I’ve been showing English events at local, regional, and national APHA shows with my gelding for a few years and would like to add horsemanship as another class. As I start looking for a show saddle, does anyone have any suggestions on brands that I should look at? My English saddle has a medium gullet and my guy has some withers to him while being fairly narrow. I’d like to find something with a narrow twist as well. Any thoughts would be appreciated!
Do you have a trainer helping you?
Here the trainer has several show saddles and will help the students try them and find one that fits them and their horse and go from that.
A good show saddle is a bigger investment and will have an excellent resale value if it is a good one.
In my opinion, a Western saddle is harder to fit than an English saddle. Here’s a few links to give you an idea.
http://saddlemakers.org/id193.htm
http://www.rodnikkel.com/content/tree-and-saddle-fitting/factors-that-affect-tree-fit/
Since your horse takes a medium in an English saddle and not a wide, one could assume that you can start your search with a semi-quarter horse bars Western saddle. Of course though, there are no standards in Western saddles and one saddlemaker’s semi will fit like another’s full.
Your best bet would be to go to a tack shop with lots of options, and try them on your horse, with the help of someone knowledgeable about fitting Western saddles.
Does your trainer have Western saddles you can try?
For a good Western show saddle, even a used one, expect to put an investment into it. You get what you pay for, when it comes to quality.
If your horse has decent withers, you’ll especially want something with good gullet height. I’m not sure how the Crates saddles relate in their show saddles, but I had once tried a Crates Meleta Brown barrel saddle and it had wonderful wither clearance.
Consider whether you will be using a flank girth on your horse, if not a rounded skirt may be a better option. If you can find a Fallis Balanced Ride they fit many horses, and English riders often like them. Like this one…
I do work with a trainer, but unfortunately, all her horses tend to be more traditional stock type, where my guy is much narrower. I do plan on investing in a quality saddle, hopefully something to the extent of a used Harris or Blue Ribbon. Being in central Iowa, I don’t have any options for tack shops with multiple brands to try (that I know of anyway). I may have to wait until summer when I head to some larger show with vendors.
[QUOTE=csaper58;8036142]
Consider whether you will be using a flank girth on your horse, if not a rounded skirt may be a better option. If you can find a Fallis Balanced Ride they fit many horses, and English riders often like them. Like this one…
www.stansgarsaddle.com/detail.php?productid=542&catid=2[/QUOTE]
I don’t think you would want to show in that saddle, seems out of place with that style and finish for a show saddle.
I had one of those saddles that I used for ranch work, several hours a day, riding many colts each day and it fell apart in two years, didn’t hold up to real work.
Maybe to ride 45 minutes three times a week it would be ok.
Well if you are willing to pay shipping charges, there are several websites that will offer returns on saddles. Tricky part is that they can’t be “used” so it’s sometimes hard to not know how it rides if you can’t, for fear of putting a mark on it. Some websites will charge restocking fees for returns; just have to read the fine print.
Have you actually tried on any of your trainer’s saddles? Sometimes you may be surprised on how versatile saddle can be sometimes, at least well-made ones, on the range of horses they will fit. At least, it can give you a starting point on what brands/trees NOT to try.
The best place to figure out what saddle fits you horse is at those shows you attend. Your friends will have different saddles, and most are happy to let you try them on. You need to fit your horse and yourself.
Personally, I prefer the Harris for horsemanship. It seems to help me hold position better. I had Blue Ribbon, and it felt wider and flatter. I know others that prefer BR.
Now my ooooooold Circle Y was good too, but not the same quality anymore.
I loooooove my Circle Y trail show saddle. It had plenty of “freedom” for horsemanship and pleasure, and being a primarily english rider, I love this. I believe mine is SQHB and has fit a wide variety of horses.
