Love hate?
Observations?
Trying to decide if I should hike an hour to pick one up to try. Thanks.
They are just a tad deeper than the more common Tristan. The seat will feel a tad softer-- just a tad-- because of the layered leather. The knee blocks will feel larger than on any Tristan, perhaps more like a Scandica. And the billets has one that attaches to the point of the tree. It’s a nice feature hard to find on older Stubbens. Since it’s not hard to add billets, don’t worry about it, but keep this one as a bonus. (On the Avalon I tried, someone had cut off the point billet.) The saddle will wear really well and look great for a long time. It will hold its value, but that should not be high in the first place. I think $600 would be a deal. I might pay $800 if the saddle were in great shape and me/the horse loved it. They are relatively unusual and going an hour to try one isn’t bad.
But! IME, the buffalo made this saddle really shiny and Slippery! The slippery was a deal-breaker for me. Insist on test-driving this particular Stubben Saddle.
Stubbens are hard to adjust for fit. My saddler won’t touch it - says she can’t. If you have a young horse that might grow, would opt for an adjustable tree.
I had one for a time - I wasn’t doing a whole lot of “serious” dressage training at the time. It wasn’t a memorable saddle. Obviously, I liked it enough to buy it, and it fit my fairly wide Arab/QH cross at the time, but I never really “loved” it (whereas I could wax on about a couple of other saddles I actually loved and regret selling!).
They have a unique look with the relatively flat cantle - I’m not sure if I would have purchased it again to do what I’m working toward now (2nd/3rd) - though I do like Stubbens in general…
Thanks so much. Saddle is good deal but won’t really be sure about fit til horse fills in so think I’ll pass
Just a note. Stubben has just started making a tree adjustment press available to saddle fitters to adjust the trees in ‘newer’ stubbens. According to my favorite saddle fitter anything that is a blue dot saddle is a good candidate
Oh that’s good to know. I am a Passier and stubben lover so that makes me happy 
