Hi! So I’m looking to buy my first ever saddle and I’ve looked all over the place and managed to find this Royal Highness Equestrian (brand) Royal Heritage Eve jumping saddle. I just trialed it and I liked how I sat in it while flating but jumping was a bit rough, I’m thinking because I wasn’t used to the saddle yet and it is also brand new (I was the first to ride in it). I want to know if anyone else has owned a Royal Highness saddle before and does it last? Also, if I should keep looking at saddles or buy it?
Here is a link to the brands website as I know it isn’t too well known:
http://rhcequestrian.com/
https://www.al-bar.com/Royal-Highness-Hannah-Double-Leather-Close-Contact-Saddle-17
This brand? Is it a super cheap jump saddle like this? I have never heard of the brand but honestly I wouldn’t buy a new $700 English saddle when you can get an older model of a quality brand like Passier County or Stubben for under $1000.
As far as why you can’t jump in it, not knowing how you ride I really couldn’t say.
If it’s a super cheap saddle odds are it isn’t that well balanced and doesn’t fit you or the horse.
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Usually people buy a saddle with fitting their horse as the top priority. Have you had a professional saddle fitter evaluate this saddle on your horse?
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What are you looking for, saddle wise? All purpose, jumping, etc?
In general, you’d be far better off buying something used from a well known brand that has a proven track record of holding up and being well made.
It’s possible that that could be a perfectly decent saddle, but based on the general look of that website I highly suspect it’s a Craptackistan knockoff of a “nice” brand.
Some things to look at before you decide:
-Bend the leather. Do you see cracks in the finish/color? Cheaply tanned leather is painted rather than dyed, because it is cheaper and it covers up imperfections in less than perfect hides. This makes it look decent visually, but it’ll never pick up oil and become soft and pliable like drum-dyed leather will.
-Look at the panels and squish them. Do they feel smoothly packed? Do they look oddly puckered or seem over stuffed? Many sketchy saddles are flocked with random fluff that balls up when pressure is applied. I’ve noticed they also have a kind of stretched appearance, as they typically use very thin leather and don’t properly block it to accept flocking.
-Look down the seat from the cantle at eye level. Is everything symmetrical? Knockoff saddle makers are notorious for using shoddy trees that are sometimes made of horrifying materials like plywood, etc. I know, saying “horrifying” sounds very dramatic, but the tree is literally the backbone of the saddle and everything else relies on its integrity. I’ve broken a stirrup leather and it was terrible, so the thought of my stirrup bar being secured to a glorified hunk of sawdust is very worrisome to say the least. Not to mention the effect a warped tree can have on the horse’s back
The price of the one in your link is significantly higher than most sketchy imports, so it may very well be decent. In that case, the main issue is the lack of name recognition if you ever decide to sell it. I actually own a saddle by a brand I’ve never heard of (Thoroughbred) and it’s solid as the day is long, but because it’s not a well known brand here, I’ve had a hard time selling it. If it was a Stubben of the same age, it would likely be a different story (because people know an older Stubben would easily survive a nuclear war along with cockroaches and Dehner boots, lol).
This link gives a good look at what might be lurking under the leather of iffy saddles: https://forums.horseandhound.co.uk/threads/update-on-badly-made-english-saddles.591841/
If you decide to look elsewhere, feel free to pm me if you’d like some shopping help. I’ve only recently found my personal saddle unicorn after 4 years of aggressively shopping for one I could afford, so I might be able to point you to something that would work. And welcome! 
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I bought my first saddle without any professional guidance and I regret it to this day. In hindsight, I acknowledge it didn’t fit the horse AT ALL. He became terribly backsore and ultimately a bad, bad stopper. That poor animal. Why nobody put this together? Who the hell knows. I was a kid, my trainers weren’t great, and it was a different era. We didn’t know then what we know now about saddle fit.
Please, please learn from my mistake. Get someone knowledgeable to help you. There is a saddle fitter in my area who will come do fittings for $150. I bet there’s one near you, too. Money well spent!!!
As for cheap saddles, just don’t. They suck for horse and rider. Take a small step up to the Toulouse, Henri di Revel, or Pessoa and you’ll be glad. If you take care of them, they last forever. Plus these recognizable brand names have better resale value. So think of it as a smart investment.
Do you own your own horse? Or are you just buying a saddle to use in lessons/leases/etc?
If you own, please take everyone’s advice above and get a saddle fitter to fit a saddle to both you and your horse properly. It’s a very worthwhile investment that will save you time and money in the long run.
