I am really intrigued by Stackhouse saddles for a short-backed gelding + long-legged rider. (The approach of starting with fitting a tree and building from there seems genius.) Has anyone had experience with these saddles for upper level dressage?
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Yes! I love them. It’s a great process and I love my saddles. I have Stackhouse saddles for both my FEI event horse and my upper level dressage horse. They order a specific tree for your horse and build the saddle, by hand, custom for you and the horse. They are terrific, nice people too!
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Thank you!
I’ve been somewhat interested in them for a minute because I like a few things about their saddles. I’ve not been able to ever see one in person though.
As for an “upper level saddle” that’s sort of an arbitrary thing. You just ride in whatever saddle is comfortable for you, the horse, and abides by the rules if you’re competing. There’s no set features, brands, or styles (again, aside from competition rules and regs). So I guess I’m sort of intrigued as to why you asked about these saddles in respect to upper level dressage.
There are some riders at the upper levels that are very minimalist with their tack (think older Passier style), and others that have “more going on” and I’d say that’s just preference a lot of the time. I know that some need more “support” than others in certain ways, but again, I think that’s rider dependent. If you like the saddle, go for it.
I’m also interested in feedback on this brand though! It makes sense to fit the tree then build the saddle from there. That’s quite typical in the western world and I kind of wish it were more common in the English world, in some ways.
Amerigo has a somewhat similar philosophy in that they have several different tree shapes for different back shapes. So you find the right tree, and outfit from there. They’re not hugely customizable but do have different flap options.
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I was asking because eventers seem to love them, but I wanted to get some perspective from dressage folks, if that makes sense? Have folks been happy with these saddles in advanced collected work, etc.?
I appreciate the suggestion about Amerigo too!
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I’ve been a Stackhouse customer for over 20 years, and they are the absolute best saddles. Worth every penny for the attention to detail, quality, fit, and customer service.
Lesley and David fit your horse from the tree up, and once you’ve seen a saddle fitted that way, you’ll realize that flocking can never fix fit unless the tree fits the horse, and tree fit can never be accessed unless the tree itself is placed on the horse’s back.
I’m not an upper level dressage rider (competed through 2nd level in regular dressage and Prelim in eventing dressage), but my husband (also a rider) and I have had 4 dressage saddles between us and I’ve had 3 jump saddles. I’ve also ridden in a lot of different brands, and my Stackhouses allow me to find the best position and provide the balance and security I need, no matter what I’m doing.
Our horses and ponies love them, and we’ve had saddles fitted from the narrow thoroughbred to the wide pony to the high-withered and wide Dutch horse.
I had a very specific issue with my current pony shifting the saddle diagonally through a combination of shoulder asymmetry (skeletal, not muscular), short back, and thrust/impulsion, and Lesley and David worked with me to find solutions. They customized the panels to accommodate the shoulder and added an extra billet to improve stability, and the pony is so much more comfortable and happy.
I’m happy to answer any questions. 
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Thanks for sharing! Given that they don’t use wool flocking, how have you managed adjustments as horse develops more muscle?
I love the look of the stack house. It’s super pretty leather, and design, and is a super comfy saddle to ride in.
However, what I don’t love about them is the foam panels. I’ve seen a lot of horses fit to a Stackhouse, feel better, start using themselves correctly and then the saddle doesn’t fit well anymore 
there’s only so much they can adjust.
My other little negative thing is you have to kind of baby the leather. It needs to be stored on a soft cushioned saddle rack or you get rips or scratches on the panels underneath. Obviously for the money you should baby it, but still 
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My friend got her horse a Stackhouse. When it wasn’t fitting as well as it should David and Leslie told her that her horse’s back had changed and it needed a new custom saddle.
To be honest, the saddle never really fit without a half pad anyway. YMMV
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The foam strikes me as the biggest downside too — and the reality is that they just change so much.
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I have a Stackhouse dressage saddle and love it. I bought it for a horse that was five at the time, and David and Leslie made part of the tree points leather instead of metal and placed shims in there that could be removed as she muscled up. I never needed to do that, but they certainly had in mind the likely changes that would take place as she matured in her training. (she was injured slipping on ice and retired, then died so her training never went that far).
That saddle fits another of my horses well, and I’ve kept it because I have the baby of its original “owner” so I was HOPING it might fit him like it did his mom. I actually doubt it will because she was a tank and he’s an elegant thing, but we shall see.
They were a pleasure to work with and the saddle itself is gorgeous. The only other issue I have with it is that I’ve lost quite a lot of weight so it could be a size smaller and fit me a little better now, but that is hardly their fault!
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I have 4 Stackhouse saddles - all with wool flocking.
