Saddle for a Beginner

[Lillijw]

I am so over whelmed by the black hole of saddles

I do weekly lessons with a woman for funsies/working on my form and balance. I love her CWD saddle, but I do not love the price tag of a CWD for what my current goals are. That being to put around the pasture, hit the trails, and do flatwork. One day would love to work up to tiny jumps!

My girl Phoenix is 16.1 hh and is a percheron cross. She was a broodmare and trail horse before I got her, so we have a lot of work to do. Which is fine with me, I love getting to bond over learning together! Because she will be changing shape in terms of muscle growth (and maybe losing extra fluff) I am wanting an adjustable gullet. A friend of mine has a Bates and has really liked it, but the reviews are very mixed with the Cair flocking. Would love any input on a budget friendly starter saddle!

*side note I live out in the country so it’s not as easy to trial saddles.

[Against_All_Odds2]

I like the comfort and balance point of prestige. They come up used a fair bit and similarly priced to Bates

[2bayboys]

Collegiate Convertible saddles have the adjustable gullet and some models are wool flocked.

[luvmyhackney]

I love a Kent and Masters for the changing horse, but she looks a little curvy for it in that second picture.

Do you have an independent fitter that can let you try out some saddles?

[JB]

where (generally) are you? Do you know for 100% certain that the CWD fits your horse well?

Changeable gullets aren’t a magic bullet for a horse who changes shape. It MIGHT be if the change is really limited to the front of the tree, like weight loss/gain beside the withers and around the shoulders.

IMVHO, a nicer solution is a saddle that fits her shape very well right now, and then as she loses fat/gains muscle, you can change the thickness of saddle pads and/or use shims. OR, if she’s really not overweight, just under-muscled, then a saddle that fits her shape but is 1-2 sizes too wide.
This means you can impact the fit all around, not just up front.

For that reason I might try to invest in an independent saddle fitter. There’s just so much more to fit than whether it clears the withers.

CAIR flocking - some horses love it, some hate it. Some riders love it, some hate it. That’s why reviews are so mixed, and aren’t something you can base a decision on, it’s something you just have to try for yourself and the horse.

That said, Bates and Prestige mentioned are relatively close in shape to CWD, at least from my experience. I used a Bates Caprilli (and a few gullet changes!), then an Ansur, then a Balance saddle, then tried a CWD (fit horse, not me), and finally ended up with a Prestige dressage saddle after also trying a Prestige CC saddle, and they all fit the horse.

I also trialed, and ended up ordering, a Black Country Quantum X (hoop tree version of Quantum).

Finding a nice quality, well-used Prestige can be hard, but I’ve done it twice, and you can find one if you’re patient and know what you need size-wise.

BC is a nice brand to look into, lower pricees than Prestige and CWD, maybe similar to Bates at least the last time I was looking around

Budget-friendly means high quality brand, well-used. There’s really no such thing as a 'starter saddle" unless you’re talking about something that’s really cheap when new, and that’s not a saddle quality you want.

[Heinz_57]

Hastilow USA offers remote fittings - you provide tracings and pictures and they will give you saddle recommendations (from a variety of brands) based on your budget. They also have a fair number of used saddles in inventory, many different brands, that can be sent out on trial. Several of the brands they sell are adjustable tree saddles.

[Lillijw]

Thank you for the well thought out reply

The CWD I have used was on a lesson horse, who’s a little smaller than my mare. I’m close to Tulsa, OK so western is much more popular here. I’m still looking for a good saddle fitter, I truly feel their opinion would be best on what would fit her. I’m doing my best to be patient (I’ve had her a month now and just ride bare back or do ground work) and find a great fit for the both of us. It’s a lot of research! And for many people a lot of trial and error, which I’m hoping to avoid too much of that.

[rhershock]

@Heinz_57

Hastilow USA offers remote fittings

I second this. I just did a remote fitting and bought a used saddle through them. I love the fit of the saddle on me and after a few back and forth with gullet bars, we landed on something that also fits my horse well. He is a wide shouldered, low withered standardbred which is hard to fit at times. I would totally contact Hastilow (https://www.hcsusasaddlery.com)

[fivestrideline]

Everything JB said is good info!

I’ll add that just from those pics, your horse appears to have more curve longitudinally to her back than I’d expect to work well with a Bates or similar - they’re VERY flat. Even if she muscles up, she’s going to be curvy. Too flat of a tree puts enormous pressure on the front and back of the saddle - it’s called bridging and it’s likely to be painful over time!

A good fitter is essential to allowing yourself the best chance of developing good balance and position, as well as letting your horse develop the correct muscles and not start evading a painful saddle. An independent fitter can take tracings and give advice on saddles to look for, or a remote fitter can walk you through the process with some help from you. The price you’ll pay is worth avoiding yet another saddle purchase and/or vet bills and training!

Since you’re in OK, you may struggle to find used saddles to try without shipping a ton - being a beginner is actually good here because you’re likely to be somewhat less picky than someone who has ridden in dozens of saddles. I’ve heard good things about FineLine/HighLine Tack in NC - they do remote fitting and have a great selection of used saddles.

ETA: if you can get an idea of her true shape, you can narrow down brands a little bit. From there, if shipping used saddles around isn’t attractive AND you have the budget to buy new, there are good options out there for far less than a CWD. You’re looking at $5k-ish vs $10k-ish, and I know some options can be had for less. My fitter says that they really don’t want to start clients shopping for new saddles with less than $5k as a budget because it’s really hard to get the quality people want, but it can be done with realistic expectations! If you’re closer to the $3k range (a common price point for off-the-rack saddles carried by big retailers), I’d really encourage you to consider working with a used shop first. But that is just me!

[JB]

I’d say we’d need a better picture to see the real curve of her back. She’s standing on a hill in both pics, and when the hind end is higher, it adds curve to the back.

[IPEsq]

How old is the horse? She looks to be in decent condition. I suspect, comparing the uphill and downhill photos, that her back is somewhat neutral. Fitting her withers and having good balance to the saddle will likely be the biggest challenge unless you pick a saddle that is very curvy or very straight. I think the ease of finding decent options will largely depend on how wide she is in the tree measurement. If she is on the wider side then you won’t have as much luck with the used saddle market. I would suggest looking at Italian brands for a horse like this.

I used an Equipe EKGO on my growing horse when his profile looked more like this and he’d gotten too wide for my CWD (the EKGO is for sale but may still be out of your budget). There’s a Percheron cross at my barn that is chonkier than this that goes in an Equipe for his dressage saddle (he also rides western). There are a lot of tree models though, with different shapes. Prestige mentioned above may be a slightly more affordable and easier to find option for a horse like this.