Opinions on Albion saddles?

[l0cal_trash]

(Not sure if they’re allowed but cross post from the jumper forum since monoflaps are more popular in cross country)

My quest to find a saddle for my shark fin mare continues. On the chopping block currently, Albion. Does anyone have recent experiences/ opinions of them? I’ve seen on some older posts people talking about subpar quality and wondering if that’s still the case.

Some other areas of concern in order of priority: Long tree points, fitting to (very) high and narrow withers, lightweight, monoflap, forward cut with small blocks

[Beam_Me_Up]

I LOVED my (older) Albion Kontact for XC. It cleared several big withers (one horse had a more tall wither, the other more long - 1 shark, 1 camel).

Unfortunately the tree is too long for my horse, and I recently tried a demo K3 and K4 which were both nice (I preferred the K4). I ended up buying a Loxley because I found a used one sooner than either of the Albions.

FWIW I hadn’t heard that Albions were low quality. They wear like iron. I just did a reflock of my dressage saddle (SLK high head) which is probably 20 years old. I do think they are less fashionable than French saddles on the jumping side.

ETA: I also at one point had a Revelation mono jump and really liked that too, though the panel was a big thinner than the Kontact so it couldn’t be flocked up in the same way.

[Texarkana]

I have no idea how old my new to me Albion SLK dressage saddle is, but it was used and abused by previous owners and is still in great shape. Subpar quality has never been my experience with the brand.

[Willesdon]

Albion doesn’t have a poor rep in the UK. British saddles tend to last longer than the French ones because the leather is different.

[steelerino]

I had a Kontrol for 14yrs-ish. Bought it brand new and wore like iron but still looked beautiful when I sold it. I would 100% recommend them. I also had a TB with prominent withers

[sheltona01]

FYI, albion was recently bought by the LIM group. They have been making a lot of changes.

[Bensmom]

I have two Albions, one SLK High Head Dressage, and one K2 Jump that are 20 years old this year. The dressage I sold and then went and bought back, and the K2 Jump is identical to one I ordered in 2004 for the same horse the SLK was bought to fit.

I love them both and they fit me and seem to fit the horse (I am frustrated at the moment because my beloved saddle fitter seems to be ghosting me ) When these were new, I had someone strip flock two others I bought at the same time and the fitter was critical of the flocking, but I understand that has not been an issue in others, and in my case, was corrected in two at the time, and I’ve had the new to me K2 strip flocked since it arrived as it was rock hard.

And I’m not sure that for any wool flocked saddle that was 20 years old that strip flocking wouldn’t be a good idea anyway. But as far as how they have held up – my SLK has been redyed, as the black had seriously faded, but structurally, it is in great shape. The K2 was not well cared for by its previous owner, but with good care and conditioning it is coming around. Structurally, other than needing the strip flock, it was in good shape.

I would not hesitate to purchase an older one, especially if it fits you and the horse, and you have a good fitter to check it out. Also, be aware that their different trees fit differently. For instance the K2 tree fits “wide” so a MW fits like a W, and the SLK runs narrow, so a ExW fits like a Wide. So, for instance, my boy is in a MW K2, and an EW SLK dressage, and they fit the same.

[steelerino]

I can agree the tree fit on the M/W was on the more narrow side compared to my m/w fit Amerigo or my standard tree Voltaire Blue Infinite

[SaddleFitterVA]

Way back, when I was actually SaddleFitterVA, rep’ing Albion saddles, they were known as a quality brand. I stopped selling saddles about 20 years ago, although I recently have started to help a few select, super local, clients fit and order Takt saddles.

But, Albion saddles are very durable. Most of my saddles are still ones that were demo saddles I had from when I was going around doing saddle fittings and selling saddles. I’ve sold a couple and will likely sell a couple of the others, mostly because I don’t have a horse who needs them, and I’m tired of keeping unused saddles cleaned and conditioned, not because there is anything wrong with the 20+ year old saddles. Although, I do need to strip flock a couple of them again. We’ve replaced billets on one.

Personally, I think most of the saddles made in Walsall, England are generally high quality. Whether they are a white label made by one of the bigger saddle manufacturers, (N2, Takt, etc) or the brand name itself (County, Albion, Frank Baines, etc).

It will be interesting to see how it changes the industry if private equity comes in and starts taking over the bigger ones, as that’s what it looks like is happening if the above report of Albion being bought by the LIM group is true.

[SimonSays]

We have an Albion Ultima SLK dressage saddle but for the opposite type of horse- he’s a thick cobby type. We’ve had it for about 10 years now and it was used when we bought it. It wears like iron, nice quality, wool flocked so it can be adjusted. I’d buy another in a heartbeat.