I had a Bates AP saddle I traded for an HDR (which fit my horse better). The HDR was great! I was persuaded to upgrade to a new CWD that had just been consigned and never used. Got a great deal on it, but if I’m being honest, I can’t feel any difference. The difference between the Bates and HDR was night and day, though I’m sure the way it fit my horse was a big factor.
Has anyone bought a Bates made in Vietnam? That’s where the Caprilli is made now and although the saddle interests me, Vietnam doesn’t strike me as a center of saddlemaking excellence.
I paid $200 for a Passier Century (a flat old style hunter saddle that I had always coveted decades ago). It was in beautiful condition, but when I rode in it, I didn’t like the round seat/cantle. It somehow didn’t fit my butt like a regular flat hunter saddle with a square cantle, not the same feel. So I sold it to a local friend who was inexperienced with the old flat hunter styles, or with any regular type of saddles of any type actually, for $200. It fit her horse great. Her neighbour saw her new saddle, and eyes popped outta her head! Her neighbour knew what the saddle was. “WHERE did you get that saddle???”. She learned to post the trot and diagonals last summer in a Passier Century.
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Have had good luck with:
1990’s Pessoa
Dover Circuits
Whippy
Galaxy by Hartley
Penwood
Crosby
Barnsby
Crump
Hermes
Harry Dabs
Pariani (real old school!)
Smith Worthington (equally old school!)
Have not been enamored of:
Courbette
Collegiate
HDR
Argentine saddles with the knee rolls
Stubbens (OK but not my preferred)
AP saddles in general
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The two saddles I most regret selling were a Thornhill Germania Two-Phase and an HdR Show Jumper. They just didn’t fit my princess-and-the-pea TB quite right, but they had fit me and my stupid-long femur well. The Germania was $1200 new, and I’d gotten the HdR for about $700.
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@Bending_Line, that is a LOT of saddle experiences! Wow, I am impressed! I am a self-proclaimed “Barnsby Girl”. I had what I thought was a great plan: I’d just keep buying the Barnsby that I liked in different widths, as my horse changed. Darn, I did not ever expect the company to go out of business. Now, I’m searching for Barnsby Espirits and buying them when I find them. Yes, I am a saddle hoarder.
Back to the OP’s question: I agree with the advice to buy an older saddle in a well-known brand. The leather’s so different in newer saddles - the whole process of tanning it has changed, for a lot of reasons, and the product’s not better. You can find these saddles lots of places and sometimes hardly used.
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Lesson barn–we use 20 saddles at a time
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Funny enough, for my extremely challenging fit TB, I bought an 30 year old (now 40!) Passier PS Baum, and it fit her amazingly. It rode like a racing saddle for me, but it fit her so well, I just adapted. It’s unfortunately on it’s last legs. But what a great saddle!
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thank you! What a great list .
Definitely don’t recommend the HDR. I tried one many years ago when I was looking for a saddle and my stirrup leathers were literally slipping off the bar even though my legs were in the correct place. I would be riding without an issue and suddenly have one of my stirrups fall off the saddle. My trainer checked it out too and she was able to pull them off with very minimal force.
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I loved my Beval Natural. I’m trying to sell it on consignment now as it does not fit my new horse, and it’s been sitting long enough that the price has dropped to $400. There are definitely deals to be had if someone is willing to consider these older but well made saddles.
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I recently bought an Ovation Ruiz Diaz saddle.$ 750. Found it on Aiken Tack Exchange. Love, love, love the balance and comfiness! Mind you I’m old school, still ride in my Ashland flat as a pancake saddle too!
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I have an old Crosby Centennial with a patched seat as a “backup” saddle and it’s comfy, grippy, and has a very Butet-like ride.
I would also look at Stubbens. Not the super old ones, but used newer models. They’re not slippery rocks like they used to be. I just bought a Stubben (dressage saddle, but a new model) and I’m super impressed with how balanced, grippy, and soft it is. I’m sure the newer jump saddles are the same. They tend not to hold their value as well since they’re not trendy, so you can find good deals.
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Aiken has a 17.5 on eBay for $399.
If you cannot find one of the older secondhand models, I bought one of these and love it. https://www.sstack.com/pinnacle-kirkby-close-contact-saddle/p/15578/
I bought it for a young horse that didn’t fit in my others, and I didn’t want to risk ruining a nice saddle. But honestly, it’s pretty comfy and he loves it.
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A good quality used saddle can be golden. It may take a little more time to find, but I have had great luck with Beval Naturals fitting a wide variety of horses. Stubbens hold up great, but I found the leather to be more slick. I have also found Tad Coffins and Butets to hold up well. I have one that is 20 years old and it is in great shape.
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A good quality uses saddle from a consignment store is what I recommend if you can find one! I did ride in a Prestige x Meredith, which I loved but it did not fit my new lease horse! So off I toodled to our local consignment store and tried lots of great used saddlesbin all price points at or lower than $2000 Canadian (so probably in the (1500 USD range or less)! I’ve found an almost new Black Country Ricochet…. So not a super higher end saddle but at a ridiculously reasonable price ($1900 CAD about 1300 USD) but not a lower end saddle… a great mid range saddle that both fits me and my new horse at over half of the price new! I did luck out there was another one there a little more expensive (actually nearly $1000 CAD more!)…. This one looks new and was hardly used but the store owner had to really clean it thus the slightly lower price (if people don’t bring them in clean they get less for them!)
So if you can I definitely recommend looking at used!
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I sold a Natural a couple of years ago. It took 2 years to get it sold and I took $500 for it because I had bought a new saddle and didn’t need it. It was in great shape, stored at home and only flaw was a set of teeth marks on the side of the pommel left by my deceased horse. It fit a ton of horses and they are available fairly regularly on FB saddle sales and regional horse pages.
The old Crosby Soft Ride is another that is comfy and seems to fit plenty of horses. I saw a saddle on FB last week that I suspect was a Soft Ride (seller didn’t seem to know much about brands) and made an offer but by the time she got my offer, someone had bought it, which makes me think it was a soft ride.
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I have an HDR and have not had this problem. Its likely the issue was with that specific saddle, not the brand of saddle
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Thornhill Pro Trainer 24k, they have soft grippy leather and are quite comfortable.
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