Hi all, first post! I’ve been lurking for a while but there were issues with my account so I was unable to post, but here I am now! I recently bought a (now) 5yo mare off the track and I’ve been looking to get a Jump Saddle. At my local area’s meeting, a few reps were there with some PH saddles. They were the first saddle I sat in and truly felt balanced in, and their fully adjustable anatomical tree intrigues me. I can’t find many un-biased reviews of them, has anyone ridden in one/bought one?
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I haven’t got one (not very helpful I know) but I only hear good things about them and one of my trainers (GP dressage rider) has one and loves it. I’m tossing up between a Peter Horobin and a Deavoucoux dressage saddle. I’m in NZ so they’re fairly well known here and especially in Australia.
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I’ve never seen the jump or dressage saddles in person, but the race saddles are beautifully made and seem to sit nicely on horses.
Bumping this back up because I just had the local Peter Horobin rep come out with a bunch of saddles.
At this point I’ve only ridden 5 horses and on one day in the saddle, but I freaking LOVE it! Totally blown away by how happy my horses felt and how round they jumped. I’m a County person and have been for decades. I’m always surprised by how fussy my horses are in other saddles. This is the first saddle I’ve ever tried that my horses loved and I loved just as much.
Huge huge thumbs up at the one day point. The rep left a saddle for me to ride in for the next week or so…very interested to see if I continue to be as impressed. Also love the configurability of the flaps/blocks. I’ve had all of my Counties made with velcro patches in place of sewn-in blocks so I can customize knee and thigh blocks as I want, and I love that that’s the way these saddles come.
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Which saddle do you have? I currently ride in a County Conquest 17.5" and a County Solution 18" (it has a Conquest flap). I foxhunt and like a high forward flap to accommodate a shorter stirrup length.
Which PH or which Counties?
For Counties I have 2 Sensations, an Innovation, and a Stabilizer. The PH is the jumping saddle.
I’m glad you answered for both of them. The different model of Counties have different shaped trees? If so, have you found the PH to fit your different shaped horses?
The PH saddle seems to fit a much broader range of horses than my Counties. Of my Sensations, one has an Innovation tree and one has a Sensation tree. I ride in those two saddles on all of my horses (at the moment). The two saddles don’t fit all of the horses. They seems to either fit in one or the other, despite the fact that all (except one) have roughly the same withers and general width. But the PH saddle sits on them all beautifully. The rep explained that it was because the tree points are so much further back (in line with the stirrup bars rather than up toward the front of the saddle). And I have found that it really does seem to make a big difference.
I’ve now ridden 7 horses in the saddle for 2-3 days, and I like the saddle even more now than I did on day one. And the fact that you can change the tree width at will is such a huge advantage for the life span of a saddle.
Of my 7 horses: I’ve noticed an improvement of jumping technique (on horses who I didn’t think “needed” improvement) on 4 of my horses, and no difference on 3 of them. Interestingly, I have 2 horses who have always been one-sided over the jumps (meaning they want to lean toward one side or another and tend to jump with uneven knees - always toward the stiff side). They both have shown willingness to jump straighter and with more “effort” with the lower knee. Makes me wonder if the real story is that they were hitting the tree points of my other (customized-to-them) saddles.
Having said that, I’m still skeptical about the moved tree points. I feel like there has to be a reason other saddlers haven’t moved to that shape. And I’m not sure it’s a totally fair test to compare my Counties to this saddle because one of the Counties is in desperate need of my saddle fitter to reflock the now-compressed flocking that’s making it fit a little “looser.”
But one of the improvements has been in my Grand Prix horse, and he’s not one that I expected to feel anything different with. And I know for a fact that his County fits him very well. I went into this trial not expecting much, and I’m super surprised by how much I like the PH saddle!
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@PNWjumper wow! I know you’re a huge County fan too, so PH should consider this a huge endorsement. Will you keep us updated, down the road? I was not familiar with this brand until this thread.
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I really wish they had an East Coast rep. It just isn’t feasible to try/test.
There is a rep in PA, Carol Darlington. She travels a fairly wide area.
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As far South as central, Va?
@jawa I think so. She definitely has clients in NoVA, and I think she makes the trip down to Virginia Beach sometimes. It doesn’t hurt to ask. (I have worked with her for some training help, but have not tried a Horobin from her.)
Website:
http://www.classicalfoundationhorsemanship.com/services.html
@PNWjumper I really need to check my notifications more, thank you for the feedback! I live in the same area so I’m quite sure we both went through the same fitter 
I’m super excited for my saddle to get to me, and I’m really happy the word is spreading!
Well, color me intrigued! I will have to check these saddles out.
No updates from me. I kept my demo saddle for a month and LOVED LOVED LOVED it! But I don’t have $5k to put toward a saddle right now, so I’m out of luck until I come up with some extra money. I can say this for certain…I get a few extra dollars I am, without a doubt, buying one. Absolutely incredible difference on several of my horses. And I don’t say that lightly!
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Thanks for the feedback - it’s definitely on my list to try
Who is the rep for the PNW? I would be interested finding out more about these saddles!
thanks
Hannah Knaebel: https://www.facebook.com/Topline-Sport-Horse-362755373838117/
She is an incredible horsewoman I’ve known for years and years. She’s the only reason I tried the saddles in the first place (since I’ve always been pretty darn happy with my Counties).
