Help Me Pick A Saddle

[CupcakeTough]

Growing up I rode cutting horses. But I switched to eventing in my teens and sold my western tack. I’ve kept an old, solid western saddle that I use for starting young stock. It’s solidly built, but not at all comfortable, plus my husband has taken up riding in it (he’s just learning to ride). I’m buying the hubby a nice, comfy, trail saddle and it’s made me decide I’d like a better one myself. The thing is, there are SO many types of saddles out there!!! So I’m going to list my needs and hope you brilliant COTHers can point me in the right direction!

My needs:

Deep/secure seat- I start a lot of young horses
Comfortable- I take the young horses trailriding and camping and ride for hours at a time.
Rugged- it needs to hold up to 8-10 horses a day
Turned/specialty fenders- I have a bad knee.

Thanks all!

[Macimage]

I love my Bob’s Saddle:

http://bobssaddles.com/

[Bluey]

[QUOTE=Macimage;9036905]
I love my Bob’s Saddle:

http://bobssaddles.com/[/QUOTE]

Me too, here are some used ones:

http://www.cowdogsaddles.com

[CdnQH]

I bought a Huber work saddle last fall, I love it. They are in Kentucky (same shop that makes the coconut oil reins). He does have a Facebook page but doesn’t use it much anymore. You will occasionally find the saddles used.

Red will put on custom fenders based on how tall you are and pre-turns them.

[csaper58]

If you find a used saddle, look into having a good saddle maker turn the fenders.

[cutter99]

For young horses and cattle work, I ride in Martin ranch cutters.

http://www.martinsaddlery.com/Ranch-Cutter-14/

Mine are all well over 10 years old, and I am never sore after a day of turnback in them.

[2_amp_1_2_Geldings]

I second Bobs.

I have the Bergen Cowhorse and it’s super secure and very comfortable. Love it. I’d like to have Bobs build me another when I can afford it

[quarterhorse4me]

A ranch cutter is hard to beat for all around use. You may want to try a used one on ebay or a facebook selling site, there are a variety of saddles by good makers on them. The neat thing about the ranch cutters and cutting saddles is that many of them are hand made as opposed to mass produced. I personally love a Piland (Tim or John).

[stb]

I bought a barely used Ray Wilson wade tree saddle that is comfortable for both me and my horse, and is really beautiful to boot. It was a custom build for someone who was pretty much out of riding by the time the saddle was finished, so had only been used a handful of times. I’ll never sell it.

I also have an older custom built Wade tree (can’t remember the saddlemaker) that is super comfortable as well. It isn’t as fancy and pretty as the Ray Wilson but a great saddle nonetheless. I won’t be selling that one either.

[Draftmare]

If you are looking for inexpensive and comfortable, the 1990s Circle Ys are hard to beat. The newer ones aren’t as great of quality, but still pretty darn comfortable.

I just sold my Sergeant’s work saddle and it was super comfortable plus wore like iron. They aren’t as common, but one occasionally comes up on Facebook.

My current saddle is a Pard’s Advantage reiner that I am super happy with, but I felt like my Sergeants put me in a slightly better hip to heel alignment.

For your knees I would also suggest Crooked Stirrups. I have had multiple surgeries on both of my knees, and Crooked Stirrups help me not hobble away after a long trail ride.

[Luseride]

I love my barrel saddles for trail riding. Deep seat, the fenders move easily and they are lighter than some of my other saddles.

I have an old Simco and a Dakota, also getting pretty old. They are both in great shape after many years of hard use.

[beau159]

My needs:

Deep/secure seat- I start a lot of young horses
Comfortable- I take the young horses trailriding and camping and ride for hours at a time.
Rugged- it needs to hold up to 8-10 horses a day
Turned/specialty fenders- I have a bad knee.

Well, a barrel racing saddle is going to give you a deep seat.

For myself, that’s my primary discipline so that is all I’ll ride in. And some days I’ll be in the saddle 6 or 8 hours when we are moving cattle to or from the summer pastures. My barrel saddles are padded and perfectly comfortable for me to ride in all day.

I have a Circle Y barrel saddle that I believe is a 2003 or around there. It was my primary saddle when I was training colts for people. The most I had was about 7 at one time, so that saddle got used hard every day for 10 years. The rough fenders aren’t exactly rough out anymore, but otherwise the saddle is still in great condition. It was a full quarter horse bar tree and while it was sometimes a little wide for some of the smaller colts, it really worked with a wide variety of horses.

I agree that almost any good saddle maker can “turn out” the stirrups for you if the saddle doesn’t come that way (its actually fairly easy to do yourself too). You could also look using slanted stirrups like these.

[zan.hannah]

I am not sure if you’d want a barrel saddle, but I just got this new one I’m in love. It has a really deep seat, pretty comfortable (at least, in my opinion) and it seems rather rugged, but I just got it so I can’t fully attest for it’s ability to be rugged yet.

http://www.reinsman.com/shop/barrel/marlene-mcrae-special-effx-barrel-saddle/