In your area what is the typical going rate for an independent saddle fitter to come out to your farm and adjust a saddle? Is the evaluation and on farm flocking adjustment one fee or two separate fees? What about things like billet replacements, full reflocking, etc?
I recently heard a number that startled me and I’m curious if perhaps my beloved fitter was quite underpriced or if this is an unusually high number.
I pay $150 per horse. Given my fitter’s credentials, experience, time spent, attention to details and results…well I feel like she is underpaid. This is for evaluation, flocking adjustment and she will stay to watch me ride
I think it’s about 300 to strip and reflock completely to fit your horse. My fitter will do followup tweaks for free if she is already our.
I pay $125-150 for trip charge, watching me ride, flocking adjustments, shooting the breeze…:lol: I have a young horse so I see her twice a year.
I have paid between $75-125 per saddle, depending on the fitter. This is for on farm evaluation and adjustment of flocking, including watching me ride in saddle. I haven’t done a full billet replacement, but had a point billet on my dressage saddle changed to a regular billet for $35.
I pay $150 (one fee) for evaluation and flocking adjustment on site, including watching me ride before and after adjustment. I haven’t yet had to do a strip and reflock with my current fitter, but I’d expect it to be in the $350-400 ballpark.
I think I paid $50 per billet last time they were replaced (by a different fitter), which seemed a wee bit high to me for the quality of the work. I’m pretty sure my last billet replacement prior to that (again different fitter – I’ve moved around a lot) was more like $120 for all 4 billets.
These rates are more of what I am accustomed to seeing.
It appears that the fitters in this area are charging $150+ just to come look at the saddle for an “evaluation” but then charge an additional $150-200 for minor on property flocking adjustments. I’ve never had two separate fees but have now seen this model with multiple fitters.
The idea of paying $250-350 for an onsite evaluation and flocking adjustment is hard for me to swallow. I was paying that in Atlanta for a full reflocking with a follow up appointment to tweak the fit.
I haul to the person I use, and pay $125 for an adjustment. Full reflock is about $400.
I recently paid $250 for an onsite checkup and reflocking (minor, in that it wasn’t a strip and complete reflocking, but a decent amount of adjusting fit and adding to existing flocking). Yeah, that is a lot, but I am in SoCal where prices are high in general, but this fitter is good, is in demand and is a rep for my saddle brand (IME independent fitters are often less $ than brand reps). She also came out once, checked the saddle, said it didn’t need anything and didn’t charge even for the visit.
I had previously used an independent fitter who was cheaper, but could be a bit flakey about appointments, etc. After trying a few weeks to even get a reply from her, I switched over to the current fitter.
It’s hard to put a price on skills and talent in saddle fitting. It’s going to depend on the cost of time in that market. I do think my fitter undervalues her work.
My appointments are $150 which includes static and dynamic evaluations, minor flocking and travel. I live in a low density area with large distances, so I have to charge more for travel and such. Most of my clients are at least an hour away. If you are about 2 to 2.5 hours away it is $200. Anything beyond that is $250. I routinely go 6 hours for an appointment and have to stay the night. On the longer trips I normally am gone 3 day to a week.
Yes it is a lot of money for an appointment. I once was stupid and broke down the cost and I was basically making minimum wage or less between the driving time, vehicle maintenance, gas, taxes, supplies and education. That was in an area were I was only charging $95 per appointment and driving a lot less. I have to have to make a living and if I am going to gone that much I want it to be worth my while. I have basically stopped serious riding because I just do not have time with all of the traveling nor would I make enough money to really seriously meet my goals. Really most fitter who care about the horses, really do not make a ton of money. I could not do this job without the support of my husband. Fitting fees basically keep the lights on.
I am more than happy to elaborate if you have specific questions.
I pay $175 for the fitter to come out to my barn, look at the saddle, measure my horse’s back, watch us go, adjust the saddle and rinse and repeat as necessary. Last time, she only charged me $125 because she didn’t have to do much. But I will say she always spends time answering my questions and chatting about stuff, so I know I receive a really good and educational visit. I think out last visit spent more time chatting about stuff than the actual fitting process! I was the last customer of the day and we chatted for forever! I love chatting with her.
$150 plus travel costs for simple reflocking, which includes rides. We try to aggregate riders and split the travel costs to make it worthwhile for the fitter.
I had a saddle fitter come out, it was $150 for just the evaluation and riding in a few saddles. It was not an independent saddle fitter (I could not find one of those in my area, so I used a Stubben rep as I own all Stubben saddles). The fitter was definitely more interested in trying to sell me a saddle and did not do much re: checking saddle fit on horses. Reflocking was $300 and would have needed to be sent away.
Oh, PS. I have to give a shout out to an Albion fitter when I lived in PA and a County fitter when I lived in TX. I was riding in a Wintec Isabell at the time, tried their saddles (Loooooooooved one of the County saddles), and both fitters said "Well, you could buy one of ours, but honestly, your saddle fits your horse pretty well. I paid $100 or less for both evaluations. These experiences gave me hope that not all reps are out to only sell you a saddle!
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