The two nicest saddles I have ever ridden in were a Patrick and a K and Masters. They were professionally fitted and were absolutely amazing. If I had the budget, I would get a Patrick (I like the feel of the leather better, but that was my own personal preference). Good luck. I’ve spent a lot of money trying to find a saddle, and ended up with a pancake Crosby. It was the only thing that I felt comfortable in, and fits my horse well. Either I want all of the bells and whistles or none. lol
Thank you all for responding! Let’s see if I can answer some of your questions.
First of all, the legendary Paul Selvey lives a couple miles from my barn, so he is the one who has been helping me through this process. The first County he said he could make work but as I said, the leather was in sad shape. He would have made the tree more narrow, reflocked, and make me a custom half pad. The second County was too wide for that to work. I am returning that one.
The ones I have ridden in are a Pessoa Nelson, completely unique as far as I know, in that it used dressage saddle gullet plates. That is the one that fit him, but I struggled in my position. The next one I bought was a Pessoa Heritage with alto panels. That’s the one checked by another saddle fitter, that turned out to be causing soreness at the base of his withers.
I tried an Albion Kontact, and while it seemed to be a decent fit for him, the seat was too small (it was a 17.5, like all my saddles) and too deep. It’s worth exploring what else they have, since the SLK HH fit him as well.
I have a K and M dressage saddle. It’s very comfy, but is too wide in the gullet and doesn’t support the tree. 
So I will need to replace that as well. Their jumping saddles look like eventing saddles. I’m more of a hunter rider, but coming from dressage, so I like to SIT in the saddle.
Stubbens are everywhere, and they are all 32 cm trees. Really. I have rarely seen one smaller. I have put that size tree on him and it was way too wide.
It’s been a couple of years since I took pictures of his back. I will do that and post them in the next few days.
mvp, maybe after I post the pictures, you can tell me if you think the Lauriche would fit. It’s tricky with them because they are all custom and aren’t stamped with the size.
I have also tried and rejected a CWD because of the curvy tree, and a Devocoux, because the seat was too small, but I did love that saddle otherwise. I also test rode some Bliss/Loxley saddles. The seats were too wide for me and his me in a sore spot (hip bursitis, don’t ask.) Paul Selvey had me try one of his hand made saddles and I had the same problem with it.
Oh, and about the flat back, I mean front to back, not sitting-on-a-table-wide. So the more banana shaped saddles don’t distribute the pressure well.
Please kill me. :dead:
K&M makes a hunter looking saddle…
http://www.kentandmasters.co.uk/original-range/jump-range/53-original-jump
For my similarly built horse I bought a BC Quantum but almost bought the Albion Jewel. You might see if you can try those two.
Old school Crosby, Narrow twist, narrow tree, cut back … just saying, never had a TB get a sore back from one , also the Older Butets and Brunos and forestiers fit pretty well too
Stubben does custom saddles and they are quite reasonable compared to the French brands. A couple of people at my barn have them. They worked with a rep located in, I think, Long Beach.
Your horse sounds similar to mine. I tried multiple brands and ultimately went with a Stubben. I got a 29 cm Zaria, but I believe they will go as narrow as 27 cm. The nice thing about Stubben, if you go the “custom” route, is you can also choose foam or wool flocked. I’ve been very happy with my saddle, and so has my gelding.
[QUOTE=MIKES MCS;8524634]
Old school Crosby, Narrow twist, narrow tree, cut back … just saying, never had a TB get a sore back from one , also the Older Butets and Brunos and forestiers fit pretty well too[/QUOTE]
I used to ride my ottb in a Crosby PDN, loved that saddle but it didn’t fit him very well. My guy’s back is straight (front to back) as well and after trying pretty much everything in the tack shop I tried the Passier Grand Gilbert (was looking first for a dressage saddle). Great fit. I did try some different jump saddles but again found he was happier with the Passier (Wellington). A couple of years later I threw on the PDN and wow, big difference in how he went…definitely not happy with the PDN.
[QUOTE=Grasshopper;8523898]
Where are you located roughly?
Two thoughts: (1) you may be able to have the tree adjusted on the County that you bought; or (2) if 3k is your budget, I’d be on the phone with Patty Merli to get a slightly used Black Country.[/QUOTE]
Who is Patty Meril?
[QUOTE=Peggy;8524707]
Stubben does custom saddles and they are quite reasonable compared to the French brands. A couple of people at my barn have them. They worked with a rep located in, I think, Long Beach.[/QUOTE]
I think I should go over to LA Saddlery. They sell Stubben and Prestige saddles as well.
It would help if I could list all the brands available locally. I am about done with all the shipping, and I never want to buy another saddle I haven’t ridden in already.
Some of the Stuebbens are flatter and some have a banana shaped tree. You can get one of the lower priced versions for about your price range in a custom,if you don’t make too many special changes.
I’ve just ordered a 27cm Stuebben,the Zaria Optimum. This has the curvier tree. There are several models with a flatter tree such as the Edelweiss. I think the Genesis is flatter,too.
[QUOTE=Bristol Bay;8524569]
Thank you all for responding! Let’s see if I can answer some of your questions.
First of all, the legendary Paul Selvey lives a couple miles from my barn, so he is the one who has been helping me through this process. The first County he said he could make work but as I said, the leather was in sad shape. He would have made the tree more narrow, reflocked, and make me a custom half pad. The second County was too wide for that to work. I am returning that one.
