I’m an experienced rider with a horse.I own two saddles, my first a cwd and my second Santa Cruz for my lease horse. I’m seeing for a lease for a new horse but non of my saddles fit him so I decided to go looking for a reasonable priced used saddle before buying a big purchase. I can across a used 6 year old Pessoa close contact saddle. It hasn’t been rode in a long time. There is leather cracks at the gullet/tree and seems to squeak. The owner has checked it and said it doesn’t seem to have anything broken. I don’t know if I should buy the saddle because it’s an amazing deal. I don’t have much experience in saddle buying. Opinions ?
Have a saddle fitter evaluate if you don’t trust yourself to tell if the tree is broken.
Is the Pessoa a changeable gullet? Has that caused the cracking?
No it’s not a changeable gullet. The owner had said if the gullet is broken she doesn’t know the cause. Is it expensive to change the gullet or just look at another saddle
It depends. I think a gullet can get loose if a rivet pops and that is not difficult to fix, but a saddle fitter & repair person would need to take the panels off and the saddle apart. I think they wouldn’t be able to tell if gullet was broken or just loose until they took the saddle apart. This is a big job to fix a small problem or verify saddle is trashed.
”‹”‹”‹”‹”‹”‹If you are OK taking a risk this saddle will need to be junked or turned into an office chair, you could buy it.
If you are OK paying a farm call fee have an independent saddle fitter come out and evaluate.
If money is tight I would pass on this. Buying junk is never a bargain.
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Why buy trouble?
You are looking at least a hundred dollars to have it investigated by an actual maker, not a fitter.
Factor in shipping to and fro.
And another perhaps $600 to have it repaired. Run don’t walk. Many older Pessoas around, and they are good saddles.
Saddle has red flags all over it.
Agree with the buying trouble, cracked leather is dry. Anyway, with everyday saddle squeaks, try a bit of baby powder.
