I’m saddle shopping, as my old saddle doesn’t fit my new horse. I currently have a Tucker western type saddle. It is super comfortable, but I feel like I sit kind of high over the horse’s back. I have heard a lot about Wade saddles and how comfortable and balanced they are. However, they don’t have any seat padding. Is that going to be an issue on long trail rides? TIA.
A “hard” seat will be a challenge until your butt toughens up. I’ve had a couple of “hard” seat saddles and they were not my favorites. My current “parade” saddle is a British M1902 Yeomanry Saddle and it has a hard, fairly flat seat. If I were going to ride it for a long time I’d spend some time conditioning my “butt” before I did it.
G.
G. tells the truth. My wade has a “bicycle” padded seat (you can google that to see what I mean, if you don’t already know) and is VERY comfortable. My husband’s wade is a saddle made for hunting and has no padding. He rides a “sissy pad” from Impact Gel. I find his saddle pretty comfortable without the pad, but wouldn’t want to ride it for hours at a time.
Thanks y’all. That’s what I was worried about. You probably just saved me some money.??
They are usually a) heavy as lead and b) heavy as lead.
I rode in a hard seat for years and my current saddle has a bicycle seat. DH hates that saddle’s bicycle seat, it catches him wrong.
You better try before you buy.
Those old wade saddles and the need to add a folded blanket or bucking rolls to them have been improved over a century to the newer saddles with some swell to them and more comfortable seats plus cheyenne rolls, with good reason.
Now, many people still like A frame, wade saddles to look the part, because they are old timey and/or they live in buckaroo country.
If you don’t have that for a reason, as most today don’t, you in SC definitely don’t, you may really want to try other kinds before buying a wade just because of the name.
For many, wade ride like a bump on a log, not really fitting unless you are a very long leggity tall rider, which many riders are not.
When you try different saddles, you may still end up with a wade, but at least try others before deciding if it is for you.
[QUOTE=Bluey;7792995]
Those old wade saddles and the need to add a folded blanket or bucking rolls to them have been improved over a century to the newer saddles with some swell to them and more comfortable seats plus cheyenne rolls, with good reason.
Now, many people still like A frame, wade saddles to look the part, because they are old timey and/or they live in buckaroo country.
If you don’t have that for a reason, as most today don’t, you in SC definitely don’t, you may really want to try other kinds before buying a wade just because of the name.
For many, wade ride like a bump on a log, not really fitting unless you are a very long leggity tall rider, which many riders are not.
When you try different saddles, you may still end up with a wade, but at least try others before deciding if it is for you.[/QUOTE]
This is a good answer. I had a hardseat cowhorse saddle I had custom made and found it pretty comfy for everything. It was too narrow in the shoulders for my mare so went on the saddle hunt. I did get a modified Wade, fit the horse, did not fit me at all. I could not ride in that flat of a seat with shovel cantle. Pitched me forward. I went back to a conventional ladies all around and love it.
A wade on hills isn’t fun on steep downhills unless you get the bucking rolls. I would pass on the Wade unless you found the perfect fit for both of you.
The “Wade” part of the saddle is just the fork - you can customize anything else. Therefore it’s pretty meaningless to say “Wade saddles are xx” because it will vary with every iteration. You can get padded or unpadded seats, Cheyenne roll or straight (Dorrance’s original wade had the former), well shaped seats or crap, light skirt rigged lady wades or heavy plate rigged working rigs, and everything in between.
I’ve ridden a couple of different Wades on some pretty steep mountain country and it worked fine. If you’re leaning on bucking rolls going up or down hills, you’re out of position way over the fork, so I’m not sure why that’s an issue? If you ride broncy horses bucking rolls or swells are an option, but even then not totally required.
I have a big heavy McCall Wade and have done a number of all day rides and back country multi day trips with it. The ‘hardness’ of the seat is not an issue if the saddle fits you well. Truth to tell my Wade is not greatly comfy ‘for me,’ it is a wee bit wide in the seat, but not so bad I feel a need to add padding. I keep that saddle handy for bigger guests- I bought it in the first place to fit the horse, not me. I have another saddle, made by a young man in southern Utah, also no padding on the seat but ultra comfy- a narrow twist, and better angle on the cantle.
A fellow boarder showed me her newish, light, McCall Lady Wade trail saddle the other day, it is significantly lighter than my 42 lb McCall and has piqued my interest.
I love my wade saddle, hard seat. This is the second one I’ve had and the only reason I sold the first one was b/c it didn’t fit the horse. I’ve put in many many hours on a wade in the back country and IME it’s one of the most comfortable saddles I’ve ever had. I prefer a hard seat, never had a sore butt-sore hips occasionally but nothing that a padded seat would help. Granted, I am not skinny, but my husband and son are and they never see the need for a padded seat.
My saddle IS heavy but it fits my hard to fit horse and short/chubby me very well.
