Hi there, I bought a pony for Xmas! Now, I am looking for dressage saddle recs. He’s a WB-built 17.3 TB (by the stick). Thinking wool flocking, so I can have it adjusted for him. Prefer to have blocks. Not opposed to second-hand. I’m willing to spend around 3500-4000 range for something wonderful that will last. Certainly willing to spend less. Willing to go a little higher if needed. (photos are sale photos, so credit to Jessica Redman and props to her amazing rider)
Thank you!
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You can have your pick quality semi custom saddles second hand.
It’s impossible to give recommendations without knowing more because your perfect saddle is the one that fits your horse and you.
For the horse, it’s not just wither gullet width but also the front to back rocker curve and the vertical drop. Each brand tends to have a “type” of tree, and you need to find the brand that lines up best with your horses back. You can tweak the fitting with flocking but you can’t change the basic tree shape.
For you you need to know your ideal.seat size, which is influenced in large part by your femur length. Then you need to know if you like deep or shallow seat, big or flat blocks, and wear the stirrup bar should be. Some riders prefer certain saddles.
Fortunately for me, both my horse and I are suited with Passier.
But any good semi custom brand will be excellent for you if it fits you and the horse and horrid if it does not. Passier, Schleese, County, Stubben, Black Country, Custom, etc all make excellent wool flocked dressage saddles. Find the brand that suits you and your horse!
If you can enlist a good independent saddle fitter to measure fit and evaluate, you won’t regret it.
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Sharing details about his back shape would probably help. Some brands are known for being a better bet for horses with more of a curved back (or higher withers) vs others, so knowing what your horse’s general needs are would likely allow for better recommendations.
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I recently bought EQ saddles for my two riding horses. A different tree for each horse. I love them. I think the tech/design makes so much sense. The horses certainly agree. And so many options to get a good rider fit. My one horse was easy and the first one we tried was the one for both of us. It took three tries to get the right one for my other horse - but honestly that was more to make me happy than him - he liked the first one just fine and our final pick is actually the same tree as the first, just a different seat for me. 
If you want to go the more traditional route, I highly suggest Black Country. Lots of different tree options and pretty rider friendly.
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No one here can recommend a saddle for you. Do yourself and your horse a favor and find a saddle fitter to help you. There are two, that I know of, here on COTH. Maybe one is near you or can recommend someone who is.
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A. It’s in the Coth rules that a new pony means pictures are required. No help on saddle fit.
Pictures might help with saddle recommendations but TBs are all built different so get a great fitter to help.
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I agree that no one can recommend a saddle that fits your horse over the internet and that a qualified saddled fitter is your best bet to a correct fitting saddle…
I have a TB, she does not have shark fins for withers, she is 15.2/3ish, but she does have withers, I ride in a County Competitor, which fits her perfectly.
I bought this saddle previously for my 17 hand Dutch gelding who did have withers. So you see, it depends on the horse, it depends on the saddle and it depends on how the saddle is adjusted.
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I have seen all types of of warmbloods. From MN to XXW, high wither to downhill and broad. It just really depends. I will PM you to see how I can help.
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I had a 16’3" TB some years back. He went best in a County Perfection. If there is a County fitter anywhere near you, give them a look. Measure the beast mid chest to tail for blanket size and then look on line. Saddle pads - I buy Roma - good thickness, long lasting some color options. They aren’t fancy or shiny fabric or matchy matchy, but the price is good.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/894874190982138 Lots of possible used stuff; there are other pages as well, just use the search bar.
Schneiders and State Line have good prices on stuff that you end up buying new.
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Can I ask how shipping worked for all the saddles you tried? I spoke with them recently and was thinking of trying the saddles, but with shipping costing $110 each way it seemed like that would add up really quickly if the first or second try wasn’t right. The way I understood it was that they’d send a demo saddle that should be a decent but not custom fit, based on my preferences and the horse’s back tracings–$110 for shipping that. Then I would send that back to them, paying $110 in shipping again, and await my own custom saddle (which presumably would cost another $110 to ship to me?). If it wasn’t perfect they said they’d “work with me” to fix that but I suspect that means more shipping fees?
