I am starting to take dressage lessons…new for me after years of hunters and then just trail riding. After a dozen lessons I tried a dressage saddle (I had been riding in my BC Quantum ) and I did much better in the dressage saddle. I now want to buy one but since this is new and I am not sure if it going to be a permanent thing, I want to buy a saddle I can easily sell if I decide to go back to trail riding. Could I have some suggestions on the saddles that would be the easiest to resell if I decide to? Thanks
Check out Thorowgood. It’s a really good quality synthetic/leather combination and if a BC fits your horse, then a Thorowgood is a strong possibility to fit as well. It has a very correct shape and if you decide to go back to trail riding they sell very well afterward due to the extremely favorable initial price point.
Have fun!
Buy second hand. A saddle a couple of years old generally sells for about half of retail. If you get a good deal on a used saddle and take care of it, you could probably sell it on later for what you paid. But you will never get the price of a new saddle back, selling second hand.
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Agreed on buying second hand.
The Black Country dressage saddles are awesome, since you’re already riding in a BC it might be once to consider (used).
Fit of dressage saddles for horse and rider is a lot more finicky than jumping saddles, so it may come down more to what works for you. Wintecs are pretty much always an easy resell. I’m on a Dressage Saddles for Sale FB page, and it seems that Customs are frequently being sought out, so one of those might be a good choice if it works for you.
Stubbens seem to be a hard sell as they aren’t really the modern style (but that also means you can get a good deal).
If you’re an eBay member, you might try doing an advanced search on completed listings for saddles of the type you’re looking at to see if/how they’re selling
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I am riding a different horse so I don’t have to worry about fitting my horse. I am riding someone else’s horses for now so I will look for something that fits me and get a medium tree. I definitely want a used saddle. I have heard the Customs are very popular. I rode in an Icon the other day and it was divine although too small for me . I also rode in a County Connection and liked it. I have seen a few of those on Ebay for reasonable prices.
Albion, Hennig, Custom, County, Devoucoux, although these saddles are not cheap either.
You will also need to get a saddle that fits the horse you are riding, and perhaps get it reflocked to fit that horse. Depending on how alert the owner of the horse is to saddle fitting issues, they may want to have considerable input into whatever saddle you choose to ride in. I know that if I were leasing a horse out to someone, and they were supplying a saddle, I would insist that saddle fit as well as my own saddle before they could use it.
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I recently had to sell my Bates dressage saddle (broke my heart but did not fit my horse at all!) and got a steal of a deal on a Barnsby. It is a FABULOUS saddle. The company is out of business now, sadly, but the saddle is excellent quality and fits my horse amazingly well for a non-custom saddle. I found tons of them around for >$1500. I highly recommend doing lots of research on trees and saddle fit though, as well as doing measurements and photos and working with a saddle fitter!
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Back in the day when I was shopping for a dressage saddle Passiers were one of the popular saddles. Maybe because Schliesse was the distributor. Tried to sell mine but no takers. It didn’t fit my latest horse. I did like the saddle and am now using it again on another horse in my barn.
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Right now, I see Custom Saddlery saddles as having awesome resale value. Albions also hold up for resale pretty well. Both tend to fit horses and riders well. For a great “starter” saddle, I recommend an older Albion (like the SL or Style) or an older Neidersuiss Symphony - both tend to fit horses well and be nicely balanced for the rider, and you can usually find them for $600 to $800 in decent condition. And usually resell them for about what you paid for them.
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It is hard to buy a saddle for the rider who needs it for different horses, I know. Maybe harder with a dressage saddle? I have some things to look for now, so thanks to all.
Albion is a good suggestion too. I had an SLK and it fit a lot of horses. I’d probably go with a MW to fit multiple horses, because padding can be added (to a certain extent) to fill in extra space, but if it’s too narrow, it’s too narrow.
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Anything with a high head tends to work on manyhorses because there’s a nice clearance. Trilogy, Albion. I live counties also.
I’ll second both Barnsby (forget which model Bonfire something) and County (Competitor) saddles. I have one of each. I prefer a more open saddle though since I ride Walkers. My trainer sells Trilogy saddles and they are wonderful and have excellent resale value. They’re a bit pricey and too restrictive for me though. But for serious dressage, highly recommend.
I love my Neidersuss. It’s fit many horses with only a few adjustments. I have a M tree. I bought mine used in '94 and am thinking about replacing it but can’t find one. There are lots of older ones out there and the newer used ones are sold really quickly. It’s a fantastic saddle. Ask the Spanish Riding school…
Oh, and I have the Symphonie.
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I love my KN Symphonie (M, 16.75 seat) too but I can’t get it to fit a single horse of mine. Which is a real shame because it is a fantastic saddle and I loved how secure it felt.
Instead of focusing on resale value I’d look at used, since they’re easier to source and sell. Kieffers, Stubbens and Passiers are relatively cheap used and last forever, and once used, they don’t depreciate too much. I’ve bought and sold a few used Kieffers in the $600-800 range and have always gotten the same or more when it came time to move it on.
I looked for a Symphonie on Ebay…none in my size unfortunately.
This is such a personal choice it’s impossible to give advice, and so much depends on what tree shape suits your horse.
Another good thing to do is go to a tack shop and sit in as many different saddles as you can. You can figure out which brands and styles you like, then look for used ones. I find that if I like one model of a brand, I like most others as well.
There really isn’t any such thing as a dressage saddle that fits all or even many horses.
I would recommend that you wait until you have a horse of your own to buy a saddle since most knowledgeable dressage horse owners require their horses to be ridden in saddles that have been flocked and fitted to the horse.
If you insist on buying a saddle now, I would recommend one with replacement gullets like Wintec or even treeless like Heather Moffett’s Vogue or FlexEE.
I really do appreciate all this info but the thread has gone off track; I am still interested in which dressage saddles have the most resale appeal. It sounds like Custom Saddlery saddles do well in the resale area.
