OP,
That’s just very rude. Her JOB is to help people find the right saddle but she’s blowing that part of her job off. Seriously. I’d go buy a saddle elsewhere but just use her saddles to see what works for you.
Years ago, I went to a local tack shop with new and used saddles and if I left a check for the cost of the saddle, they’d lend out anything. I used their independent fitter to help me. Perhaps use her saddles with an independent fitter to help you narrow things down?
First, she was rude. It doesn’t matter what was the subject, there is no excuse for that.
Second, she was the owner of a shop that sells saddles for heaven’s sake. She makes her money on the profit from buying & selling saddles. Not extra fees for helping customers - that’s customer service, it’s part of the buy/sell business. It’s as if the owner of a retail clothing store suddenly decided to charge extra for helping a customer find the right item in the right size.
A professional saddle fitter would be in heaven if she/he had as many opportunities to fit saddles as a saddle shop owner does. The fee for a professional fitter comes from the fitter’s services. Some do buy & sell saddles, but that’s aside from the fitting.
It is too bad when awful people are in a position of control over a valuable commodity, especially if that commodity is scarce in the area. But nonetheless it is my choice and the choice of many others not to do business with such people. Unless there is a way to do it that keeps me out of the line of their fire. I just don’t need that in my life.
OP I understand why you were shaken up. Anyone would be, just from the unexpected rudeness, aside from the strange information she imparted. I would advise saddle shopping elsewhere.
There are many outstanding people in the saddle business, and they are the ones you and I deserve, and who deserve our business. That’s my opinion. 
Having managed a tack shop at the beginning of online sales, I totally get how the owner could have been having a Very Bad Day and said out loud what she assumed might fit your shopping pattern because it fits MANY people’s shopping patterns.
That’s no excuse for actually saying that crap out loud, but I can see how it could happen. All of you who shop bricks and mortar, supporting local businesses, honestly have absolutely no idea how many people will use a bricks and mortar shop to try things on, sometimes even buy and return to then go buy the same item online. They are often also rude enough to talk about in front of staff, managers, owners. It got depressing back then. I can only imagine how it is now.
Anyway, OP, if you otherwise like this store, pick up the phone and ask if they do saddle fittings and if so, what their qualifications are, if they have any references, etc. If they meet your criteria, set up an appointment. If not, find a certified independent saddle fitter and have them help you.
So because these people perused and tried saddles but didn’t buy immediately, they are never going to buy from her?
Yikes.
Some of us talk to our trainer, instructor, or think about it first.
Some of us actually expect the seller to actually sell, as in explain the attributes of, the items we’re interested in.
Weird.
Enabling here - YES! It’s amazing to try all the brands, whether saddles, helmets, boots, vests, whatever you’re looking for, all in one place. Worth it for the shopping alone.
There might also be very legitimate reason for buying online instead of the store when it comes to saddles - like they have something that fits the rider but the tree is a little narrow, or the block configuration isn’t quite right, etc. I agree on buying from the store if they have what you need, but finding a used dressage saddle that fits both horse and rider can be like searching for a needle in a haystack, and then saying, well, not exactly THAT needle.
As they say on Reddit, OP - you are NTA.
I too think the shop owner was unreasonable and rude. I would not shop there again unless I desperately needed something and couldn’t get it elsewhere.
OP, make careful notes about any saddle you try on your horse, whether from a tack shop or borrowed from friends, coaches, etc. This information will be a huge help should you have to resort to online/distance fitting.
My saddle fitter is about two hours away and I sent a long email with details on what saddles I had tried and how they did/didn’t fit my horse, in addition to my preferences and photos of the horse. The first time she brought around 10 saddles when I was looking for a jumping saddle. 2 fit well enough to ride, and my horse expressed a clear preference for one of them.
When I was looking for my younger horse I had a much shorter list of what I had tried, along photos and my preferences. She brought me three saddles and three bare trees. One saddle was rejected immediately, one after a brief longe, and the other made my horse happy.
really the only thing you can try is to go back and ask what service or option they provide to try a saddle on the horse and to even ride in it. I think everyone understands the importance of a saddle fitting both horse and rider. Dressage riders are particularly particular about this. If she offers no reasonable option then clearly it is someone who is perhaps facing the downfall of their store.
I was lucky , back in the day store would offer a chance to take away and try a saddle, but I also had an ongoing relationship with the store as a customer.
