I found this saddle for sale for $200. What are your opinions on it? Do you think it’s worth buying just for a schooling saddle? Hopefully the picture i attached works.
With a saddle that cheap you’ll need to get the tree looked at to make sure it is sound. If so, you’re getting a great deal.
Be sure to check billets and panels as well before you purchase. If billets need replacing or panels need reflocking it adds up…not to mention getting the tree checked out for balance and soundness like Manahmanah mentioned.
thank you! will definitely do that if I decide to purchase 
. still on the fence about it but have read good things about Passiers in general
Check the channel underneath to see if it’s narrow. If you have a horse with a wide spine, then you might want to look for something with a wider channel. Standard is 3-4 fingers wide from front to back.
What the others said. I LOVE the old Passiers. Wish I’d never sold mine 12 years ago. 
I have this saddle in my basement! it was my first saddle for my first horse, and it was old when I bought it in the mid-90’s. The reason it’s only $200 is that nobody wants these any more - they don’t have any of the new features, like a wider channel or thigh blocks or anything people expect to see. They feel really odd if you’re used to the newer style of big, black dressage saddle. That said, they feel like silk underwear - there is very little between you and the horse, nothing to keep your leg in place (other than self-discipline!), nothing to help you sit the trot besides your own core strength and correct position. It’s humbling. The stirrup bars on many of these are more forward (mine came with little bits of plastic to keep the leathers toward the open end). The trees can be adjusted fairly easily, so don’t assume that the width is the same as might be stamped on it someplace - it’s likely that it’s been adjusted, and/or reflocked, at least once. Mine slid forward horribly on my horse, through no fault of the saddle, but I want to say there wasn’t anything about it to keep it back, either, if that makes sense.
Bottom line: you won’t be able to resell it, so it’s a $200 gamble that you’ll like it and use it.
Sid: want mine?
I love the older saddles, as long as they fit the horse. They are awesome for helping riders find their weaknesses in their position and then knowing when it’s fixed. The bulky saddles of today, with the big thigh blocks, are helpful on uber movers, but honestly, you can’t always tell if you’re crooked, etc. They don’t fix crookedness, but rather they mask it sometimes. I think the old ones are great educators for the rider. With that said, if it doesn’t fit your horse, forget it.
There are a set of riders out there that love the old, old Passiers, including my coach, so I’ve seen quite a few, and sat in some of them. Your saddle appears to have some knee rolls; the really old ones do not, they are pancake flat. I just didn’t feel secure enough in those to want to buy one, but ended up with a 2001 Passier that was as-new shopworn.
If you like a minimal saddle, you will like this Passier. People feel well balanced in them, if they are balanced riders and haven’t gotten too used to the big rolls and blocks and bucket seats of the current models.
IME, these old Passiers wear and last forever, and while they don’t fit every horse, they do fit many horses well. The trees/gullets are not easily adjustable, though someone down the line could have put the saddle in a press and torqued it a bit to alter the width slightly (like the Schleese people do these days).
You do want to check that the tree has not been broken through some kind of accident, but that is true of every single saddle you buy. An as-new current model could have been smashed up if the horse fell or rolled.
As far as flocking, the Passiers are wool flocked and can be reflocked. Get it reflocked! One of the problems with saddles this old and cheap, is that for the past ten years, its owners/users have no doubt been saying “I can’t see spending $200 to reflock a saddle that is barely worth that.” So they ride around forever on rock-hard stuffing that also doesn’t fit the horse in question.
If you buy it, get it reflocked by a good local saddle fitter who will measure your horse, etc. and can also fix anything dubious like billets, etc.
That’s not true. There are two master saddlers in the US that are approved by Passier to replace the gullet head part of Passier trees, so the saddle can be made wider. I’ve never heard of one being able to be pulled or pressed wider. The old ones have been landed on by horses and the tree breaks, but not the head/gullet plate.
I used to have this saddle. They wear like iron, but the seat was hard from beginning unlike newer saddles. It fits narrower TB-type horses great, but mine sat with a backward tilt on horses with big wide shoulders…eg., mutton chops.
So besides the previous suggestions about checking the tree, I would look to see if the saddle sits level and properly balanced on your horse. It will probably put you into a more “chair seat” position than the newer saddles.
[QUOTE=Velvet;8915934]
That’s not true. There are two master saddlers in the US that are approved by Passier to replace the gullet head part of Passier trees, so the saddle can be made wider. I’ve never heard of one being able to be pulled or pressed wider. The old ones have been landed on by horses and the tree breaks, but not the head/gullet plate.[/QUOTE]
Of course the saddle can be taken apart, and the gullet plate replaced, presumably on any saddle where the wooden tree had enough integrity to survive the operation, but that is not usual practice in fitting saddles, and is not in general a cost-effective way to fit saddles. My comments were meant to clarify a previous poster who said:
“The trees can be adjusted fairly easily, so don’t assume that the width is the same as might be stamped on it someplace - it’s likely that it’s been adjusted, and/or reflocked, at least once.”
Taking the saddle apart down to the tree and replacing the gullet plate does not, IMO, count as being “adjusted fairly easily.” Some fitters do put Passiers, as well as Schleeses, into gullet presses, to achieve incremental adjustments. But as people suggested on one of the Schleese threads, this does stress the tree and it may not keep true to multiple adjustments (Joachin Schleese trained with Passier).
Neither the Passier nor the Schleese are “easily adjustable” in the withers like a Pessoa or Wintec or Thorouggood with interchangeable gullet plates.
On the other hand, adjusting the flocking is straightforward enough, but it doesn’t affect the width of the tree.
OP, In the picture I saw there is a light spot where the seat joins the flap. Look close at that. Is it just dry or is it about to wear thru? Looks like the latter with a magnifying glass but photos can be deceiving.
[QUOTE=Scribbler;8916389]
Of course the saddle can be taken apart, and the gullet plate replaced, presumably on any saddle where the wooden tree had enough integrity to survive the operation, but that is not usual practice in fitting saddles, and is not in general a cost-effective way to fit saddles. My comments were meant to clarify a previous poster who said:
“The trees can be adjusted fairly easily, so don’t assume that the width is the same as might be stamped on it someplace - it’s likely that it’s been adjusted, and/or reflocked, at least once.”
Taking the saddle apart down to the tree and replacing the gullet plate does not, IMO, count as being “adjusted fairly easily.” Some fitters do put Passiers, as well as Schleeses, into gullet presses, to achieve incremental adjustments. But as people suggested on one of the Schleese threads, this does stress the tree and it may not keep true to multiple adjustments (Joachin Schleese trained with Passier).
Neither the Passier nor the Schleese are “easily adjustable” in the withers like a Pessoa or Wintec or Thorouggood with interchangeable gullet plates.
On the other hand, adjusting the flocking is straightforward enough, but it doesn’t affect the width of the tree.[/QUOTE]
I would NEVER trust one that had been pressed! Cracke metal, metal fatigue, etc. That’s a bad practice. Having a qualified master saddler change it out, reflock, etc., is not that much more and is 100% better. Schleese is not doing it right.
[QUOTE=Velvet;8917444]
I would NEVER trust one that had been pressed! Cracke metal, metal fatigue, etc. That’s a bad practice. Having a qualified master saddler change it out, reflock, etc., is not that much more and is 100% better. Schleese is not doing it right.[/QUOTE]
I agree. But it is what Schleese does these days.
