Does anyone have any experience with their saddles? Are the cheaper ones decent, or only the more expensive ones? Is the company easy to work with?
What about having the tree adjusted? I know they said they can be custom fit, but can they go wider or narrower? I noticed on the Australian Stock Saddle Co website, they said they can only make them narrower. The horse this saddle would be use on is still young and will probably get wider over the next year or so.
They can only adjust them narrower, correct.
They’re a good company, very good with their customer service. I have no experience with them because their saddles only go up to wide, I need at LEAST an x-wide.
I bought a saddle from them years ago. I gave them a wither tracing and they sent me a saddle that fit. Quality was good and the price was too. I have since sold the horse and I don’t have that saddle anymore.
Same as everyone else says, customer service is great. When they got the wither trace for my mare they said “typical TB withers” lol Call or write them with your questions and you’ll get a speedy response. They even send a DVD with the saddles to show you how to tack up and sit them. The DVD is actually pretty long and detailed, broken down into segments.
I got great customer service but ended up returning the saddle bc it did not fit me or the horse. You can send in photos and they will check the fit. I wasn’t thrilled with the advice they gave me for that (I posted pics here and people agreed with me) so it helps if you have some idea of fitting yourself, or a fitter you can go to. I would try them again though. Saddle shipped fast, got my money back in a timely manner, etc. Mine was around $600-$700 and decent quality. I would be leary of going much cheaper unless you only want cheap. (I returned mine with some minor scuff marks on the flaps from the leathers and they refunded all but restocking fee.) To give them credit, I do have a hard to fit mare, so it would be tough w/ pics.
What about the Australian Outrider Bush Rider? I think they retail for $700, but they sell for a lot less on ebay.
This would be used maybe twice a month for trail rides, so its not going to be getting a huge amount of wear. My fiance just wants something a bit more secure than my dressage saddle for trail riding.
I’m not familiar with that one, but for $700 it should meet your needs easily. I have an el cheapo, from who knows where, that has held up well and I ride more often than that. You could probably go for something even cheaper and be okay. I think they would still be put together decently, it’s just the leather quality that suffers. My leather isn’t great and it is holding up.
As for fit, the ones with serge panels, similar to English saddles, fit harder to fit horses better than the fleece style underside. So if your horse changes shape you might have better luck with that working for him later on, unless he changes drastically.
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