What to do with an unusable saddle?

[sallyg]

When I bought my horse I was given his current saddle which I ended up replacing. The saddle is beautiful, comfortable and looks as though it has only been lightly used but wasn't the right fit for him. It has air flocking which needs pumping up as it has gone a bit soft. The panels are made of serge and one of them has stretched so is slightly bigger than the other when viewed from underneath. So basically the saddle is currently unusable but could be returned to use if someone wanted to put new panels on and either sort out the air flocking or just replace it with traditional flocking. I don't have any use for it, it will never fit my horse and it has been sitting in my garage for three years. Today I took it to the tip but couldn't bring myself to throw it away so it came home again! I think it would be unlikely to sell and if I did it would be with full disclosure of the situation but I'd be worried in case someone tried to use it on a horse. It seems wrong to throw such a nice saddle away. I don't want to spend money getting it fixed as I don't need it and I probably wouldn't recoup the money if I was then able to sell it. Can anyone think what I could do with it? I was vaguely thinking that it could be used for educational purposes. I would happily give it away to someone who would fix it to use or who wanted it for non-riding reasons.

 

[ILuvCowparsely]

When I bought my horse I was given his current saddle which I ended up replacing. The saddle is beautiful, comfortable and looks as though it has only been lightly used but wasn't the right fit for him. It has air flocking which needs pumping up as it has gone a bit soft. The panels are made of serge and one of them has stretched so is slightly bigger than the other when viewed from underneath. So basically the saddle is currently unusable but could be returned to use if someone wanted to put new panels on and either sort out the air flocking or just replace it with traditional flocking. I don't have any use for it, it will never fit my horse and it has been sitting in my garage for three years. Today I took it to the tip but could't bring myself to throw it away so it came home again! I think it would be unlikely to sell and if I did it would be with full disclosure of the situation but I'd be worried in case someone tried to use it on a horse. It seems wrong to throw such a nice saddle away. I don't want to spend money getting it fixed as I don't need it and I probably wouldn't recoup the money if I was then able to sell it. Can anyone think what I could do with it? I was vaguely thinking that it could be used for educational purposes. I would happily give it away to someone who would fix it to use or who wanted it for non-riding reasons.

Why not find a local pub - Black horse/White Horse/nags head who may want it for display. Or donate to charity

 

[Cinnamontoast]

Give to a saddler to sort then sell?

Or...

 

[C1airey]

Hehe, I have a stack of old pony saddles and having left my job recently, some barstools are currently earmarked as an ‘unemployment project’.

OP, if you happen to have a saddlery student nearby, they might like it - pulling saddles apart is always interesting. If you want to bin it and be sure nobody uses it on a horse, slice the seat or cut off the girth straps, or both.

If you were closer, I’d relieve you of it - saddle deconstruction is fast becoming a popular lunchtime sport on my saddlery course!

 

[SEL]

EBay or one of the 2nd hand saddle sites on FB. Friend got rid of an ancient one on FB for about £30 + postage

 

[BlackRider]

Either advertise it as you discribe, or give to one of the horsey charities - I took my old one to HAPPA - they keep stuff they can use and sell of the items they can't.

 

[Hack4fun]

I would give it to charity or horse rescue place. Is the problem with the panels anything more than cosmetic for most users?

 

[Velcrobum]

Just because it does not fit your horse does not mean it will not fit any horse. A saddler is the best person to advise you as to its safety for use.

 

[Reacher]

I’ve got a similar problem with an old saddle I don’t want put on a horse.
Ps I’ve just “got” the barstool idea - I have some old barstools, could be a project!

 

[sbloom]

I think the issue was perhaps adding air panel inside serge, never heard of that one before! And if one panel is bigger than the other as a result then no, it won't fit anything. However if you sold it cheap to a saddler to refurb then they could sort it.

 

[silvershadow81]

Contact 'Home and Abroad Animal Welfare' on Facebook. A friend of mine set it up and they head abroad with older style tack, no longer used in the UK and replace the VERY old stuff animals are using abroad.
They post loads of photos of where it all ends up

 

[Bayracer]

I gave an unusable saddle to my local pony club. It’s useful for the kids when they do their tack badges

 

[Reacher]

Silver shadow thanks for this info, I will dig some stuff out and send it

 

[Wella]

You could try your local RDA groups and see if they have a mechanical horse. Different sized saddles are very useful.

 

[11bluewolf]

This one sounds way too good, but I’m currently looking for a saddle to go ontop of a wooden horse for our university polo club. Obviously happy to pay is anyone has an old one!

 

[teddypops]

I had a serge panel replaced and saddle completely reflocked for around £170, so depending on value of saddle, it might be worth getting it repaired and sold.