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I’ll never give up my Schleese. :lol:
Thanks for the reply Petstorejunkie! Like you, I like a really close contact dressage saddle with minimal blocks. I’ll make sure to try the Antares.
They made me a jumping saddle when I did hunters and they were amazing to work with! I am close enough to the Jersey store so Fred came out and measured my horse and I rode in one of the demo saddles. I loved every bit of the whole experience since my TB/QH was impossible to fit an off the rack jumping saddle. I want to save up and get a dressage buffalo leather saddle!! 
[QUOTE=SerenaGinger;3052036]
We are in the process of acquiring a Custom Saddlery Wolfgang Solo. The off-the-rack wide tree looks like it would fit a thoroughbred, way too narrow for our sofa-horse! I have had quick responses and pleasant e-mails with the company, so we’ll see when the custom saddle comes in. So far, so good![/QUOTE]
TRILOGY!!
I have gone through quite a few saddles and I can say without any hesitation that the Trilogy is BY FAR the best thing that ever happened to me OR my horses. The fit on the horse is phenomenal and there are enough different options to fit the rider perfectly as well. Plus, customer service is beyond compare.
Good luck with your search.
Since saddles are a personal preference my biggest recommendation is to ride in as many as you can. Once a saddle is custom made you will, in most instances, not be able to return it so spend as much time as you can doing research and demo riding. I cannot tell you how many saddles I know of or have bought that have been custom made that do not and will not fit the horse and/or rider so be sure you know the manufactures policies before buying. Some saddle types fit horses and riders better then others so again it is personal preference. I have had a few custom saddles in my life and one major thing you have to look for is a saddlery that has excellent customer service and a saddle fitter that has LOTS of experience. I would stay away from a newer saddle maker/fitter since the years of experience are not yet there to iron out any difficulties you or your horse may have in fitting a saddle. Also keep in mind that custom saddles are much more difficult to sell since they were specifically made for a particular horse and rider.
Good luck!
I’m thoroughly deighted with my Trilogy, but a lot of that has to do with our local rep, who is a truly picky saddle fitter and dressage rider who won’t give up until you and your horse are entirely happy, and who is luckily just round the corner from me, and in and out of our barn all the time.
The saddle as ordered fitted my horse beautifully straight out of the box, but needed a couple of visits to get it perfectly right for me, which it now is. Once the flocking packs down a bit, she will come back and tweak it again as necessary.
I don’t know if all reps are trained the same. (I’m in Utah, BTW)
Where are you? Local experience seems to vary so much. Here, you can wait 6 months for the Schleese rep to come through, which isn’t terribly satisfactory, nice saddle or not.
Passier? Trilogy?
I have had several Passier saddles myself and agree that “off the rack” they fit as well as, if not better, than the customs I tried.
I now have an older Grand Gilbert and really like it… so does my hard-to-fit horse and it sits very nicely on him.
In regards to Trilogy saddles… am I missing something? When I rode in clients’ saddles, I just felt like I was in a car seat. I don’t think it was from the saddles being too small, probably just too many thigh blocks and angles for me.
There are honestly no saddles on the planet more gorgeous than this guy’s:
http://www.superiorsaddlery.com/
but I got a deal on a Schleese Infinity and am off in 10 days to have them try to make it fit my super wide load.
[QUOTE=Ambrey;3057603]
There are honestly no saddles on the planet more gorgeous than this guy’s:
http://www.superiorsaddlery.com/
but I got a deal on a Schleese Infinity and am off in 10 days to have them try to make it fit my super wide load.[/QUOTE]
Not being snarky, just genuinely curious… on his website it says he uses water buffalo leather… isnt that the cheapest leather you can buy? i.e. the leather used on the $20 bridles made in India?
CapitolDesign, there truly is a saddle out there for everyone, thank goodness! I personally hate the Grand Gilbert–doesn’t fit my anatomy at all. I’ve ridden in and owned a bazillion saddles over the years, and so far, this is the best I’ve found, for ME. But there’s the key, isn’t it? I got lured into sitting in a Hennig a while back and couldn’t get out of it fast enough–just miserable for me. It’s owner loved it, though.
TexasTB, Water Buffalo is used on a lot of top end saddles–it’s incredibly hard-wearing but still breaks in quite quickly.
