I’m looking for an used saddle and found an ad for a crosby all purpose saddle. I ride in a close contact XL. I know an ap is deeper in seat but the image of the saddle for sale looks almost identical to my CC. Do you think the ap would be ok for h/j? The price is right and the saddle looks beautiful.
All purpose saddles are good for next to nothing except trail riding.
What is wrong with your current Crosby?
All purpose = no purpose.
A/P saddles certainly have their place. I disagree that they are No Purpose saddles! However, if you are looking for a H/J saddle, it is probably not the right choice for you.
Jo, my saddle is dying. I bought it in '98. The billets are stretched so I’m having to use the first and second billets. There is a small tear in the saddle seat and on the saddle flap, there is a bit of white showing through where the leather came apart (the white piece looks a bit like hard white plastic?).
I had a very nice Crosby Sofride all purpose that I adored. I did quite a bit of combined training in that saddle - it was comfortable and worked fine for the low level jumping/dressage/hacking I was doing at the time.
There are several Crosby close contact saddles on Ebay at the moment; a couple of them are in the $200 range. I would buy one of those before I bought an AP, unless as noted above, you just want to hack around or trail ride. Sure, you can jump a bit in an AP - hell, I can jump a bit in my dressage saddle! But it’s not the same balance you really want for the hunters (or dressage, for that matter.)
For me it would depend on the shape of the flap and how deep the seat is. Forhunters I prefer CC or jumping saddles. A/P tend to encourage a bad leg position for jumping and EQ in general. At least that has been my experience. Check Ebay or tack stores for used saddles. I found my latest saddle by letting a few trainers in my area know what I was looking for and one just happened to have the exact saddle I wanted. The internet is great but word of mouth is still one of the best ways to find something.