If you’re just shopping for a saddle for “you” that you can use on different horses, then I would second/third/fourth the advice to steer away from “cheap” saddles like the one you’re looking at. Frankly, I don’t think $750 is a small amount of money to plunk down, and that saddle doesn’t look like it’ll be comfortable, well fitting, or wear well over the long run. You can buy a good quality used Crosby, Beval, Collegiate, or Pessoa (just to name a few good quality mid-range brands) for that much or really, even way less. I mean, I bought a “beater” Crosby Centennial that had a ripped-with-ugly-repair seat seam tear from all of $150 to fit by horse in a pinch when I needed a short term fix. It’s a pretty comfy, secure saddle with nice soft leather, still fits my horse, and now I’m finding myself riding in it more often than not. You can’t see the ugly seat repair when you’re sitting in it anyway. :lol:
But really, for $500 or so you’ll have your pick of good used saddles, likely in great condition. No reason to buy a cheap off-name knockoff.
To answer all your questions, I am a hunter/jumper and plan on competing hunters in college. I do not own a horse and I only lesson right now that’s why I was leaning towards an adjustable tree (or in this case interchangeable gullets). I was getting mixed signals about an M. Toulouse as my instructor loves them but an older friend of my sister has had one that is practically falling apart. I normally ride in an M Toulouse, provided by the barn, but when I went looking on ebay and at my local tack store that saddle that i just trailed was the only one I could find that was in my price range, 18", and had an adjustable tree/ interchangeable gullet. My mom wont approve of the saddle(allowing me to buy it) if it doesn’t have an adjustable tree/ interchangeable gullet. I’m also nervous about buying a saddle online that I can’t trial because I have only ever ridden in the M Toulouse (I believe the saddle name is Annice).
Don’t buy a saddle now.
The interchangeable gullets are just part of the fitting process and the curve and drop and rise of the saddle are equally important. There is no point buying a cheap piece of crap that doesn’t fit you and likely won’t fit any horse you put it on. If you have a nonhorsey parent in the mix trying to get you to buy bargain basement rubbish to save cash it’s hopeless.
Any horse you take lessons on or lease or ride in a college program will have its own saddle that will fit the horse OK and be fine for you
You don’t need a saddle yet and you especially don’t need a piece of crap with no resale value.
You don’t have enough experience to choose a quality saddle or even distinguish problems in saddle fit from your own riding limitations. You are not free to hire a saddle fitter and make your own choices. You don’t need a saddle now. Odds are they’d never let you put this cheapo saddle on a college program horse anyhow. Wasted money.
I understand where you are coming from but the whole reason I’m looking for a saddle is so I don’t get stuck using a saddle that doesn’t fit me as well. At the barn I lesson at, most of the horses have their own saddles but they are all different sizes and types. Most of the saddles I don’t even fit in correctly and makes it extremely uncomfortable to ride in, especially jump. I don’t want to go to college and start competing on different horses with different saddles that are going to be too small or I don’t sit in correctly, causing me to ride uncomfortably.
Also, I have gotten multiple professional opinions (including my instructor) about this saddle. My instructor told me to look up reviews on this brand as she had never heard of it but I unfortunately couldn’t find any, that is why I started this thread. I also just wanted to make sure I was making the right choice because I unfortunately have parents who have no clue what they are doing in the horse world.
Just because a saddle has an exchangeable gullet does not mean it will fit the horse. (I have tried multiple kinds on my horse and have yet to find one that fits him)
The issue with riding lesson horses means you have to ride in a saddle that fits the horse and not meant to fit both of you. Going off to college should be the same way (if the owner actually cares about the horses). It’s much more important for the saddle to fit the horse instead of the rider.
I personally would not look at any saddle that is brand new under $1,000. This is coming from someone who has never paid over $800 for a saddle. There are so many saddles that are great that you can buy used for under $1,000.
This is not the saddle that is going to fit you better than the lesson saddles.
Don’t worry about college now. You can buy a saddle in consultation with your instructor there.
I ride two horses and I have to use different saddles on each. Very rare a saddle will fit two horses.
Rather than get this no name saddle new if you want a saddle with changeable gullets on a budget you’d be better with a used thoroughgood or Pessoa.
In any case even if this lesson barn lets you put random saddles on their horses, there is no guarantee that you’ll be allowed to do so in the college program.
Honestly none of the lesson programs I’ve known have let students bring their own random saddles. Too much risk for the horses back.
Running a lesson barn and previously a college riding program, we do not/did not let riders bring their own saddles. We’ve had to convince many riders your age over the years that it does not make sense to invest in a saddle without a specific horse in mind. That said, the most versatile saddle in my barn for a range of horses is an older Pessoa. It still can’t be used on all horses in the barn, though.
That is not a saddle I would encourage anyone to purchase. Generally speaking, you should not be purchasing a new saddle on that budget. There isn’t much quality to be had. You should be looking at older used saddles if you want to own something. If you have nothing local, check out websites like usedsaddles com that allow a one week trial after they ship the saddle to you.
That said, I would encourage you to wait. My IHSA barn in college did not allow anyone to bring their own saddle, and at shows you are required to ride in the saddle that is on the horse (as is everyone who draws that horse that day). If your feet are tiny/extra wide, or your legs are extra short/long, you can ask for special permission to change the stirrups and leathers on the saddle (but you can’t change the saddle).
