Buying a new saddle feels like such a big decision - it’s a lot of $! How did you know that you were making the right decision? And how often do you think the decisions made after a 5 minute test ride are regretted? My last saddle purchase was nearly 20 years ago and was made after I rode in a friend’s saddle a few times so I had a pretty good idea that I liked it. I may have commitment issues 
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You definitely should get a week or so trial if at all possible. I tell people who trial my saddles to try to get a minimum of three rides in because sometimes things feel great the first ride, the second you start to notice something, the third it really bothers you. The same is true for the horse - the first ride they go well in any saddle that doesn’t put pressure in the place they are sore from the previous saddle, the second ride they start to notice there is pressure in different places, the third they realize it isn’t comfortable after all. I wouldn’t say this happens often, but it definitely happens.
That said, when a rider says, “OMG, it’s THE ONE!” at first sit, they do not change their minds! And in fact, they usually like it better over time as it breaks in and molds to their body.
Sometimes when I do a saddle purchase consultation the rider doesn’t have that reaction to anything and they just need to try other brands until they find “the one” or sometimes they find one among my demos that is really close and they have to take a leap of faith that with the right customizations it will be amazing. It’s hard to do that (unless you are desperate, which saddle shoppers often become…) but when their custom saddle arrives and they have that first ride they realize it was a good decision. 
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My saddle is “the one” depending on how good my ride was! There are so many factors that go into it, but I think - generally - if the saddle fits the horse, allows you to feel secure while still giving you freedom, you think it gorgeous (because they are very expensive, so you should like the look of it), and it makes you want to sit up a bitter taller, then great. I never know if a saddle is the one, but I certainly know the ones that aren’t.
Also, it’s more often that I’m the problem and not the saddle. If I’m not able to ride for a week, it’s funny how my saddle feels unbalanced or my seat not secure. My saddle tends to get better the more I actually use it!
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I generally find that any new-to-me saddle feels, at best, extremely odd at first. Sometimes downright awful. I have learned to give it at least a week of riding and jumping to either adjust to it or to decide that I truly hate it.
On a hard to fit horse, “the one” is one that fits the horse and at least objectively fits me (if not one I subjectively love).
Otherwise, “the one” is a saddle that feels like home when I sit down. I forget about the saddle except to occasionally notice how secure and balanced I feel - no constant fighting to stay in a comfy spot and no feeling that I can’t keep my leg under me.
Sadly, several of my favorite saddles to sit and ride in have not actually fit me that well.
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After years of insisting I liked flat-as-a-pancake, old school-type CC saddles (I’ve recently owned an older PJ, a Butet, and a Tad Coffin), I finally decided to sit in some options when the CWD rep came out for another client at the barn.
Knowing what I “liked,” she put me in their flattest option. I hated it and was fully content to go about my life disliking CWDs as I always had. Then, she put me in the SE02 (semi-deep) with a flap config she thought I would like and the rest was history. I absolutely love the saddle, love where it puts me, and feel incredibly secure and stable in it. I knew this all from a five-minute trial ride (didn’t even get to jump in it). I had to ride in a Butet a few weeks ago and missed my comfy couch saddle—something I never, ever thought I’d say!
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Generally speaking, I don’t buy new. Less chance of “buyers remorse” and generally more ability to test ride.
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I had a Tad Coffin since I was 12…fast forward to riding as a pro at 22 and I definitely needed a new saddle. I only grew about 2” since then, maybe 3”, but my body was much different.
My boss at the time had a horse tacked up for her & then had to run, so she asked me to ride it. She had a Butet Premium. Needless to say I rode in her saddles until I my new Butet Premium arrived. This was about 4 years ago. I still LOVE my saddle.
One ride is all it took! Mine came and wasn’t broken in (like squeaky new), but I have loved every second of it.
