Cashel Soft Saddle Reciews Please

[ERNurseonaHorse]

Hello!

I am having some issues with saddle fit and I have been considering the cashel soft saddle.
I am a former jumper rider with a unique “hony”. I quit jumpers to take up trail riding! My western saddle has not been a good fit with his odd build.

I do all of my arena work bareback (w/t/c), but my horse is a horse, and still spooks occasionally when we ride out.

So I was looking for something of a bareback feel, but with stability that would hold up for trail riding.

I’ve read amazon reviews, it looks like I would need a breast collar for the most stability. Other reviews mentioned that it was very bulky under the leg.

What are everyone else’s thoughts on this saddle?

Thank you!

[Bluey]

Saddles are generally used to help riders with stability and more importantly, distribute the rider’s weight over a larger surface than bareback provides, so avoiding sore backs.

When it comes to horse’s backs, when riding bareback as adults, not as lightweight kids, horses may get sore.
While there is a place to learn some skills riding bareback, having the horse’s back in mind demands we go light on bareback riding.
Bareback pads help with that, treeless saddles are a next step, then all kinds of saddles with trees.

When talking rider’s stability, stirrups are crucial to that and help keep the pads or saddles in the middle.
A tree also helps best for that also.

As you have read, along with cinches, breast collars and cruppers also help keep a saddle in place to some extent, but would not depend on them that much.

What you may heed as a warning, any saddle without a tree will tend to slip from side to side, so be very careful to be quick to kick the stirrups loose if you feel that happening, don’t want to cause a wreck.

I would say, stirrups added to any other than a fairly stable, properly cinched saddle with a tree is just not very safe.
In fact, there are plenty of saddles with trees that you can practically ride without cinching but snug, they won’t be easily turned.
Not so with treeless or bareback pads.

Saying all that, plenty of people like treeless saddles, including Cashel type ones, so why not try and see what you think, how it fits for your horses and your riding?
Several sellers will give you time to try one out, buy from them and you can return it if it is not what you think.

When it comes to saddles, each one of us likes what fits us, not necessarily what fits others.

[demidq]

I got one a few years ago but found it very unstable on horse’s back in spite of non slip pads, proper girth etc. It doesn’t have D rings to which you can attach breast collar or crupper, or at least mine doesn’t. I actually cut a gullet in the foam thinking that might help but it made no difference. The stirrups were mounted in the wrong place for a comfortable correct leg position. The foam was very bulky and squishy so it did not feel AT ALL like riding bareback. Don’t bother.

If you want a non -slippy bareback ride, go with a suede pad but don’t put stirrups on it. Bluey’s points about horse"s back are important to note. Either you ride in a saddle that distribute’s weight and stress and you sacrifice that real close contact, or you ride in a pad which allows you and horse to feel every nuance but is not great for horse’s back for long periods

[DoodlesMom]

I have one that I used with my retired gelding, as well as with a GIGANTIC Belgian gelding. It’s a glorified bareback pad, tbh. There isn’t a lot of stability, though maybe more than with a fleece bareback pad. You can’t use the stirrups for mounting - saddle will slip. You can’t really use them for balance - saddle will slip. It’s comfortable, sure. I took the stirrups off mine long ago, and won’t put them back on. I mean, If you’re comfortable bareback and just want something to keep your pants clean and add extra padding, go for it.

[Bluey]

I forgot to add, I tried one of the earlier Cashel ones, the royal blue seat kind.

As above, it felt just like a lump of foam for me.

May have fit perfectly well some other rider/horse combination.

I returned it.

We just really never know what will work if we don’t try.

The pictures of the new ones look like they may fit better than the first ones did.

[demidq]

I just checked on the website- the G2 model soft saddle looks VERY different from the one I bought about 6 years ago. Mine was basically several layers of foam glued together.
This appears to have a molded pommel for wither clearance, but I couldn’t see any photos of the underside to see if it has some sort of gullet. They do offer a “liner” with a slit down the middle which would presumably take at least some of the pressure off the spine.