The ones I have ridden in are a Pessoa Nelson, completely unique as far as I know, in that it used dressage saddle gullet plates. That is the one that fit him, but I struggled in my position. The next one I bought was a Pessoa Heritage with alto panels. That’s the one checked by another saddle fitter, that turned out to be causing soreness at the base of his withers.
I tried an Albion Kontact, and while it seemed to be a decent fit for him, the seat was too small (it was a 17.5, like all my saddles) and too deep. It’s worth exploring what else they have, since the SLK HH fit him as well.
I have a K and M dressage saddle. It’s very comfy, but is too wide in the gullet and doesn’t support the tree. So I will need to replace that as well. Their jumping saddles look like eventing saddles. I’m more of a hunter rider, but coming from dressage, so I like to SIT in the saddle.
Stubbens are everywhere, and they are all 32 cm trees. Really. I have rarely seen one smaller. I have put that size tree on him and it was way too wide.
It’s been a couple of years since I took pictures of his back. I will do that and post them in the next few days.
mvp, maybe after I post the pictures, you can tell me if you think the Lauriche would fit. It’s tricky with them because they are all custom and aren’t stamped with the size.
I have also tried and rejected a CWD because of the curvy tree, and a Devocoux, because the seat was too small, but I did love that saddle otherwise. I also test rode some Bliss/Loxley saddles. The seats were too wide for me and his me in a sore spot (hip bursitis, don’t ask.) Paul Selvey had me try one of his hand made saddles and I had the same problem with it.
Oh, and about the flat back, I mean front to back, not sitting-on-a-table-wide. So the more banana shaped saddles don’t distribute the pressure well.
Please kill me. :dead:[/QUOTE]
I feel your pain… saddle shopping should be fun 
I shopped for many years to find saddles that fit my horses. I tried so many brands it was crazy. The best thing was to try maybe your trainers saddle or other barn mates… see what fits you and your horse. I have gone to Paul and had saddles messed with but never worked out…
I finally had to up my budget and it was worth every penny. I found two of my really great saddles by riding in my trainers saddles… one is a Dressage Albion and I LOVE IT!! It fits so many of my horses. I can get you the manufactures numbers maybe you can find a used one?
The other saddle I LOVE is a Meyer saddle. I borrowed another riders saddle to see if it worked and it did.
I know the Butets are made for higher wither horses but do have a banana shape. Have you tried different Butets? Seat wise they are the most comfortable saddles around…
I think you are local to me… If were not too far apart - if you want to try my Meyer or Albion let me know…
[QUOTE=doublesstable;8525102]
I feel your pain… saddle shopping should be fun
I shopped for many years to find saddles that fit my horses. I tried so many brands it was crazy. The best thing was to try maybe your trainers saddle or other barn mates… see what fits you and your horse. I have gone to Paul and had saddles messed with but never worked out…
I finally had to up my budget and it was worth every penny. I found two of my really great saddles by riding in my trainers saddles… one is a Dressage Albion and I LOVE IT!! It fits so many of my horses. I can get you the manufactures numbers maybe you can find a used one?
The other saddle I LOVE is a Meyer saddle. I borrowed another riders saddle to see if it worked and it did.
I know the Butets are made for higher wither horses but do have a banana shape. Have you tried different Butets? Seat wise they are the most comfortable saddles around…
I think you are local to me… If were not too far apart - if you want to try my Meyer or Albion let me know…[/QUOTE]
Thank you, that’s very kind of you. I checked them out on Google and they look yummy. Is there a Meyer dealer around here? Are they priced same as the other French saddles?
Which Albion dressage saddle is it that you have?
Don’t know if you’re anywhere close or can get to Thermal, but someone told me there were a bunch of Meyers at Thermal on Vendor row. When you’re facing the Grand Prix ring, they were on the right, by the Farm Vet trailer maybe?
What saddles do you like for you? How narrow a twist are you looking for? How flat or deep?
Maybe try a Butet. They are made narrow. I had a high withered TB and it never gave me any issues.
[QUOTE=winstonian;8526486]
What saddles do you like for you? How narrow a twist are you looking for? How flat or deep?[/QUOTE]
I don’t know how to quantify narrow, but some of the British saddles have been too wide. I have ridden comfortable in Pessoas and Antares. My Pessoa that I sold had a deep seat and was very comfy. The newer Pessoa has a very flat seat, not as comfortable, but it was fine.
Of all the saddles I have tried lately, I loved the grippiness of the Devoucoux, but the County Innovation (the first one with the doubled leather) felt like home. I said “LOVE” out loud to no one in particular the first time I swung my leg over. The fit for my horse was not good and I would have to spend an additional chunk of change on reflocking, etc.
I have a barn full of those 
Mostly all ottb’s that have high withers but flat backs. Depending on what model of county you tried a narrow may still be too wide. For example, the innovation runs quite wide. I used a skid row panel and have wither gussets (I think they call them wither gussets or shoulder points) so it fills in the space around the withers and sits the saddle more stable. County saddles have wide channel’s so just because you go to a narrow or even an extra narrow doesn’t mean the saddle is really that narrow.
I’ve had great success with Prestige saddles, in the budget and beautifully made!
Great for the high withered horses as they have cut back pommels. Highly recommended.
