You are probably close to Maryland Saddlery, and they have a good trial policy and three locations with different consignment dressage saddle inventories. Try as many as it takes for you to be sure it is the right match. There are also some good independent fitters in Maryland, and I’m sure you can find one to help you navigate the secondhand market.
[QUOTE=Laurierace;8951274]
That is part of the problem, I DON’T have any idea what my horse needs.[/QUOTE]
That’s where you should be starting, figuring out what your horse needs, then figure out what will work for your horse and you. If you already know that your horse usually takes in a jumping saddle like a wide tree, then it’s reasonable to think it will take a wide, though depending on any given saddle that might not be the case. If you know your horse has a fairly flat back, low wither, you can narrow your selection by common things like that. If you can rely that information to a fitter then you have a starting point as to why you might look at and try.
Laurierace, I’ll shoot you a Pm as well but as someone who worked at Dover and has TBs and went through the whole nine-yards… take advantage of that ASAP.
I did not have any luck with the Circuit saddles, as much as I liked them - great quality, excellent price point, but their trees seemed consistently too narrow for my TBs. Some of them were built like your mare: gradual wither, strong topline, broad back… and the Circuit trees were just too narrow to house them. My TBs have all been Mediums to MW/Wides. I’ve never had a TB that needed a Narrow.
Now, did you try the Warendorf? It’s also an inhouse brand, so your daughter will get a much better discount on it. I had a MW that fit my horse pretty well. If I were you though, I’d look at the Stubbens. I have had great luck and always come back to them with the TBs… With your budget/daughter’s discount, you can get a brand new one for under $2k… and you can return it if it does not fit.
First, I would get wither tracings of your pretty pony and send them to a fitter you trust, or straight to Stubben and ask them what size… as for you, sit in as many of the Stubbens as possible; I really like how their dressage saddles make you sit, but some people might not like it.
Lovely horse!
& Lucky you with your Dover connection.
My veryfirstsaddlever was a Dover Closeout Sale A/P Stubben that fit everything I rode from 1985-2009.
Sadly it did NOT fit my WB :no:.
But (unsadly) that led me to purchase my very 1st semi-custom Stubben dressage saddle :yes:.
Then I lost the WB and his replacement needed a foam riser for the saddle to fit him.
After a year of work the riser pad is no longer needed.
So, my advice is to treat yourself to a good used saddle that suits both you & your mare.
I still have my original Stubben - love it, will never give it up - but also love the new one.
The fitter (Stubben rep) brought a dozen saddles for me to try, I rode in about 6 before I found The One that instantly suited both me & the horse.
I had the kneeblocks scaled down to pencil-rolls and ix-nayed the Biomex < did not care for the feel.
And when your budget can bear it, try a bunch of saddles from Dover - don’t they still have a demo program where you can test ride a model?
Once you find something that suits both you & your mare. go for it!
I went to Maryland Saddlery and sat in everything they had. In the name of education they talked me into taking a saddle on trial that is almost double my budget. They are getting an Albion in for me to try this afternoon and a couple of others that I can’t remember next week. So we are on the way I think, thanks for all your advice so far.
Never mind, the Albion is out on trial. I don’t even know which ones they want me to try next.
I will agree with others who suggested you need to know what saddles might work for your horse and then sit in as many of those as you can. What type of twist you like, whether you want one of those super blocked deep saddles, or a flatter more open saddle (and the velcro block idea is really really good - my leg changed dramatically from when I first started riding in a dressage saddle until later)…this will become clear as you sit in different types. I do like working with an independent saddle fitter for this - s/he can recommend which brands or models to focus on that will work on your horse.
Hey, Laurie, have your daughter check the inventory at other Dover stores, too. The one in Crofton/Gambrills has a couple of saddles you might want to try. I think one of them may be a Steffen’s Custom Advantage in an 18MW. I’m not educated enough to tell you whether or not it could actually fit, but it maybe wouldn’t hurt to try it. I think there’s also a PDS, a Passier, and a Warendorf that she might want to check the sizes on to see if one of them could work, too.
I tried two saddles today, neither worked for me but I think it did help with figuring out that I like a deeper seat that is more locked in. The L and R is a lovely saddle at a great price but my knee kept going over the front of the flap.
How a saddle feels to you sitting on it at a tack shop may be totally different when you are sitting on a moving horse. You aren’t just fitting you, you need to focus on what is going to fit your horse also. Both are going to be effected by the other. Have you put any of these saddles on your horse?
Yes, that is what I meant by tried them. I was on my way to exchange them for a couple of others but the fog was too bad so I turned around. The Voltaire rep is coming out to look at my trainer’s tack tomorrow so hopefully he can give me an idea of exactly what tree and seat I need.
Oh, good! I’ve come to hate saddle shopping. I’m pretty sure I’ve tried every saddle ever made over the years, probably spent enough in shipping saddles back and forth to have paid for several custom saddles and then some.
[QUOTE=js;8955806]
Oh, good! I’ve come to hate saddle shopping. I’m pretty sure I’ve tried every saddle ever made over the years, probably spent enough in shipping saddles back and forth to have paid for several custom saddles and then some.[/QUOTE]
Yeah I am not really enjoying the process but I will say that riding in them even though they weren’t perfect makes me wish I had done this a long time ago. I am really anxious to see how my riding improves once I find a saddle of my own that fits both of us.
[QUOTE=Laurierace;8954963]
I tried two saddles today, neither worked for me but I think it did help with figuring out that I like a deeper seat that is more locked in. The L and R is a lovely saddle at a great price but my knee kept going over the front of the flap.[/QUOTE]
Since you aren’t used to riding in a dressage saddle could it be you have your stirrups shorter than ideal?
I ride primarily dressage now but throw my jumping saddle on every now and again and run her through grids for a change up. There’s probably 6" (maye longer) difference between my dressage length and my jumping length. But as I switched to dressage it took me a while to have my seat and leg solid enough to have my stirrups longer.
I have found it’s pretty rare that a saddle fitter gets the correct tree for horse and rider on the first try. My fitter is kind of amazing at it, where a bunch of us were shopping and we may have switched blocks, but otherwise every person bought the first saddle she had us try. (And I tried up to 9 depending on which horse.)
[QUOTE=phoenixrises;8956191]
Since you aren’t used to riding in a dressage saddle could it be you have your stirrups shorter than ideal?
I ride primarily dressage now but throw my jumping saddle on every now and again and run her through grids for a change up. There’s probably 6" (maye longer) difference between my dressage length and my jumping length. But as I switched to dressage it took me a while to have my seat and leg solid enough to have my stirrups longer.[/QUOTE]
I tried them so long I could barely reach the stirrups and I was still on the front of the flap. I now know that I want something a little more substantial than that so it was worth the try if only to help guide me in the right direction.
Well, I sat in 3 today and I felt they were all too small to even take on a trial so back to the drawing board but I feel as if I am starting to whittle down what I want a bit.
for what its worth… My husband has some nice jumping saddles (devoucoux biarritz ) and when I ride one of his horses I just lengthen the stirrups. Because my dressage saddle is also a devoucoux, so for me its not a huge different feeling.
So maybe stick with a dressage saddle which is the same brand as your jumping saddle.
I did sit in a Bates tonight, it was a little bit too small for me so I didn’t take it on a trial but I thought it was flatter than I want. If it had fit me better I would have tried it though because I do like mine.
Two possibilities on the way. My husband is on his way home from a business meeting and I talked him into stopping into Middleburg Tack exchange. I gave them a list of 5 that I thought looked promising and they picked two of them. Hopefully we are getting somewhere.
