I’m looking for a new saddle that’s under $500 and found some Crosby saddles for sale, what do you think of them?
What models/age are you talking about?
One of them was a mark vii spring seat, the person said they bought it nine years ago used so not sure about the age
You’ll need to know more than that for the forum to give you an opinion. A lot of old Crosbys are very out of style, so you would have to find out. They are not bad saddles, but they are not what’s commonly seen today. (No big knee rolls, soft calf-skin leather, etc.). So it depends on what you’re looking for.
well-made, good saddles. They are not the saddles of today which are highly overdone IMO.
I have several Crosbys and I like them. They fit my horses well and they are comfortable to me.
I love my old Crosby Mark VII. I bought it new in 1984. It tends to fit a wide variety of horses and is my go-to for young horse training. It’s no longer my main saddle, though. It was until about a year ago, when I bought a Jeffries Elite.
Crosby had a full line of saddles, from economy to elite. Need to know a lot more to say whether the ones you found are worth their $500 asking price.
We have two top of the line Sovereigns (flat as pancake saddles) bought in mint condition just a few years ago, these retailed for 2K+ in their day, but we got them for $250 and $300.
I ride at a barn with a lot of horses, so you tend to see lots of Crosbys (they’re inexpensive) there in an effort to make sure each horse has a saddle that fits them. Needless to say, I’m not a huge fan in terms of looks but they aren’t horrible to ride in. Most of the ones I’ve ridden in there are pretty flat, light weight, and there isn’t much to them. The one thing I’ve noticed is that they last and don’t wear as quickly as most.
Some of the Crosbys are more in line with today’s style and sensibilities. The XL with padded flaps is a very nice saddle. So is the Sofride.
Loved our old Crosbys. My preferred favorite was the Equilibrium. They fit a lot of different horses well, not at all like today’s highly specialized fits. A nice unstuffed flat saddle had it’s purpose - you had to learn how to hold your position! Showed the judge that too.
[QUOTE=riverinthewoods;8947408]
Needless to say, I’m not a huge fan in terms of looks but they aren’t horrible to ride in. Most of the ones I’ve ridden in there are pretty flat, light weight, and there isn’t much to them. [/QUOTE]
Lol and that’s what I loved most about mine, flat and not much to it. I would still be riding in mine if it fit my horse but it was a bit too narrow. I ended up getting a Passier Wellington because it’s a pretty flat saddle with minimal padding/knee rolls etc.
[QUOTE=M. O’Connor;8947309]
C
We have two top of the line Sovereigns (flat as pancake saddles) bought in mint condition just a few years ago, these retailed for 2K+ in their day, but we got them for $250 and $300.[/QUOTE]
What? I don’t think Sovereigns were still made when $2K was a retail price for any Crosby. They could have been $900 at the end and that was still allotta money, but for a very pretty saddle.
OP, the Mark Whatever will, I think, have a fit that will do better on a modern horse than will most Crosbys. IRC, those had a cutback head plus pretty broad and flat panels. However, most Crosbys will have trees and gullets that are too narrow for the horses we breed today. Imagine the slab-sided TB of the 1960s and you’ll have the shape horse that I think Crosby’s tree designers had in mind.
You may be in luck and have one of their (rare) wide trees. I don’t think I’ve ever seen one in Mark Whatever. Look on the stirrup bar on the near side for an M or a W stamped in the metal. That denotes the width of the tree.
All this said, I have a mid-1980s Crosby AGA Grand Prix whose tree and panels allows it to fit a range of horse shapes remarkably well. I think the Tad Coffin Crosbys have the similar horse-friendly fit.
I really like the geometry of Crosby’s flat, minimalist saddles for riders. Remember that these were built as the British and reasonably-priced answer to the Hermes CC saddle. (IMO the balance in those was even better but the fit even narrower/worse for most horses). And when Crosby really reached the top of its game with the PdN in the 1980s, so did the American style of riding. Heck, you could see the Americans jumping around huge courses and winning at the 1984 games in these flat, no frills saddles.
[QUOTE=mvp;8948430]
However, most Crosbys will have trees and gullets that are too narrow for the horses we breed today. [/QUOTE]
I love OLD flat pancake Crosby saddles except for this. This is a real drawback to any older saddle, including the Crosby PDN, sovereign, and the like 
