PDN Love?

[DMK]

@RugBug

Id be scared to try it in my 1985 saddle. I don’t think the leather would hold up properly. I could feel that way, thought, because I wanted to get zippers put in my lightly worn and lovlingly cared for Dehners and they won’t touch them because they are too old. I know stitching is different than pulling out foam and replacing with wool, but it makes me go eek!

Hah! I hate to break it to you, but Dehners is morally opposed to a) putting zippers in their boots and b) people on their lawns.You got the “too old” excuse. You would have heard another reason if they were new. (Dehner’s opinion on zippers in their boots is the stuff of legend).

That said, I’m thinking if you had a 1985 saddle new panels might not be the worst idea ever, so out with the compressed foam and in with the flocking and new panels.

Now I wouldn’t spend that kind of money on a PdN because (see above) I hated it and I am not fond of padded bucket-y hunt seat saddles that are popular today. But Pancake des Nations? SMH. But if someone else loves their pancake and wants to be nicer to their horse’s back, I’m thinking it will work out fine.

[Jackie_Cochran]

When I finally had enough money to buy a good modern saddle I told the tack store guy that I wanted something that felt like my old Crosby Wide-Front PDN type saddle. He knew exactly what I meant.

I am sure my old Crosby Wide Front is flocked with wool, but then it is 45+ years old. A few years ago I bought a Lynn Palm Crosby Prix des World and its panels are flocked with foam. In many ways the latter is a better designed saddle (a much wider gullet) but I greatly prefer riding in my older Crosby, if I could only find a horse that it would fit nowadays! The Wide-Front Crosby is not very wide at all though it fit my Anglo-Arab just fine back then, as well as my Paso Fino mare and three Arabs I had (using pads when needed).

[RugBug]

@DMK

Hah! I hate to break it to you, but Dehners is morally opposed to a) putting zippers in their boots and b) people on their lawns.You got the “too old” excuse. You would have heard another reason if they were new. (Dehner’s opinion on zippers in their boots is the stuff of legend).

ha! Perhaps i’m the victim of their zipper prejudice.

@DMK

That said, I’m thinking if you had a 1985 saddle new panels might not be the worst idea ever, so out with the compressed foam and in with the flocking and new panels.

Now I wouldn’t spend that kind of money on a PdN because (see above) I hated it and I am not fond of padded bucket-y hunt seat saddles that are popular today. But Pancake des Nations? SMH. But if someone else loves their pancake and wants to be nicer to their horse’s back, I’m thinking it will work out fine.

Oh yes, If I was going to try to keep riding in it, I would definitely get new panels. I had concerns about some of the Tad coffins I looked at…and they are 20 years newer.

Do you know the re-flcoking process? Do they cut a hole and pull out the foam and re-stuff with wool? I had that explained to me once but a fitter and THAT is what I can’t see really working on older leather. But a full new panel? Probably advisable.

I like the flat feel, but did go to the BD Athena. I recently ended up with a CWD and I’m a little about it. It was the quickest/cheapest way to get something that fit the lease horse…so it’s what I have. It’s comfortable, but I can feel my integrity slipping away every time I put my foot in the stirrup. :lol:

[DMK]

I honestly did not pay attention when the foam was replaced with flocking the first time (butet) but it was a newer saddle, but I think it was pulled out/restuffed without taking it apart. But it was a bit overstuffed for sure, so the new panels were a good thing. And now that my memory is nudged, I had the panels replaced on the PdN when it was around 20 yrs old (I assume it was wool since it was circa 70 something)

Also I finally caved and stored the buyer in ma house since I was tied of cleaning a saddle that was ridden in 2x a year. Maybe. But now when I’m not in a kutzmann marathon carriage, I’m in a dressage saddle our circle Y, so bucket seats… I live in the dark side and have embraced it.

