are the brands he suggested and are looking for some second hand just wanted to check about wich brand might be better quality
 
LBates_equestrian said:
Thankyou we’ve had a fitter and these are the brands he suggested and are looking for some second hand just wanted to check about wich brand might be better quality
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Can you ask him if you can test ride in some of his? I did the same with my saddler - test rode in her new saddles and then went and purchased second hand.
I’ve heard monarch are comfortable but not seen one in person. I’ve sat in a new Cavaletti jump and I really liked it but I have long thighs so don’t think it would work for me. Best to try them out if you can (and make sure the style suits your horse)
 
abbijay said:
I don't want to sound stoopid but how do you know if a tree is wooden or not?
I have a Harry Dabbs, K&M and Discovery in my tack room and genuinely would have no idea what kind of tree they have.
Follow up question; why do you prefer wooden trees?
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Changeable head plates always mean plastic, as does adjusting with heat. Plastic trees just can't have such a good shape through the base of the wither, especially if a solid tree, and, whether solid or shaped like a wooden tree, they are more likely to warp in hot weather and gradually collapse under the rider. Additionally they don't offer the stability of a wooden tree, nor the flexibility of more alternative types that have structures to compensate for that flexibility.

I'm just talking about TENDENCY of course.

Then the final factor is tree shape in terms of finding the correct shape for the horse. Note how many saddles in the TG/K&M/Fairfax stable are built on the same tree and just have different panels. New plastic trees mean expensive machine tooling, wooden trees in a new shape are often no more expensive than the cost of each tree mad/used in the development process. This all means much greater choice and for me, the fit for especially wider horses is always/nearly always better.
 
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sbloom said:
Changeable head plates always mean plastic, as does adjusting with heat. Plastic trees just can't have such a good shape through the base of the wither, especially if a solid tree, and whether solid or shaped like a wooden tree they are more likely to warp in hot weather and gradually collapsed under the rider, as well as not offering the stability of a wooden tree not the flexibility of more alternative types.

I'm just talking about TENDENCY of course.

Then the final factor is tree shape.in terms of finding the correct shape for the horse. Note how many saddles in the TG/K&M/Fairfax stable are built on the same tree and just have different panels. New plastic trees mean expensive machine tooling, wooden trees in a new shape are often no more expensive than the cost of each tree mad/used in the development process. This all means much greater choice and for me, the fit for especially wider horses is always/nearly always better.
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I've never understood this, thanks for the great explanation SB.
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sbloom said:
Changeable head plates always mean plastic, as does adjusting with heat. Plastic trees just can't have such a good shape through the base of the wither, especially if a solid tree, and whether solid or shaped like a wooden tree they are more likely to warp in hot weather and gradually collapsed under the rider, as well as not offering the stability of a wooden tree not the flexibility of more alternative types.

I'm just talking about TENDENCY of course.

Then the final factor is tree shape.in terms of finding the correct shape for the horse. Note how many saddles in the TG/K&M/Fairfax stable are built on the same tree and just have different panels. New plastic trees mean expensive machine tooling, wooden trees in a new shape are often no more expensive than the cost of each tree mad/used in the development process. This all means much greater choice and for me, the fit for especially wider horses is always/nearly always better.
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This is exactly the reason why my DH will only use wooden trees!
 
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