I cannot for the life of me find truly helpful feedback on the general construction/quality of the Premier Equine jump saddles. From spending way to much time staring at the photos provided on their website, it seems like their newer leather ones offer great wither clearance and maybe longer tree points? They are a ridiculously good price and i am very tempted to give them a shot since I have zero trust in Stubben/Passier anymore and not really sure where else to turn for optimal wither clearance for my ottb Any and all feedback on this brand/saddles is greatly appreciated!
Never heard of them, but the website makes it clear they are budget saddles with synthetic flocking and interchangeable gullet. They don’t appear to go through a fitter rep sales process so you’d be on your own assessing the panel.fit, rocker curve and drop. Of course you always have to double check with a sales hungry rep fitter too!
Wither clearance is actually a function of width of wither gullet especially if a horse has atrophied “moose” withers like many TB. Wither clearance is achieved when the gullet can’t slide down and contact the wither spine. A shim pad can be very very useful especially for a horse with atrophied wither muscles you are trying to rehab.
I personally would always buy a second hand quality saddle with input from my independent saddle fitter, over a new budget saddle. Passover and County work for my horse with appropriate tweaks to the flocking.
Obviously there’s a niche for the budget saddle but it’s a gamble whether the panels will match your horses back.
Yes, definitely not expecting it to compare to traditional leather brands in terms of quality, but it does look like for a lower end option, it looks to have more general clearance (comparable to what you usually see with well-fitting stubbens or passiers) than most saddles in that price range. I have worked extensively with independent fitters and based on my horse’s conformation, he would benefit from that shape. I had a HORRENDOUS experience with Stubben so unfortunately I don’t trust them anymore which is unfortunate and a close friend has a similarly bad case experience with Passier as well. I am currently riding him in an Amerigo, which is fine, but the closest fitter also agreed my horse would be better suited to longer points and my current Amerigo does not have them
I’m not quite sure where to go next in terms of brands, perhaps explore some Prestige models? Though I tried a Passion K on him and both him and I were not fans
There are so many saddles out there with a longer tree point; most brands have at least one model available. It seems what they were promoting was mainly a marketing tactic to boost their brand.
Interestingly, Passier once shared with me that they prefer to use short tree points. This way, the saddles fit a variety of horses without causing any interference.
Interesting, what other brands do you know off the top of your head? I feel like the world of saddle fitting as so much conflicting information/fear mongering going on right now that it is so hard too feel confident in whether or not you are truly doing the best for your horse or not
There’s a lot of misinformation out there, and much of it is geared towards promoting specific brands. That’s why I always recommend finding a fitter you trust and sticking with their advice. Otherwise, things can quickly get confusing with all the conflicting opinions.
One thing to keep in mind is that, similar to the diverse schools of thought in the training world, there are also various perspectives in the fitting world. These generally fall into British, French/Italian, and German styles, along with various brand interpretations of them in my mind
Off the top of my head, most British brands have models with longer tree points. I believe Amerigo does as well. I don’t really keep up with the French/Italian brands much so I can’t really speak to them.