I don’t think the cheap india leather is cheap india leather because of the animal it comes from, but the tanning process.
I’m no leather expert- but his saddles are top quality and cost accordingly 
ANd buffalo saddles are popular because the texture is a little more grippy than the regular cowhide.
I vote Schleese, as I’ve had WONDERFUL experiences with them with my hard to fit boy as well as my small butt and freakishly long upper thigh. Joachim was great in both educating and explaining and then fiting it to Ally’s wonky back.
Once I realized I wasn’t going to find a jumping saddle that worked either (evaluation notes on my Pessoa Envoy: lovely saddle, DO NOT use on this horse), I contacted them for a jumping saddle. I was VERY concerned about the knee flaps since I had, at that point, never sat in anything where I could get my stirrups short-short like I like them for the big jumps, but not have my knee go in front of the flap. I need a 17 inch seat, antyhing bigger I swam around in, but even ‘extra long’ or ‘extra forward’ flaps werne’t enough 
however, since they had ALL my measurements, they put one together. the lovely gal over the phone and I started comparing stats (height, leg vs. torso, fences we jump, jumping styles) and I found her to be quite compatible to me and she’d used the same saddle. They didn’t have a used one, but they took ‘mine’ to Spruce Meadows as a display saddle, then sold it to me with a discount since it wasn’t technically ‘new’. Hey, wasn’t complaining!
and? best saddle I’ve EVER sat it. my jumping training now, who’s been in a LOT of saddles in her life loves it to death too, and it doesn’t even really ‘fit’ her like it does me.
Right, so after Ally died, I had both of them adjusted to fit his sister (my remaining horse) and have been happy as can be ever since.
I recently had a custom saddle made by David Stackhouse and I love it. The leather is beautiful. My mare is really big in the shoulder and quite big barreled so we went with a mono-flap that really helped me have better contact with her without extra leather in the way pushing my legs out further! David has been a saddlemaker since the 1960’s so he really knows his stuff. He has a website and is really easy to talk to on the 'phone, I think we probably spent a good hour chatting the first time I called. I like the fact that he and Leslie comes out and do all the measuring and then go back and make the saddle, so nothing gets lost in translation. They have actually laid eyes on you and your horse so know beyond simple measurments, what they are working on.
I’m personally not sold on Buffalo
[QUOTE=LD1129;3055767]
… I want to save up and get a dressage buffalo leather saddle!! [/QUOTE]
I have a Devoucoux Mendia which is 1/2 buffalo and 1/2 calfskin. The buffalo is on the seat and the thigh blocks. After a few months of use, the grippy seems to be gone, and it’s hard to tell the difference. Just my experience for whatever it’s worth.
Custom Saddlery all the way!!! They are such great saddles, and the customer service is wonderful!!!
Thanks all for the great input. I am glad to hear of so many good experiences! It sounds like there some great saddlers out there.
Its interesting to hear the Passier is still a good old standby for so many! Unfortunately they just don’t work for me.
I was also interested to hear about the successful JRD refit. I am currently hoping to find a custom saddle that did not work for its first owner, but that could possibly be refit for me and my horse.
Call Fred at Custom Saddlery. I know that people are always turning in their saddles and buying new ones. They usually have several of their saddles in stock that were used or were “demos” that you can get for much less than new. They are also very adjustable. The web site is www.mysaddle.com.
DITTO with Schleese. They’ve an awesome used selection, so you can typically save $1000-2000+ if you pick up a used model that still fits your specs. I got that on my dressage saddle, which fits me PERFECTLY and has been adjusted to fit my horses over time. Things like knee blocks and other such can be changed too, so it’s really just the measurements for you that you need to fit, the rest they can change as needed.
and on that side, they give good trade in on their own saddles if you decide to upgrade to something nicer/newer later on. They prefer to have their own saddles around, since it’s having non-Schleese folks fitting them that gives a bad name – having their own folks fit them keeps the quality standards at the highest.
If you are in need of a custom saddle, all I can recomend is to make sure it is wool stuffed and locked. It can be adjusted and re flocked to fit a custom fit. I have a custom Albiom wilch is “more Than custom” they actually made a seperate template to accommadate my horse. Took about 10 weeke or so. More thanworth it!