I’m so curious about custom saddles. What happens when you sell the horse? Sell the saddle with it? Can they be adjusted to fit a different horse?
The more I dive in to this stuff the more I am confused how people are buying custom saddles every time their horses changes shape.
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Yes - but if you are lucky a mare’s may fit her offspring with just a reflocking. 
EVERY saddle’s fit has to be maintained
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For sure, not questioning that. But if a saddle is custom for your horse with high withers or a particular breed etc… I assume it’s harder to fit to others, necessitating a new custom saddle every time…
I mean, I would love for that to be my world. But it ain’t. :D. I just find it super interesting.
I posted above….my saddle was totally custom for one KWPN mare, but she had a fairly common shape in general (WB tank with a bit of a mutton wither). When she was retired I thought about selling it, but it fits my QH mare beautifully. She is, unsurprisingly, a tank with mutton withers. Even though custom, that saddle has fit a wide range of horses that have gone through the barn, too…including Iberians, WBs, etc. for resale, it’s a really good shape. I think custom saddles can be so custom they are hard to sell (super narrow and asymmetric horses, looking at you), but most will also fit horses of a similar shape. I would tend to use pads on a horse with a lot of asymmetry, because with proper work hopefully that would diminish.
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Custom can mean different things. You can get a saddle customized to the rider’s specs but with pro panels or another common configuration to fit a range of horses. Riders who prefer a certain type of horse can make some educated guesses about what will work for them long-term. Panels customized for the horse can be swapped out for new ones if needed (not cheap, but not insurmountable). Wool saddles can be flocked to each horse so you can still get a custom fit from an off-the-rack saddle; mine was a demo model, not custom at all, but it’s wool flocked with an adjustable tree so it’s since been adjusted to fit my horse perfectly.
You can also buy custom saddles used if you know what panels your horse needs (and are easy to fit yourself). The panel configurations are stamped on the flaps for most brands. There are a lot of options out there between pro panels and ordering a new custom saddle for every horse, just because someone has something other than pro panels doesn’t mean they spent a fortune.
A hard to fit horse might demand a custom saddle whether the rider wants one or not. In that case you will probably lose money long-term, but if the alternative is a sore horse that you can’t ride…
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Most custom saddles are more or less semi-custom. It might not be that there’s not a used saddle to be found that would fit the horse but there’s not one available right now. At some point it’s just easier to go the semi-custom route. And then you flock/adjust as usual over the course of the horse’s life
Also I have seen many times horses sold WITH their custom saddle if they are truly a hard fit and the owner opts to go that route.
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Hi @Birdie ~ my apologies! Life has gotten in the way of my time on COTH, but I did want to answer your question.
I think adjusting fit is very specific to each horse, and it’s so dependent on age, breed, current weight and fitness versus anticipated weight/fitness, etc. When you talk to David and Lesley, you can bring this up and ask, specific to your horse, what changes in the horse may take place and how that can be addressed with saddle fitting.
The only time I had to get a new saddle for one of my ponies because it no longer fit him was when I disregarded David and Lesley’s advice and purchased a saddle for a 4-year-old. David and Lesley recommended that I wait a year at least to get him a saddle because of anticipated growth, but I took the chance and by the age of 6, he had gotten too wide for the saddle’s tree. He had also gained too much weight.
In a situation like that, and in many situations, no amount of “re-flocking” is going to fix that fit issue. Frankly, I think a lot of people fall back on adjusting flocking to try to make poorly fitting saddles work, and it’s not fixing the root of the problem—that the tree itself never fit or no longer fits.
But back to my predicament… normally, David and Lesley can re-tree a saddle if the horse’s tree size has changed 1 to 2 sizes either direction (again, though, this is specific to the horse). In this case, the difference in tree size needed was too great, and I did get a new saddle (after the pony lost the weight). If I had listened from the get go, I wouldn’t have been in this situation or, at least, would have had more options.
This second saddle was then re-treed for my current pony, and this is the same pony that David and Lesley came back to re-fit when I started having the shifting issues. Lesley identified the skeletal asymmetry in the shoulder and adjusted the panels to accommodate. The changes they made solved the issue, and I couldn’t be happier (and the pony is happy too 
).
So, in my opinion, if there is a fit issue, I want David and Lesley to see it in person and recommend what is best for the horse (or pony!). Whether the saddle has wool or foam panels makes no difference in how they address the issues.
I realize that may not be for everyone, but my husband and I are very focused on fit and are incredibly happy with our Stackhouse saddles. Each experience helps us learn more, and we are real advocates of getting the best equipment we can to make our horses/ponies as comfortable as possible.
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My first horse came with his saddle. It was common back then for the horse to come with all its tack and rugs.
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