I have a great saddle fitter who is actually trained and not a brand rep. She brings out a variety of different British saddles and I try them all. Because of the flocking they can be fitted to the horse in the way a foam saddle cannot. When I ride in something that really fits the horse and really fits me— I know it and I don’t have to wonder if it’s “the one.” I can feel it is. When I order it, I know it’s going to arrive and be exactly what I ordered and the fitter will deliver it and flock it and return and reflock it again and work with me until I’m fully satisfied WITHOUT any run around or BS.
Working this way is completely different than buying something from a brand rep who has 2 weeks of mostly marketing training and is working with a company that could give two shits about the buyer and would send you crap and tell you to thank them. It’s just an entirely different experience.
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After being cheap and going through 4 saddles. I finally decided to spend money on a used amerigo. The fit was right, the balance was phenomenal and other riders always complimented how comfortable they were. I was riding a few horses for trainer and riding in different high end branded saddles, and I can’t get the same feeling as I do with my amerigo. I’m quite attached to it now.
Mine’s an Amerigo too! I knew the person selling theirs used, and was willing to try although skeptical as I’d tried two others (on different horses) and while they were okay, didn’t feel any better than what I already had. They were both the same seat size and model but had different flap configurations that weren’t right for me. However, my saddle no longer fit my horse as his body changed off the track, so off we went to try this one.
I literally got on and said “oh this is perfect” before I even walked. It felt like it had been broken in just for me. My position was immediately better, and I was able to ride w/t/c and pop him over a few crossrails, where he had his knees to his chin. Sold!
It’s turned into my “you’ll pry this out of my dead hands” saddle. It’s been pulled apart by a fitter to fix a popped rivet, but he said it’s in fantastic shape otherwise and should last a lifetime with care, which is good because to replace it with the custom flap configuration would cost $$$$.
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This is basically me…and then I tried a horse in the seller’s saddle and was like, “hey, this one isn’t so bad…” I still didn’t want that particular saddle but it was a surprise to find that having a knee roll could actually be comfortable 
So I had never had a rep out to try saddles that way before. I liked the one model - it felt pretty natural - but it just seems so crazy to me to make a $4k purchase based on a 5 minutes of test ride one time. I live close enough to tack shops with fairly large saddle inventories so maybe I’m just a person better off trying that way - where I pick one up at the store and take home and try out on my own terms. I thought it would be good to have a rep to check the fit because I have 2 very differently shaped horses and I’m not confident in my own fitting knowledge, no matter how many videos I have watched.
The prices on used saddles that are 10+ years old make me think it just makes more sense to buy new. I’m also comfortable with my current saddle and believe it fits my horses ok, so maybe the easy answer for now is to just keep using it until it is really truly worn out… I’m just tired of being hopelessly out of step with what’s on trend, which is maybe the stupidest reason to get a new saddle anyway.
I’ve seen a 5-7 day trial with some of the saddle shops but is that a thing with a saddle rep? I didn’t think to ask about that.
It depends, IMO. Give me a high quality brand, in good shape but someone else did the breaking in, any day of the week. Lots of riders seem to prefer a new saddle and/or not mind breaking them in, but I really strongly prefer not to have to deal with it.
Plus it’s a huge advantage to buy the actual saddle you tried, not just a demo and then getting a different new one (custom or not).
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I was routinely getting jumped out of the tack in my saddle on my young horse, even though it fit my older horse great and I didn’t have that issue. I randomly decided to see if the problem was the saddle when a fitter was out for someone else and rode in a bunch of the ones he had with him. Immediately everything was better with one particular model, the Voltaire Stuttgart. My horse was moving even better than normal, I felt super-secure, and didn’t get jumped out of the tack at all.
The Stuttgart has a deep, wide seat and my younger horse has a huge, bouncy ball jump, and I think this just fit both of us really well. The cool thing was that that demo saddle was due to be replaced by a newer one so I was able to buy it. I asked if there was any sense in getting a custom one instead, if anything needed to be changed but the fitter said it would be a waste of money since it would be essentially the exact same saddle.
I’ve tried lots of different saddles over the years on various horses and sometimes it is a lot more trial and error. On that horse I had already tried a bunch of other ones before deciding to use my older horse’s saddle, which seemed to be ok, if not great. But when trying the Stuttgart I knew almost immediately that this was The One.