Some of us are fortunate to have the services of independent fitters who regularly service saddles. The last barn I was at had one and he represented for several saddle lines and could really get a good match
I work at a tack store. I have also bought and fit my own saddles for a long time. This is with enough success, I think, as I have not made my horses back sore. This is just for context.
I love joiedevie99’s suggested script above and would never treat a customer as badly as you were treated, OP. On the consumer’s side, I would made it a point to not spend any more money at that store. I’m just fussy about customer service, I guess.
But! There’s precious little she could have told you about fit in the store, IMO. That’s because 1. Fitting the horse is more than half the equation. 2. The saddle bucks typically found in stores are unrealistically narrow. I don’t think most saddles will feel “realistic” on those in the store.
That said, I don’t think it costs a lot to give a shopper my two-cents about how to eye-ball a saddle and see if it might work for them, or what a good-fitting saddle for them looks like when they are sitting in it. We keep a full-length free-standing mirror near our saddle buck for this purpose. But I would not have offered to pay anyone selling saddles to look at me sitting in saddles or telling me about the saddles she is selling. In the former, that’s because the value of that information is too limited to help me much. In the latter, it’s because I think that product information should be free; it’s part of selling the product.
The truth of the matter, OP, is that selling saddles kind of is a losing proposition for most generalized bricks-and-mortar tack stores these days. But that’s not because consumers are cheating tire-kickers, exactly. It’s because fitting saddles is hard and it usually takes lots and lots of trying things on at home and riding in them.
To my way of looking at it, the customer has to start somewhere. If I can help them learn how to tell better-from-worse and they find my advice useful, they might come back to purchase a saddle our store has to sell. But that’s only if they satisfy themselves that’s it the right one. You can’t sell any saddle, ever, if you aren’t willing to let someone start the process.
I do get the frustrations of retail stores everywhere about customers who come in to try, and then buy online.
From a customer standpoint, the flip side to me is this. If I tried it in the shop and this is the right one, of course I’m going to buy that one, right now, from the shop. I have it in my hands, after all, no waiting.
But these days – no fault to the shops – often the shop doesn’t have the right version of what I’m looking for. The size, color, style, whatever. Many shops are keeping a more limited versions of products in their stores for cost reasons. There may be 10 colors made of that product but they are only stocking 3 or 5 of those colors. They run out of some sizes before others. Etc.
I get that, I understand why from a business standpoint, I really, really do. The more diversity in inventory, the higher the number of items that are never sold because fewer people liked one or more versions of it, and the more stocking problems and costs from other aspects of inventory diversity.
But as a customer I didn’t find what I wanted to buy there after all. And that is a bind for the shops when more options are online than they can reasonably, profitably stock.
Of course the other thing that causes people to put it down in the shop and buy it online instead is a cost differential. If they can get it much cheaper online, including shipping etc., it’s understandable that is what they do.
In many ways this is the market at work. The market values some things that are hard for brick & mortar shops. And it does mean that brick & mortar shops will have to re-think their businesses because things won’t go back to the way they used to be. And they do not want to be another Blockbuster.
So – I get the perspective of a frustrated shop owner, whoever they are. But the answer is re-thinking their approach to the market and adjusting their business strategy. Not acting out of frustration in ways that reduce their attractiveness to customers rather than increase it.
Are you still Saddle-less? I have a bunch of dressagers sitting around that I’m not using. PM me if you want and I’ll see if one of mine might work to buy or just borrow until you get this sorted. And “Yikes!” about your situation. I am very sorry.
I will also say that when it comes to tack purchases, I would rather do that in a shop with help of knowledgeable people who have experience with the product, and also with feedback from years of customer sales.
The great tradition of deeply knowledgeable tack shop owners and employees is invaluable to me.
That said – I have also had exasperating experiences in the retail locations (I wouldn’t call them “shops”, it’s hard to tell the interior from an Old Navy store, to me) of a certain huge national tack shop brand that employs people who have no idea what they are selling. I’m not sure if some have even petted a horse before. Not sure why they are there, really.
