Broken Horn saddle fit?

[WhoaNellie44]

I’m considering buying a used Broken Horn saddle online. Can anyone tell me how these saddles tend to fit? I need a wide saddle with plenty of room/flair for the shoulders in the front. I currently have an older 1990s model Crates steer wrestler with the QH rawhide tree and a newer (but before they sold to Fabtron) Crates reining saddle that fit well. Circle Ys do not fit my gelding - even the wide ones don’t leave enough shoulder room.

Does anyone know if a Broken Horn is likely to be a good fit? I need a WP show saddle. Any other suggestions welcome, too. Thanks!

[findeight]

Broken Horn makes very good saddles, including custom and semi custom, in various tree widths but you need to know what width this saddle you are looking at is. There’s no one size fits all based solely on brand name. Also, some saddles are built wider under the whole saddle (lull QH bars), others just wider over the shoulders in front and it makes a difference in fit if the horse is built downhill, level or uphill.

There should be a serial number on the saddle. BH is VERY good at customer service, they make their saddles, custom or off the rack in house, get the # and call them to decode that number and determine size.

But you can’t determine specific fit just by knowing the brand name.

[WhoaNellie44]

Yeah, I get that, but since there’s no standard across brands for what full QH or semi-QH means exactly, that doesn’t necessarily mean much. I have the measurements of the saddle, but I was wondering about generalizations. For instance, some brands saddles tend to have more flair or rock than some other brands. That’s the type of info I’m looking for.

[Showbizz]

I’ve ridden in several. They make a FQH and SQH tree. Their FQH tree fits mutton withered, barrel shaped flat backs extremely well, and fit short-backed horses well due to their typically shorter length. High quality.

[WhoaNellie44]

Thanks. That was exactly what I was wondering. I haven’t received a response from Broken Horn to find out about the exact saddle I’m looking at.

So maybe not the best choice for my high withered QH…? He’s VERY wide, but my is definitely not mutton withered…

Blue Ribbon? There’s also a couple of those for sale that I was looking at.

[findeight]

Is there any way seller would let you try that BH saddle out? Even with the measurements, there’s many small variables that make a saddle a good fit or not. Has to be comfortable for the rider too. Sight unseen with no trial or ability to return is risky.

[Showbizz]

I have a Blue Ribbon, but can’t for the life of me think of which tree is in it. It does not fit my mutton withered, short, flat backed Arabian very well. Too narrow. But I showed a normal backed modern stock show horse this summer and it fit him well. I would not, however, consider him wide, as the work saddles I use on him are typically SQH.