I was perusing the consignment saddles at the local tack store the other day and found this saddle–it’s obviously older–my guess is 1980’s or so. It’s brown (bonus!), fairly shallow seat, plain flap, pencil knee roll. The seat is kind of tapered at the back, like a close contact jumping saddle, but rounded at the cantle, like an AP or dressage saddle…pretty old school. Sat on it on the dummy and presto! Fit me much better than my current Schleese, which is too big (I lost a lot of weight recently) and puts me in a chair seat. In this one, my leg is underneath me and I’m not swimming.
It’s got the harder seat that older saddles do, but that doesn’t bother me; so does my cc. The panels are not as squishy as my Schleese (which is flocked, not flair) but are not misshapen or anything. They appear to be wool flocked, not foam, but I could be wrong. I took it on trial, and it fits my horse well. It’s not the custom fit of the Schleese, but it looks like it actually sits better on his back, so…
Anyway, the price tag was…$50. There’s no damage to the tree that I can see or feel, the stitching is all in great shape. The tag says Made in England for Blue Ribbon Leather Company Shelbyville, Tenn.
All I can find on the company online is that they also made cutback saddles for saddle seat that were considered quite good, and saw a few old cc/AP style saddles for sale. There were also some ads with people looking for old ones. From looking at it, it’s probably a medium quality saddle…the leather reminds me of the old Crosbys and it’s better than the Argentine saddles of the same age.
Does anyone know anything about this brand or their dressage models? Is it worth my $50?