Newbie to purchasing western tack help!

[MLK1]

Hi, I am looking at a paint who has been ridden primarily western and as an English rider my whole life I am interested in getting some western tack to trail ride him ect… While I am well versed in English tack and brands, fit to both rider and horse, I have not a clue about fit to horse and rider and good quality brand names for tack for western riding. Any knowledge and instruction would be wonderful, I have watched a few youtube videos but I still feel like I have a lot to learn as saddle fitting is critical to a comfortable horse and rider.

Thanks!

[La_Gringa]

Tip one… buy quality … if you can’t afford new… find some previously owned quality tack. I made the mistake on going cheap on some stuff and I ended up replacing it pretty fast.

Saddle fit I a little trickier… the saddles have a lot to them, and not always easy to fit either horse or rider I have found. Sit in a ton of them and be sure what you buy fits the horse… There is a much bigger difference in how they fit than English tack.

Bits are a whole other topic. Stay simple if you can… I don’t fully understand all the western bits yet myself.

For trails you have so many options! The thing I love are the saddle bags and place to tie stuff…a jacket/blanket etc

Brands… there are so many… just stick with quality… maybe go to the local tack shop and talk with someone there that really knows…

[KBC]

@La Gringa;7648446

Tip one… buy quality … if you can’t afford new… find some previously owned quality tack. I made the mistake on going cheap on some stuff and I ended up replacing it pretty fast.

THis, many times over…avoid anything that is sold as a package, if new, avoid anything that looks to ‘shiny’

There are many many great brands out there, too many to list, but reading around you will soon see the same names being mentioned. As to fitting, I hadn;t thought about it so much until a chat with our back person. ‘English’ horses have developed over 1000’s of years for many different disciplines, so the types of horse and the shapes of back are widely varied. The Western horse had developed over a couple of hundred years for a quite narrow purpose. There have only been a few western trees made, and they kind of fit everyone. Now people are breeding different types, it is a bit more challenging.

If you are new to it, hands on help is definitely the best.

[NoSuchPerson]

Have you ridden much in a western saddle? Do you know that you’re going to like it? If not, you might want to take some test rides before you buy, if that’s at all possible. I ride both hunt seat and western and my most comfortable English saddle is more comfortable to me than my most comfortable western saddle, and my Aussie saddle is the most comfortable of all, and is my preferred trail saddle.

The Horse Saddle Shop web site has quite a bit of information on western saddles and saddle fitting:

http://www.horsesaddleshop.com/western-saddle-guide.html#.U7QvgfldXtY

As far as brands go, click on “What’s in a name?” at the bottom of that page for info on the main brands they carry. The stuff you see at that web site falls into the low- to mid-range in terms of price.

I haven’t mentioned any of the higher-end brands, but I’m sure others will chime in with those recommendations.

I own a cheapo Wintec western that I bought for use in saddling and ground work with a young, large mule because I wanted something really light that I could throw on the ground without cringing. It actually fits him quite well and is a pretty comfortable ride. I also own a custom saddle from Double H Ranch Saddle Shop that I love. Love. Still run my hand over it and caress it every time I walk past it in the tack shed.

[Ambitious_Kate]

If your interest is trail, you may also want to look at endurance saddles and austrailian saddles - they have more structure than the english saddles, which is what you want, but you may not need all the horn and skirting. Or you may, upon research, but you may really be glad you checked out some of the long distance endurance style saddles. I’ll see if I can get some links.

For example, and I don’t know if Tucker is a good brand or not, could be awful, but on this site you can see some examples of the many different styles of saddles beyond just “western”

“trail” - http://www.horsesaddleshop.com/tucker-trail-saddles.html

“endurance” http://www.horsesaddleshop.com/ensad.html

“work and ranch” http://www.horsesaddleshop.com/all-around-saddles.html

Just in case you wanted to think about other styles. I dunno.

[Wellspotted]

I love trail riding in an English saddle. Especially nice when you have to lean over the horse’s neck going under low tree limbs – no saddle horn in your stomach/chest! And handy too when you come to logs/water to jump over. Also if you have to dismount and then mount again without a log/rock to stand on, you can let your stirrup down to mount.

I also love my Big Horn synthetic western saddle because the horn is handy for hanging things on, but you can use the dees if your English saddle has them.

Good western brands: Circle Y, Billy Cook (make sure it’s a real Billy Cook and not a knockoff), Reinsman. Like other posters have suggested, try borrowing one before buying to make sure you like western. You certainly don’t need to go western to go trail riding!

[SuckerForHorses]

Unless you’re planning on showing western, just trail ride in your English saddle.

[pook]

Buy the best saddle pad/blanket that you can possibily afford. It is an investment that will last YEARS. I suggest looking at TheAlpacaHorse.com.
All my horses are underneath them and I have not had to call a vet,masseuse, chiro since I started to ride with them 2 years ago.

[MLK1]

Thanks everyone for the great advice. I have ridden my friends horse in a western wintec but it made my butt sore after I got off. I have ridden extensively in an English saddle on trails but I find on long trail rides they get uncomfortable. I really like the secure feeling of a western saddle and find you can relax your body more which is nice on a long ride.

[imaginique]

I second the recommendation for horse saddle shop. They are very helpful and have LOTS of information on their site. They also have templates you can download to see what size tree you need.

[craz4crtrs]

The templates are great to give you an idea of what will fit your horse, but taking him to a saddle shop and trying on lots of saddles, sitting in lots of saddles, is really important.

Someone somewhere said that fitting an English saddle is easier, it really isn’t. You still have to have a wide enough channel vs gullet, the angle of the shoulders is so important. If you have a horse with round shoulders, both english and western can be tough to fit.

Start with the template. Follow instructions to figure out how to do a template of your horses back, especially right behind the shoulder. The best way is using a flexible curve that you can buy at a hobby store or off of Amazon. Works much better than a coat hanger or wire. Same way english fitters do. Then put that tracing on card stock or a file folder and compare it to different saddles for the correct angle.

Do you have pictures of this horse? What type of saddle fits him with his prior owners?

Good luck and we want to see pictures.

Or and for what its worth, I have had both an endurance saddle and an Aussie. Nothing is more comfortable than the right western saddle for long rides. Not even my extremely comfortable dressage saddle. Especially on hills etc. But sit in those too.

[MLK1]

I am hopefully going to see him this weekend pending the hurricane out here :eek: he is 15.1 paint dun. Much different from my 16.1 Dutch warmblood! :winkgrin: I will get some pics and post next week thanks everyone for all the super advice.