Updated with pics! lol
He’s super cute, but we need pics of his back from the side, from above his tail, and standing at the point of his shoulder to give any meaningful saddle recommendations.
Once he arrives in Texas, I’ll post some. Thx
Yeah, the shipping can add up, which sucks, but it’s kinda hard to get away from paying shipping fees these days (at least for saddles).
It’s $110 to get it shipped to you. If you have to ship it back it’s usually cheaper - I think $75 or 85?
Personally, I think they are excellent at figuring out what the horse needs based on photos and wither tracings, so odds are the first one will work. (The saddle they ship to you will be adjusted already.) For my mare, it was perfect right out of the box for both of us, so I only had to pay to have it shipped to me. And I just kept that one because I’m not really into crazy colors on my saddle and the all black saddle they sent was fine with me.
For my gelding, he was/is a difficult fit. 16.3 dutch warmblood who had no topline when I first got him and pretty normal withers according to EQ, but not filled out as they should be. The first saddle was actually really great for him but I didn’t like the seat for myself - twist was too narrow. We then tried the same model as I have for my mare, which I liked but he did not. We did try to adjust it to see if we could get it right for him, but nothing we did made it as good as the first. With these saddles, you work with the company through video conferencing to do the adjustments yourself. I found it a bit intimidating at first but quickly realized it’s completely manageable as long as you have patience and a second set of hands to help you. But anyway, I sent that one back and they sent me a third one. This last one was the same tree as the first, so we knew he would like it, but with a different seat for me with a wider base. Just like the first one, he loved it right away. Actually, it was adjusted a little differently than the first given changes in his wither tracings, and he liked it even better than the first. And the seat works for me, so we just kept that one, as well, so I didn’t have to ship it back.
So the “work with you” generally means get on a video conference to adjust the saddle as opposed to sending it back. I’ve spoken a lot with the company president during my experience (and she is wonderful, by the way, as is the local rep) and she said they usually get it right the first time and almost always get it right the second time. It’s the rare case to go through three saddles like I did - but as I said, my gelding was a difficult fit and they selected the first one for him kinda because one was close by with a rep who would come by to help me with him and possibly do a bunch of specialized adjustments, so what I liked as a rider wasn’t as critical as finding a saddle that fit him, especially as I originally was using the rehab rental option for him given the shape of his topline. And in fact, if I’d been a fan of a narrow base in the seat, I would have been happy with the first.
So my guess is that you’d be looking at three shipping charges max, assuming you don’t want to custom order one.
Saddle shopping is never a fun experience as far as I am concerned, but I think EQ does a really good job. When I think of some of the experiences friends have had lately with companies like CWD and Devacoux, I am very pleased with the way things have worked with EQ - both the saddles themselves and the customer service experience.
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My OTTB with shark withers fit into a cut back (pommel) Custom Saddle Advantage.
Gorgeous horse! If he is changing careers to dressage, his back will probably change a lot, so you might not want to go for your “final” saddle right now. Kent and Masters might be a good option for him as they have adjustable gullets, but also adjustable because they have wool flocking. You can probably get a used one for around $1K, and then save some money for when you feel he isn’t change so much.
My personal fave is my Black Country Vinici. I had it built on their standard wide hoop tree (not to template) and it seems to fit everything. I had it made for a 15 hand appy, but it’s great on my 17H warmblood. Some of the BCs have serge panels, which are great, but you’ll want to have a fitter that knows how to work with them if you go that route.
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Thanks so much for all that info! It sounds like the customer service is fantastic. Maybe the reason she said the first saddle wouldn’t be “the one” is that I’m looking for a jump saddle with specific configuration for the rider (cross-country type with long/forward flap) and that isn’t something they keep in stock, vs the dressage models? Also I’m on the East Coast. I think I may have found something locally but I am still curious about EQ (specifically, whether my horse would like the design better than a traditional saddle).
So am I. There’s a rep in Rhode Island. Feel free to PM me if you’d like. If you’re close by you could come and take a look at my saddles in person if you’d like.
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