I was coming here to say this. Who cares? If it fits and works for you, go for it.
Would it be the same feeling if this was a cheapo no-name logo? (or would that be a point of pride, such-and-such cheap old brand from when I was a kid fits me fine!! I don’t need those fancy new things!)
The benefit of buying something custom is that you can just… get one without the huge contrasting logos. CWD has an option to get all their models without the carbon fiber accents now too, IIRC.
I have had two custom French saddles that came with the tasteful little name plate on the cantle. Both of them were terrible fits for me and made riding very unpleasant. One I sold at a loss to buy the other one. That saddle I just traded in for a CWD Mademoiselle, which has the CWD logo on the cantle, and I couldn’t care less. I just put an old bridle tag on the D ring for identification purposes.
I ride at a small barn where everyone gets along. When I was sick of the discomfort caused by my old saddle, I got to ride in a bunch of other people’s until I found one that fit and then bought my own. (Shoutout to High Line Tack for making it easy.) It has transformed my riding. The fact the everyone can see the logo is fine with me.
Good points from those who say the high-vis brand name is a minor concern alongside fit for horse and rider. I do hope, though, to ride minus the billboard. Although maybe I could become a social media phenom if I adorn the brand name in garland and battery-powered fairy lights. Hmmm.
I have an EQ saddle Science (fwd x country jump flap) with a 19 inch seat.
What is very tall?
I’ve had a 18” Voltaire 3aaa and a 17.5 Voltaire 3aa. (To fit different horses)
I’ve been 130lbs and 200lbs and always needed that 18ish seat.
It took lots of trying saddles to find a good fit. Really liked my voltaires. Sold the English horses and the saddles.
Update. A secondhand 18.5’’ CWD 4C has arrived. It looks mighty big. I may be able to try it on Horseypants tomorrow.
Half of me is really excited. The other half feels as I did when my house’s seller accepted our offer 20 years ago. I hung up the phone and threw up. It’s crazy 'spensive but could be much worse and when you’re this hard to fit…
How is the new saddle?
Finding out tonight. Thanks for asking. I’ll post results.
Well, it looks like whatever Amberly posted went POOF. I was trying to figure out what he/she said, and I can’t see it. 
Tried the saddle and although it was good for me, it wasn’t for La Horsey. Onward!
Straight into saddle fitting hell!
Sorry, I couldn’t help myself. Saddle shopping is special
Coach did me a real service by videoing us at the trot, to show how it wasn’t working for La Horsey’s back. We talked about shims, etc. but I’m going to Goldilocks it until one really clicks.
Check out the Peddling Pony Equestrian Consignment on Facebook.
If I had FB! I’ll ask a friend to log on for me. Thanks for the tip.
I ride in a Stubben Portos Elite I got second hand. Stubben has a bunch on their website which is where I got mine and they have been the best saddle company to deal with. It has an NT tree with the optional long tree points as opposed to the short tree point option for the NT tree. The NT has a narrower twist with a longer flatter tree/seating place for the rider. The flatter tree is perfect for my horses back shape. I am about 5’11" – 6’ tall, curvy, and I have a VERY long leg. When I was fooling around and wasting my time with certain trendy French saddle brands (yes I made the mistake twice with two different companies) that made my horse backsore, my leg was pushing the 3AAR flap, 18". HOWEVER, my horse’s back is configured with a slightly longer lumbar and shorter weight bearing length comparatively. Despite being a 16.3 athlete, his back max length for a saddle is really pushing it at 18" so I was lucky to find my beloved second hand Stubben in a 17.5" which is perfect and I love it more than any custom saddle I tried. I lucked out in a major way finding a saddle with a freaky forward flap and 17.5" seat. I honestly cannot recommend it enough. It took me 18 months (the entire time I have owned my horse) and two failed custom saddles but I found a unicorn saddle I will never part with!!
From “Stall Side Story,” now in previews. Eat your heart out, Stephen Sondheim.
There’s a saddle for us
Somewhere a saddle for us
Super-long and forward flaps
Wait for us somewhere
There’s a fitter for us
Someday a fitter for us
Time together to assess our femurs
Time to measure our brontosaurus warmbloods
Someday
Somewhere
We’ll find a new way of riding
We’ll find a way of sitting
Hold my reins
And I’ll take you there
Someday
Somewhere
For the long-legged masses breathlessly awaiting the outcome: I had a parade of saddles on trial but finally a, you know, professional found a (slightly used) glass slipper. I’m significantly poorer — like, “Who wants to start a crypto fund and rip off the seed investors with me?” poorer — but this was worth the wait.
It’s an 18” CWD Se25, 2Gs, 4C flaps, pro panels [cough I’m quite obviously not a pro so I prefer to call it “serial lessee panels” cough], carbon fiber tree, buffalo and calf.
This gorgeous chunka leather had been taunting me for months on the CWD site. But I had tried an SeSomethingOrOther via that site, plus other brands from elsewhere, and had lost my taste for boxing up and returning because clearly I had no idea what I was doing without expert intervention.
A CWD super-great fitter worked with me and horsey in person, searched the used inventory and came up with … the saddle that had been calling my name. Bonus: It has a subtle bit o’ bling. I’m the least bling person on this Earth. But this bling blinged to me. I find myself missing it when we’re apart. It’s really that beautiful.
So the saddle-hunt horror is over. Thanks for listening.
See how easy it is to get used to the logo on the cantle?
I’m scheming for a way to cover it. Like a fly bonnet but for a cantle? Or a bumper sticker: “My Other Horse Is A Car”
I have a bridle tag like this one on a D-ring. Some people get a skinny bridle plate and put it on the sweat flap.
https://www.doversaddlery.com/bridleaccessory-plate/p/X1-32308/
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