I have seen a few saddle shops over the years that do back tracings of horses and try to find a good fit that way. Does anyone recommend a saddle shop that does it with used saddles? I seem to be on a wild goose chase and before I pay the fitter to come assess I’d like to stack the deck in my favor.
Try Highlinetack.com or Finelinetack.com, both the same shop but one is for their high end saddles and the latter the lower costing saddles. Great shop to work with, I’ve bought a couple saddles from them.
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I send a nice Devoucoux to Pelham to sell, and after that there was no communication from them. I had just about written off the saddle when a check arrived in the mail for the agreed on selling price.
This process took over three years!
There’s no telling whether the saddle sat on a rack all that time, or was going out and coming back from multiple tryouts. Return shipping of saddles can add up if you don’t get lucky with the first ones you get sent on trial.
Yikes! I have a fairly new Antares that I plan to trade, would not be happy with that situation.
I’d recommend them too. I recently trialed a few after a friend recommended them. They were very easy to work with and provided solid recommendations. All the saddles I tried arrived in pristine condition, exactly as described.
Trial fees do stack up though. I ultimately decided to bite the bullet and get a fitter out before trying more online, and ended up sourcing the winning saddle through her.
Welcome to saddle hell. Once upon a time when I was seeking a saddle to fit my Friesian I drove 100 miles to a saddle shop that had lots of saddles. I bought 6 of their widest saddles with a credit card. None fit the wide body that belonged to my beloved Friesian. I returned them the following day. In the ensuing years I learned how to fit saddles and ascertain what would work and what wouldn’t.
And, oh, the horror stories about custom made saddles that the horse hates.
Flat back? Banana shaped back? Full withers? Narrow withers? Then, wide or narrow twist for the rider?
Good luck.
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It’s really a nightmare. He has a curvy back, very prominent withers, a higher than usual shoulder, and a relatively short back in comparison to his 16.3hh frame. I bought a saddle from a rep, who seemed more educated than most, despite my feelings towards saddle reps (nothing wrong with them, just their motivations lie in selling their brand, not finding a perfect fit). Had an independent saddle sitter and body worker also tell me it was a good fit. Spoiler alert: it is not a good fit
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If you’re lucky, find a saddle shop near you and buy a few saddles on a credit card. Unless the horse is shaped more like a fish, start with medium trees. The bars of the tree should be in line with the shoulder; you should be able to get a couple of fingers between the pommel and withers; as the saddle sits on the horse’s back it shouldn’t rock (as in, you shouldn’t be able to hold pommel & cantle and rock the saddle back and forth) and it shouldn’t bridge (as in having too much empty space on the horse’s back between pommel & cantle). Stand back and see if the saddle looks balanced-- front to back. Look at a friend’s horse w/saddle that fits the horse perfectly and it should give you an idea of what it looks like to see a balanced saddle.
Saddle fitting is black magic.
P.S. The “old guys” used to say Stubbens fit everything. And they rode TBs a lot. Maybe you should find an old Stubben to try out. I have had a couple of TBs and yeah, Stubbens fit them.
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I came across this interesting to me discussion of basics of saddle fit. It is based on the U.S. Army Cavalry McClellan saddles. Cavalry horses carried a lot of gear and weaponry in addition to the riders, and covered very long distances of a hundred miles or more.
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My experience with Pelham saddlery has been very positive. I bought a saddle from them last year. It was a manufacturer’s demo (being sold as used) and it was exactly as described. They also provide extensive pictures and videos of their used saddles.
I then sold my older saddle through them, and it sold in less than two months. And this was not a “hot” saddle. I think anytime you’re selling a used saddle, there’s just a lot of luck involved. A previous saddle of mine I sent to be sold through consignment (elsewhere, not at Pelham), and it took over a year and I took a slightly lower price to get the saddle sold.
And then with a third saddle that I sold through a third consignment (in a store that no longer exists), the saddle sold almost immediately and for more than I had originally paid for the saddle when I’d bought it used.
So, buying a used saddle I’ve found to be a whole lot easier and more straightforward than selling, which is more of a crapshoot.
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I do not know how my daughter bought her “used” custom made dressage saddle from a private seller in Great Britain. Between the two messaging back and forth various measurements of horse here and saddle across the pond when it arrived here the daughter’s saddle fitter said the saddle had never been used and fit daughter’s horse as if it had been made specially for it.
Risk was worth the effort as daughter paid about a fifth of the cost of having a saddle custom made (shipping from England was $158, arrived in eight days)
So remote buying can work, but have a secondary plan if things do not mesh. She was going to sell the saddle on the open market here if there was a misfit.
I wonder if this is something that Double Oak Tack (https://www.dfwtackexchange.com/) could help with.
She has a large inventory of used saddles that comes through, but she’s also a rep for Renaissance Saddles. Between her experience and that training, I would think she could give a fairly solid recommendation - and since she benefits no matter the brand, I feel like she is more unbiased than a single brand rep saddle.
If you’re open to trying newer saddle tech I’d suggest looking at the EQ Saddle Science saddles. Carmi is amazing to work with and their saddles can be adjusted as muscling changes. I have a Friesian I bought as a weanling who has ended up with a back that looks like a propane tank. The whither tracing looks like a rainbow. And Carmi managed to find me a saddle that was wide enough for her and narrow enough for me.
Goldfinch Fine Tack. The owner is actually a saddle fitter so can help you a lot off photos or tracings.
That’s why I have sold a couple of saddles directly to the consignment shop, less money but you are paid right away and don’t have to worry about it going back and forth on trials. Why didn’t you ask for the saddle back if it was taking so long to sell? Being three years older when it sold cost you a lot of money too.
