Endurance Saddle suggestion for young Arabian

[mychestnutvalentine]

Hello all!
My mom recently started endurance riding, switching from H/J world. She currently has a jump saddle which fits her 4 yr old Arab somewhat ok but not the best fit. Due to his age and just being broken out this spring, they have not done any actual events but have started some local trail riding with her older trail horse. Right now, its been a struggle to find a saddle that fits. She currently has a Tucker endurance saddle for her trail horse but its way too long for her Arabian. She purchased a wintec western to make due in the mean time as there were many recommendations from local Arab riders. However, it stick so far up in the back so that is a no go either. Suggested so far:

• Arabian Saddle Company
• Circle Y with Arabian tree

Budget would be under $1,200 ideally and quality is a must!

I have suggested a dressage saddle as well but she loves her Tucker so she wants to find something similar.

[candyappy]

I have 2 Abetta endurance saddles. They fit well and are comfortable. They do make an Arabian endurance model . If you can find one.

[GreyDes]

If she’s open to treeless, Freeform and Bob Marshall are likely short enough. Freeform comes with a short base option for really short backs.

Both are commonly used for endurance and have fit a lot of Arabs and short-backed horses.

[kj2H1D]

I’ll be following this thread, I’m in the same boat! Although my ancient Stuebben Tristan was fitting my Arab well the first couple of years, we ran into problems this past summer and I want to get an endurance-saddle in any case, so I’ve been looking! A friend let me try her Specialized Saddle Eurolite at a CTR and I loved it - it was comfortable for both me and the horse, my hesitation on Specialized Saddles is that it seems like it can be difficult to change stirrup leather length without having to rip the padding completely off the saddle each time, maybe I am misunderstanding how to do this? But that is a definite possibility since I don’t anticipate needing to change the stirrup lengths once I have my own saddle. Specialized Saddles have a fabulous demo program!! And they are very helpful on the phone. But another friend is raving about Wintecs, so I might try one or more of them before deciding, if I can figure out which option is best. What are your thoughts about CAIR vs HART vs flocking? I haven’t been able to find a good analysis/discussion of the many different options that seem to be out there for this type of saddle! (But for both the Specialized Saddle and the Wintec, I really like that they have the option to change the saddle to fit your growing or developing horse!!!)

[phantomhorse]

@kj2H1D

my hesitation on Specialized Saddles is that it seems like it can be difficult to change stirrup leather length without having to rip the padding completely off the saddle each time, maybe I am misunderstanding how to do this?

What are your thoughts about CAIR vs HART vs flocking?

A friend’s horses go in Specialized, so I have done quite a bit of riding in them. There is no need to remove any padding to adjust the stirrups. The leathers double over the stirrup bars and then buckle at the bottom, near the stirrup. The buckle is covered by a sleeve (which is easily pushed up if needed).

My experience with CAIR vs flocking was CAIR made the saddle very bouncy and unstable. I even tried letting some of the air out thinking the panels were overly inflated, but that didn’t make any difference. I wound up trading the CAIR saddle for a flocked one and liked that much better. No experience with HART.

To the OP, we have two horses that go in Arabian Saddle Company Rubicons and love them. If your mom was a H/J, she should feel right at home sitting in one. You may have trouble finding even used in your price range however.

There are many brands that make an endurance model saddles if your mom likes the Tucker. Are there any tack stores in your area where she could go and sit in some?

[jebabacus]

Just went through the saddle-finding thing with my endurance horse. Here is my blog about it: (I’ve ended up with Reactor Panel!)

Road to the Tevis Cup Post #20: Finding the right saddle - Wild Horses