I’ve been seeing a lot of deals on used CWD. Is there something to be wary of with CWD’s? Looking to fit OTTB and I don’t want to invest in a brand known to break down if that’s the case.
The French foam including CWD swept the market in the past decade. I believe the leather can be fragile and the foam panels can’t be adjusted easily. So people may be more likely to move them on rather than keep them forever. But also since they were one of the dominant brands of recent years they are going to be dominant second hand as well.
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Thanks Scribbler! Always on point and informative:)
In addition to that, people are moving on from the brand and they are no longer in favor for various reasons
Oh tell us more! What more expensive option has come along? 
Of course any time a saddle brand becomes wildly popular, it ends up being bought for horses that aren’t a good fit for the basic tree structure, and those riders eventually figure that out and move on.
My mare turns out to be too beefy for the chic French saddles so when I was shopping last year I noticed how big a market share they had second hand (and how few second hand Counties were out there now compared to a few years back). I would have been interested in trying the French brands if they had been a realistic choice for marsey, though my saddle fitter excoriates foam panels.
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As someone who had a CWD for years and liked mine, I disagree that the leather was fragile - their leather held up quite well (but I had the base grain leather, not full calf). I don’t think that’s why you are seeing a lot of them. Any time something becomes popular, you will eventually see more of them in the secondary market as well. Beyond that, as people increasingly customize to one horse, when you change horses, you may have a saddle fit problem and need to sell it. Mine worked great on multiple horses for years, then I bought a new horse and it made him back sore, so it had to go. Additionally, I think you reached a point that the quality of CWD reps varied widely, so I suspect you have a segment of the used market also resulting from orders that didn’t turn out too well. My original rep was great, but when I tried repaneling mine to make it fit my horse, what the new rep had them do actually made it fit worse in another spot and only sort of fixed the original issue <sigh> So, all of that is to say I think there are a variety of reasons that you see a lot for sale, and if you found one that was the right configuration for you and your horse and you liked it, there wouldn’t be a reason not to buy it.
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Oh no, I’m trying to sell mine 😂. (This is not an ad for it).
I am selling mine because I switched over to another obnoxiously expensive saddle brand (Voltaire) that I much prefer over my CWD. I felt somewhat pressured into getting the CWD specific make/model I have (2gs) from my last trainer, and I just don’t really love it. sigh
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Completely disagree that CWD is coming out of style. The leather is not fragile either. You probably see a number of saddles on the market because there are many riders who upgrade when new saddle models come out or if they want to get a new saddle because they got a new horse. I have not heard of anything “bad” currently with CWD saddles, same opinions on the saddles as there has always been, ie foam panels instead of wool flocking. But you can change the foam panels if you want to, which I have done when my saddle was made to fit a new horse since the horse it was made for had been retired. I would stay CWD/ Voltaire/ Devacoux are still the most popular brands.
LOL I did the same - my horse went markedly better in my trainer’s Voltaire Palm Beach, and even our vet confirmed it when she checked my horse’s back and watched him go in both saddles. I also like that the Voltaires aren’t as heavy as the CWD’s.
I still would never pay 6-7k for a saddle. Used is the ONLY way to go as far as I’m concerned in these prices! Haha
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Yes to all of that!! Waiting for my Palm Beach! I felt much more connected to my horse in the Palm Beach.
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I’ve been told that any foam-flocked saddle has a significantly shorter lifetime than wool-flocked saddles. To those of you who really like their CWDs, is that true or even a consideration? I’ve mostly ridden in English wool-flocked saddles, aside from a Devoucoux which neither my horse or I found very comfy, so I’m curious.
“Palm Beach” as a saddle name: good marketing there.
Agreed; kind of wish I could go to any beach right now, hah.
My coach has a CWD that’s been getting heavy use for years. She had to have the seat leather replaced, I think, some years ago, but she loved the saddle so much that it was worth it. I rode in it once, and found myself a used one. The late great Gary Severson was my saddle fitter, and I asked him to change the saddle over to flocking from foam, but he said that it fit my horses (yes, plural) so well, that he didn’t recommend doing it.
I did have the billets replaced because I thought they were a little flimsy for XC.
I’ve been stuck doing a custom order every time because I take a hard-to-find configuration and I’m always soooo jealous of people who can find exactly the used one they need!!! With the used one you not only get the better price, you know exactly how it is going to fit, but with custom, you have to hope for the best and hope you have a good rep!! Which thankfully I did on both of my saddle orders.
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If the foam panels degrade they can be replaced but at more expense than wool flocking. On the other hand the foam does not need the tune-ups and tweaks of wool flocking.
You could change any given saddle from foam to wool. However a wool panel is much thicker or deeper than a foam panel. So if the foam panel saddle fits your horse, you can’t switch to wool without ruining the fit.
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I have never owned one or ridden in one, but they were extremely popular in our local H/J scene for a while. We are in what I would call an affluent horse area so I think part of the attraction was that the saddles were expensive and trainers/riders liked having a flashy name brand (this is just outside opinion from me).
I have yet to meet someone locally who is not selling their CWD a few years after purchasing, including my previous H/J coach, and it is always “it doesn’t fit my horse anymore” or “doesn’t fit my new horse”. There are tons of used ones in our local secondhand market and I think folks are a bit disillusioned with them now. There’s a very high turn over of horses here so folks are needing saddles that can fit between a few different mounts. Just my two cents!
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Baybond, my saddle fitter was of a similar opinion regarding CWD. Per her opinion trendy and comfy for rider, but poor fit for horse. I landed up getting a stubbed zaria which has been a dream to ride in. I found the perfect one used and my TB honestly is the one who picked the saddle. It was like riding a whole new horse.
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My foam flocked Butet is a 1998 Still going strong.
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