I think it depends. My first Antares I loved from the minute I sat in it and fit the horse well. Fast forward to new horse. Terrible fit. Tried many options with an independent fitter and landed on a Tad Coffin as THE ONE for this horse. He felt amazing from the first trot steps. And I HATED it. Fit me great but the narrow twist and highesh pommel were terrible. I stuck it out and after about a month I really liked it. I now have a second horse that I ride in the Antares and switching back to the Tad to ride the other is NBD. Bottom line fit and feel can be very different.
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In most things, I agree with you - I’m also the person who would rather buy a very slightly used car than new 
Maybe it’s just some of the saddles I’ve looked at that have really worn billet straps, and many are 10-20 years old themselves - why would I buy another 20 year old saddle? I ride 2-3 horses most days so I’m not a super light user. If I could something like a demo I would be all about that though.
I’m currently “between trainers” so I don’t have a trusted 2nd set of eyes on anything either right now.
Does anyone find it useful to just sit in the saddles at the tack shop? Last time I did that I was surprised how obviously bad some were for me - and I’m getting my 2nd covid shot this weekend so in-store shopping is back on the horizon for me 
Saddle shopping seems so daunting! My saddle is an older than dirt Beval that needs to be replaced at some point. Problem is I don’t really have one particular horse I ride. Also can’t fathom spending thousands of dollars…
I just went through the saddle buying process. I originally had a 2008 Devoucoux that I got when I was a teenager. It had very few rides on it and was truly my dream saddle. I think I knew immediately that I wanted it (I had good rides in it that whole week). Earlier this year, I realized that I probably should look into getting a new saddle. The flaps were quite short and the seat a tad small. I ended up contacting the Devoucoux rep and told her exactly what I wanted, basically my “old” saddle in a slightly bigger size and also newer.
When I got it I expected it to feel spectacular. What I didn’t realize, however, is that after over 10 years of riding on my old saddle, sometimes daily and multiple horses a day, it had molded to my body. My “new” used saddle wasn’t very used at all (a 2017), and initially I felt uncomfortable. I kept asking every trainer in the barn how it looked and how it fit. I had so much trouble with it because my old saddle was like an old friend, and this was nearly brand new.
Ultimately I kept it, and it has been breaking in wonderfully. I honestly thought I would know immediately that I loved it (and I WANTED to love it immediately, too), but I definitely did not take into account how good and secure my old saddle felt, even though they were the same model. I am happy with my decision, I’ve jumped in my new saddle a couple of times and actually really enjoy it. I wouldn’t have known I wanted to keep it after a week, though, that is for sure. I am thankful Devoucoux had a 30-day trial policy.
I will not buy a saddle that I haven’t ridden in. And I will not buy a saddle that I haven’t tried thoroughly. Some saddles feel fine on the flat but not over fences and since I foxhunt, I want a saddle that feels comfortable for the whole hunt. I haven’t bought a new saddle for a long time for that reason. In my experience, even if you get to ride in a demo saddle, a new saddle might not fit in the same way.
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One of the 2 saddles I’ve been riding in for a while is an older Beval. It’s partly why I’m asking “how do you know” because in the past year I’ve ridden regularly in 3 saddles (until I saw a video of myself in one of the 3 and realized, oooo, my butt really does not fit ) and I can’t say that I notice all that much of a difference from one to another. My Northrun Ashland II is my fave for comfort but I can’t say that I suddenly fall apart when I switch to the Beval LTD. I think the seat is narrower so that makes sense that it’s less comfy for me. (I was trying to see if the horse cared for one saddle over another and also don’t notice any reliable difference.)
Incidentally, after I rode a sale horse in the seller’s saddle a few weeks ago, the next day, the Beval HURT right at the stirrup bars but I didn’t notice anything in the Northrun. I didn’t notice her stirrup bars hurting me the day before, but OUCH for me the next day. Another reason, I guess, to really try for a multi-day trial.
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