When I hold up the one they have in stock of a particular bridle and ask “where’s the other cheek piece?” and the employee has nothing but a shrug and a blank look, and doesn’t seem to know the parts of a bridle anyway – I am better off buying online! LOL So sorry to say it, but with that large retailer I do go to the store to look and feel the product and then end up buying it online. From some retailer, might be them or might not. If they have what I am looking for I’ll buy it there of course. But in the one store in particular there are so many missing pieces and lack of needed accessories that it is really an eye-rolling experience. In one of those stores I just quit asking about stuff, it was such a waste of time.
“In fact, the saddle can feel quite different once it’s on the horse.” THIS!! It’s so weird, but true. Late to the thread, but I’ll add my 2 cents worth: I always prefer to buy from local businesses. But this woman was so far out of line. To those who defended her as perhaps having a bad day, I understand how frustrating it can be to bend over backwards for looky-loos, only to have them buy online or from another dealer. But the bottom line is that this person should not be in retail if she can’t handle it. Or at a minimum, she shouldn’t carry saddles and have a place for folks to try them. My local tack store has a huge selection of new and used saddles. They make you pay for the saddle in advance and don’t charge your card or deposit your check for 3 days. You can then take it and try it on your horse and ride in it, etc. If it works, you call them and tell them to keep the money, or if it doesn’t work you bring it back to the store within the 3 days. Very easy. They also give their opinions as to which saddles are likely to fit your horse, etc. No hard sell. I can’t fathom what the tack store person in the OP was thinking. That’s a very quick way to lose a sale.
Most of us shouldn’t do whatever it is we do if we aren’t “allowed” one OTT moment.
I am in no way defending the shop owner, but once in a while most of us slip up and say something we shouldn’t. Doesn’t mean we are in the wrong profession. Usually it means that we’ve been pulled through a hedge backwards by multiple people that day.
FWIW, there’s one lovely tack shop in my area, excellent service, best possible prices, on and on, love them, and they, “Will NEVER sell saddles. I’m not that stupid.” <-- actual quote from the owner lol
It’s a tough grind, and getting ‘worse’ as more people realize how important good fit is, and the markups are generally terrible.
I’d probably go back. Having a knowledgeable person close by is worth a lot! I’m willing to extend the olive branch, especially if the long-term benefits are worth it. And in this case, I’d say they are.
“I’m sure it’s frustrating to spend time with people and have them go elsewhere. I’m excited about the possibility of working with you, because you have a great reputation and you’re close by. I’m certainly willing to pay a reasonable fee for your expertise, and hope you’d apply it to a saddle if we can find a match.”
Or something like that. Heck. I have bad days, and have to call people to apologize for being grumpy. I’ll go out of my way to help somebody who’s willing to extend me some grace.
Thank you everyone for all your opinions and perspectives! I ended up going to the other consignment store today and it was how I had thought this could/should go. The ladies there helped pull saddles for me, did the mirror thing, helped find which saddles I needed a 17.5 vice an 18, etc. and only picked the wide ones. Told me to take the lot of them for the week to try on the new horse when I’m ready. Super easy, they were very knowledgeable on all the different brands, and had contact info for each of the saddles fitters in the area if I needed to make minor tweeks and they worked out.
I ALSO ended up spending quite a bit more money today on breeches and saddle pads - unnecessary for sure but I was on the saddle quest high.
We will see if either of these three work out - if not i guess I could consider going back to the other place, but at this point will likley just go directly to the saddle reps in the area.
I don’t disagree entirely but were I the one who’d been “pulled through a hedge backwards,” I’d find another way to vent, it would NOT be to a client (customer). That’s not OK, and it’s not very mature.
I’m glad you had success in the other shop. I was going to post and offer that depending on the availability of options, it might be worth your time to go back to the first shop. There is literally ONE english-oriented shop within probably 150-200 miles from me. The prior owner of the current shop was Particularly Prickly, but it was worth navigating her occasionally difficult self to a) support local offerings and b) browse and try on and buy (miss you, Rita). To be fair, she happily sent a few used saddles home with me to try). In the long run, if Shop #1 is convenient, give it another try, maybe. it’s nice to have options.
Nobody, absolutely nobody, said it was ok. It wasn’t ok. But, shit happens. We’d all like to think we’d do better, but those of us who are antique are slowly learning that we aren’t always as great in the crunch as we thought we would be.
And the first store owner missed out on all the other things you bought because she was rude. Seriously, saddles are expensive and when shopping for one, you should feel valued. Yes, some people will look at a store and buy online. However, since all saddles are slightly different, my rule of thumb is to buy the one that I know fits.
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