My instructor is looking for a saddle for me, but if I want to look on my own too, where is a good place to start? Can riders typically try the saddle first before they commit to buying it?
Do you own a horse? So for me, my last saddle was a semi-custom for me and my horse. I used a rep after riding in a few of the brand. My horse is hard to fit and I am short but my legs are not necessarily short.
Now I’m dabbling in dressage with my new horse. I haven’t gone with a rep or fitter yet. I have been able to take 2 saddles from my local tack store by leaving my credit card information and filling out a form. That’s good because neither worked so I returned them and it didn’t cost me anything except gas back and forth.
I am actually having a fitter come out to advise me on what to look for in a dressage saddle- since there are differences. I know what to look for in a hunter/jumper saddle but not necessarily comfortable winging it in a new field. The fitter knows I am looking for a used saddle so I am not worried about her trying to push a specific brand on me. It has to fit right and be in my budget.
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No, I do not own. I just take lessons but would still really like my own saddle. It sounds like a tack store would be a good place to start. Thanks!
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My local tack store always has great saddles on consignment. Find one that fits you and is a more general tree etc. You can always kick it old school and shim and pad up or down if it is a close fit on the horses you usually ride. 
(gasp).
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Local tack shops are a great starting place, and most have a trial period during which you can try the saddle and return it if it doesn’t work (I’ve seen 3-7 days trials listed at most places I’ve looked). Your instructor should be able to give you some advice about tree/gullet width based on the types of horses you ride most often. (Ideally, we’d all have a custom saddle fitted to each individual horse, but that’s a level of a perfect world that I can’t even quite imagine, lol!)
If you’re savvy, there are some great deals out there in facebookland. I’ve purchased a few thousand dollars worth of tack off of facebook marketplace with very few problems (two problems out of perhaps 40 transactions and counting; both of those problems were eventually resolved to my satisfaction). This includes a pretty nice used Antarés Hampton Classic CC saddle (my main saddle) and an older but serviceable Passier dressage saddle. The Antarés was shipped to me with a one-to-two-week trail agreed upon by me and the seller. She was kind enough to accept a $1000 deposit toward the $1800 purchase price (she knew the saddle was well above my budget, but I kept coming back to the ad over and over again). Within two days of having the saddle, I knew it was mine, and we arranged for payment of the remaining funds. The Passier was sold to me without trial, as it was a much less expensive saddle.
It’s pretty typical of private sellers to allow a trail with full payment up front and a signed contract. I always laugh when someone is asking $4k for a used CWD and says, “Absolutely no trials.” Hahahahahahaha! Yeah…no. Not going to throw out the price of a halfway decent used car for a saddle that may not work at all for me and my mare.
If you do pursue anything with private sellers vs. tack shops, I strongly advise you to pay by PayPal, as there is some consumer protection there if you have any problems with the sale.
And at the very least, even if you don’t want to mess with people online, shopping saddles online can help you start to get a feel for what’s out there and the price ranges of various saddles.
Good luck! Having your own saddle will be sooooooo lovely after riding in rent-a-tack in your lessons! Before I got my own mare, I lessoned for a summer or two, and I hated a few of the saddles I used. “Well, invest in your own,” was one trainer’s advice when I wrinkled my nose at the saddle she dusted off for me. :lol:
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Here’s the problem. One saddle will not fit every horse. It won’t fit every lesson horse and it won’t necessarily fit your future lease or personal horse.
If the lesson saddles are so horrible you need another saddle I would suggest going with a second hand synthetic Thoroughgood or similar that you can buy for $300. People find them comfortable enough and versatile. You can also sell it in the future.
I would not suggest spending the $1500 you would need to get a quality used leather saddle fitted to your horse in this situation. Waste of time and money.
If the saddles are at all passable in the lesson program I would just suck it up and ride in different saddles as a learning experience. I would not want to be subsidizing my coach to this extent in this scenario.
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Hmmm well that sounds like a good plan. No, the saddles aren’t horrible, but I had the opportunity to try one that I really liked and felt that it made a huge difference in the way I ride. The problem is, I’m in a large lesson group and everyone wants that saddle. I plan on taking lessons for probably a long while before I consider buying or leasing, so I feel that a saddle is a good investment. However, I’m all for saving money now if I’ll just need to buy another saddle later. The one I tried was a Devoucoux and had some support on the knees. Is there something similar but less expensive? Would a thoroughgood provide similar support?
The right saddle does make a huge difference in the way we ride. I bought my saddle while I was still leasing a horse, and it has fit plenty of horses with just minor padding adjustments. Yes, you could have to sell it later if you bought a horse it doesn’t fit, but if that’s not happening right away, you could still get plenty of value out of having your own and reselling it when you need to get something else. Make sure you don’t buy a narrow tree for riding a lot of horses, you can make something less wide with padding, but if it is too narrow you can’t put shims or pads there to help the fit.
Find out what seat size, tree size, and flap configuration the one you like riding in is, possibly even take measurements of the flaps. That will help you narrow down the used options that might work - you can give the tack shops a better idea of what you are looking for.
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Devocoux is one of the top end French brands, and even second hand is going to be several thousand dollars (probably about $5000 new semi custom). As to whether anything “feels similar,” that depends on what you are comparing it to. the people that love French saddles say nothing compares to them. They don’t fit my horse so I don’t have an opinion
But the thing is, every horse in your program should have if not it’s own saddle, then at least a saddle that is the best fit in the circumstances. You cannot find a saddle that will fit all the lesson horses that you will ride. So even if you buy a saddle that fits one lesson horse, you won’t be able to use it on the other horses. If you buy a saddle that fits Mr Beginner Softy this year, what happens when you move up to riding Miss Intermediate Firecracker? .
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You are assuming that all the horses are completely different body type, which depending on the lesson program, is not necessarily true. I personally am hard to fit, so I bought my own saddle before I owned a horse again. It fit 4 of the 5 horses before I rode before buying a horse, with minor padding adjustments, and also worked on most of the horses I tried, and the horse I ended up buying. So, there are versatile saddles out there and it can work, in some situations (in my case, I was typically looking at horses with somewhat similar body types). It depends on what types of horses the OP is riding. To the OP, you do however need to talk to your instructor about whether the horses you ride can share a saddle, if you are riding more than one. Also, you will likely need a half pad with pockets for shims, so that you can make adjustments to the saddle fit if you buy something.
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I would recommend a used, older saddle that will be comfortable, something that has a padded seat and knee rolls. Try for a MW or W width–it will fit a lot of horses but not all of them. You don’t need to spend a ton.
As someone earlier said, you are not going to get a Devoucoux or any French brand without spending a lot as they are very popular now and are priced accordingly. I also wouldn’t recommend that someone in your position buy an expensive saddle. It just doesn’t make sense.
With that said, there is nothing wrong with wanting to own your own saddle and using it when you ride a horse that it fits reasonably well. You’ve already mentioned that you see a difference in your riding when you use a decent saddle. Your trainer can tell you which horses to use it on.
I suggest looking for a Crosby XL or Sofride on ebay or through an outlet that sells used saddles. These saddles are well-made and comfortable but aren’t in fashion now, so they can be had cheaply.
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Thanks everyone!