[Twisting]

I grew up riding in a PDN. Still have that original saddle. I took some time off from horses to establish myself as an adult and when I got back into it I was so happy that I still had that saddle, and it fit my new horse nicely! I rode in it that first time, and I couldn’t sit down for a week my pelvic bones were so bruised. Now it sits in the guest room as a decoration.

Nope! I could do without the knee blocks, (though as I get older my knees get more vocal about their opinion on riding) but I don’t care to do without memory foam seats anymore.

[Jackie_Cochran]

I noticed in my ancient saddles (35-40+years old) that riding in them can be torture. I think that the linen slings that get the rider’s seat off the tree stretch, then it is pain city.

A fleece seat saver works fine and makes the saddle rideable again, synthetic or real sheepskin, they have both worked for me on my old Stubben Siegfried and my old Crosby Wide Front PDN type saddle. With the seat savers I no longer hurt.

[Equestrian24]

I am pretty much a tack hoarder and have a Crosby Prix des Nations that is probably ~40 years old, a Crosby The Sovereign Prix des Nations 97 that is much newer, but still an older plain flap saddle, a Collegiate Graduate plain flap that’s about 20-25 years old, and 2 Courbette Husars (similar to Stübben Siegfried) that are nearly 40 years old. Love all of them! For the horses I’ve ridden, I’ve always had at least one of these work pretty well, they’re all in pretty good shape (the Sovereign and one of the Husars are both in excellent, nearly pristine condition for their ages), and I usually just use a regular square pad and maybe my Fleeceworks half pad depending on the horse, unless a certain horse needs something extra, then I have a few different half pads/correctional pads to choose from. I haven’t had to reflock or have any foam replaced so far, but I bought all of them second hand (and some haven’t been used much or haven’t been with me for too terribly long) and have no idea what their previous owners had done to them besides new billets on the PDN. My Sovereign was sold to me as wool flocked, but I’m not really sure if it really is or not (it does have slots in the panels and I can feel wool, but they look very foam-like, even, and uniform from the outside, so it might be a combination? My Collegiate is similar and also has some felt in it). Both Courbettes are foam that has held up surprisingly well for its age, and I’m sure my PDN is either foam or some sort of combo.

I’ve only sat in a few newer saddles in tack shops, but don’t care as much for the feel of those, either. My Courbettes and Crosbys/Collegiate are pretty different from each other in that the former have a deep seat and knee and thigh blocks (but pretty minimal compared to today’s saddles) while the latter are completely flat, but I like them both. Between them all, there’s a bit of a variety in fit as well, so I can usually make at least one of these work for whatever I am riding.

I use regular Fillis irons as well. I have used jointed ones in the past (nothing fancy, just some cheap used Metalab ones I got at a consignment shop), but traditional Fillis are my favorites. I use regular leathers as well.

I also love the leather quality found on these saddles as well as the workmanship. Like with strapgoods, it seems like it’s hard to find comparable quality anymore, especially for a reasonably affordable price. I have a bunch of older Crosby tack as well (including some from their XL Excel and Selle Française lines) that I also adore and still use on a regular basis. It holds up beautifully and lasts forever.

[roseymare]

I currently have three Crosby’s in my possession. One is a PDN that I got a great deal on when I worked at a tack shop. It had a deep but repaired scratch in the cantle/seat so no one wanted to show AQ in it. As if you can see it? The other one I need to get a picture of to see if anyone can id it- really for no reason except I want to know. LOL. New circa 1980 or so. All purpose but pretty flat if I remember correctly and pencil rolls. The third is a PDN I picked up for $10 an a weekly non horse consignment auction in NC in the mid 90’s and sold to my friend who rode in it for years. Then her horse got sore- very discrete place on one side. I could drop him to his knees when palpating. So I asked her about what she had been riding in and I discovered that she had taken the PDN to the Amish and he had repaired the billets with a bolt through the tree…funny it was exactly where her horse was tender…

and currently I don’t have a broke horse nor do my friends. And I break easier than I used to.