You always take a hit when you sell a nearly new saddle unfortunately. If you stick to a high price, it will be yours forever. So sell it quickly and cheaply.
If it has a lot of lift up front, you may want to market it towards eventers because they still like CWD and tend to ride lean horses with big withers.
I know wool flocked saddles aren’t trendy in hunter/jumper world, but they are much easier to adjust and resell.
IME the only “high end” saddle that retains value regardless of “trends” is a very basic, wool flocked County for that very reason. Which isn’t to say I would never buy anything else, and obviously they’re a different saddle than the trendy French ones-- but those are the only ones I regularly see used that do not take a HUGE hit in depreciation. I think in part it’s the wool, in part it’s the overall saddle quality, and in part it’s that they have a larger market because they also appeal to eventers.
I’d describe it as made for a horse with sizable withers. Typically the most amount of lift you’d see is 1cm. 2cm is a lot. You could also consider sending it to CWD to be changed to a more marketable panel. That will cost you $500-600 depending on how close you are to the California office, but it might be worth it to be able to sell it.
Second giving Old Dominion a call. Dina recently sold my Butet and was amazing - and very straight up - to deal with.
I recently worked with Cori at High End Used Saddles and had a great experience. Sadly, the saddle didn’t work out because I couldn’t find a fitter that was willing to come reflock it and the idea of going through that frustration on a yearly basis was not appealing.
I tend to keep every saddle I buy. I’ve only sold one low end saddle, and sold it for more than I purchased it 10 years prior. I’m pretty realistic…and cheap, so I don’t spend much on saddles (except my Bruno Delgrange that I bought new) so if I do lose some money, it’s not a lot.
If you can sell it locally, I would suggest that. A screaming price will get the sale if you describe it correctly for the audience you are targeting. They need to know what type of back it should fit…take pictures of your horse, describe it more than just the stamp, etc.
They actually moved the workshop to Florida last fall, the repaneling is now done there. But I mentioned this as a last resort further up the thread and the OP indicated (understandably) that fooling with that was not of interest.
Price and patience are probably the main factors - eventually that one buyer will come along who needs that fit or who unfortunately for the horse doesn’t know it doesn’t fit . . .
There is a person in Southern California (OC) that works on CWDs and at least used to be an official repair person.
But a moot point if the OP just wants to be done with the thing.
Banking on the wisdom of COTH, I sent the saddle off the Old Dominion today. Let’s hope it garners more interest in her hands. My new saddle arrives this week, so I need to move it along. Thank you all for your recommendations!
They don’t. This is the same configuration they’ve had pretty much since coming to the US. The panels change with every saddle, and if it’s been repaired sometimes and they had the panel change - those #s are out of order versus front mid back etc but - overall it’s the same.
SADDLE TYPE | SEAT SIZE | SEAT DEPTH | FLAP
PANEL
YEAR MADE | SERIAL #
Really old saddles are out of sync but that’s it.
OP, if you have any questions; I worked for CWD for 3 years and would be happy to help if you want to DM me. It’s a very specific saddle to sell, but there is a market for it. Also, your Voltaire rep lied. They do take trade ins. Sometimes they don’t want to because it adds to their commission goal and they will say they don’t. Old trick in the business many in busy areas like SoCal and more use.
Cindy Aruna at Double Oak is a great consigner if you don’t have luck at Old Dominion. Hope you love your new saddle!
Except I can show you dozens of photos of serial numbers that don’t exactly fit that convention?
I mean I worked for the company for three years up until March and saw more CWD saddles and flaps from across the world than most could probably even think of. If they came out of the factory and have not been altered by an outside source after 2011isshh (he’ll maybe before though I’ve seen some 2010 with the old French style stamping ) they are in that order unless someone really messed up (which don’t get me wrong, it’s definitely happened). The only change should be the paneling info which varies.
When I’m on a device that can do screenshots I’ll send you some because I am curious…
Definitely! I’m curious to see!
I also didn’t realize you meant 8 years old when you said “old” originally. I don’t consider that terribly old for a saddle. But I still think a lot of the serial numbers are post 2011 that I’ve seen. I’ll take screenshots when I can because I’ve been casually looked at used ones and I feel like I’ve seen lots of serial number variation. Also why NOT include the tree width? That makes me bonkers!
You are right! An 8 year old saddle isn’t technically old… just “”old”” in the business because a lot has changed in 8 years. Not that there is anything wrong with the “”old”” saddles. I love them! It’s just a force of habit to say.
CWD has 1 standard tree size on classics which is around 4.5. It can be widened but can not be narrowed. If it is stamped AO it is a wide tree, which is generally a 5 but “could” be wider if the rep asked for it special when making. If they had it widened later, it could very well NOT be stamped AO. The office guys forgot to do it all the time, which is a huge pain.
A 2Gs measures around 4.9 tree point to tree point and can not be widened or narrowed.
i always said we should put it on there. I also said it should have been a search option on our used saddle site. Also those numbers are 2018 and before. To me the 2019 run narrower but I only had them for a few months before I stepped down.
Always happy to help/translate if you need!
Mary’s Tack and Feed in CA consigns used saddles and was looking for CWD’s (got an email just this week). You might check with them, I don’t know what kind of commission they charge.
Thank you, that’s good to know. They are not too far from me, so if Old Dominion doesn’t sell it, I’ll try Mary’s.
Be very careful about selling on eBay. The power is now all with the buyer. I used to buy/sell a lot of saddles on eBay but the way they changed their policies made me too nervous. Someone can buy your saddle, damage it and send it back up to 90 days later and claim it wasn’t as advertised. I’ve sold a few on Facebook Groups but you’re probably better off going to a good tack store that gets a lot of internet traffic
I am getting ready to sell my 18.5 CWD SE01, and just came to this same conclusion that eBay is no longer worth the risk. My sister sold a pair of new in the box Cole Haan boots and the buyer clearly tried them on, concluded they didn’t fit and wanted to return them even thought it was sold as no returns, final sale. In spite of clear pictures, the original box, everything, and eBay even admitting to my sister it was likely a fraud, eBay let the buyer get away with claiming the boots “weren’t real leather” and return them, sticking my sister with the shipping costs BOTH WAYS! Crazy. No way I’d risk a saddle with them now.
@Bristol Bay let us know how it turns out! I’m now going through the same debate as to whether it is worth trying the FB groups to sell mine, or whether I should just go straight to consignment. I saw a lot of saddle listings on FB this week with zero comments on them, so I’m wondering how much traffic people are actually getting <sigh>
I looked at the FB groups, and most of the posts were ads from Redwood Tack. I’m not on FB anyway, but wanted to check it out if it would be worthwhile to join. I decided consignment was the best route.
Leah at Redwood buys saddles outright, but passed on mine because of the panels. Dina at Old Dominion does both, but decided to go consignment for the same reason.
I’ve actually had good luck selling many things on eBay, mostly tack. But I’m aware that their policies favor the buyer, totally.
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