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Western Saddle Newbie

I have ridden English my whole life, and just recently have become very interested in riding Western for fun. I’m not looking to compete, just looking for a saddle to go on trail rides and light riding around my arena on my horses. I have two Arabians, and I would ideally be able to get a saddle that would fit them both, but I’m very unfamiliar with the way a western saddle fits so that may not be possible. For reference, my gelding rides in a wide gullet and my mare rides in a medium-wide, but I ride them both in each other’s saddles and use extra padding to fit them right. My gelding is 15.2 and about 1100 pounds and my mare is about 15.0 and 1000 pounds so they are very similar. The only difference would be that my mare, who I would most likely ride more in the western saddle, has a shorter back and more protruding withers. I’m also a college student, so I am definitely not looking to buy a custom saddle. I know that a custom saddle is going to be the best of the best, but right now I’m just trying to get some information and suggestions for a good starter saddle to see if it’s anything I would be interested in putting more money into :slight_smile:

So questions galore time! What brand do y’all recommend? What type of saddle? Is it reasonable to expect to be able to find a decent used saddle for $400-$500? Do I need to purchase a saddle with the intention of fitting one horse or can I expect to find a saddle that, combined with a proper saddle pad/half pad, will fit both? My dressage saddle is a 16.5 inch and my jump saddle is a 17 inch, so what would be the rough seat equivalent of that? Is there anything I’m missing that I need to know?

Thank you in advance for any and all help, this is definitely not my area of expertise but I’m really excited to learn more!

I have ridden English my whole life, and just recently have become very interested in riding Western for fun. I’m not looking to compete, just looking for a saddle to go on trail rides and light riding around my arena on my horses. I have two Arabians, and I would ideally be able to get a saddle that would fit them both, but I’m very unfamiliar with the way a western saddle fits so that may not be possible. For reference, my gelding rides in a wide gullet and my mare rides in a medium-wide, but I ride them both in each other’s saddles and use extra padding to fit them right. My gelding is 15.2 and about 1100 pounds and my mare is about 15.0 and 1000 pounds so they are very similar. The only difference would be that my mare, who I would most likely ride more in the western saddle, has a shorter back and more protruding withers. I’m also a college student, so I am definitely not looking to buy a custom saddle. I know that a custom saddle is going to be the best of the best, but right now I’m just trying to get some information and suggestions for a good starter saddle to see if it’s anything I would be interested in putting more money into :slight_smile:

So questions galore time! What brand do y’all recommend? What type of saddle? Is it reasonable to expect to be able to find a decent used saddle for $400-$500? Do I need to purchase a saddle with the intention of fitting one horse or can I expect to find a saddle that, combined with a proper saddle pad/half pad, will fit both? My dressage saddle is a 16.5 inch and my jump saddle is a 17 inch, so what would be the rough seat equivalent of that? Is there anything I’m missing that I need to know?

Thank you in advance for any and all help, this is definitely not my area of expertise but I’m really excited to learn more!

I think you should be able to find a nice saddle, used, for that price range. And I believe you can probably use it on both horses, with different saddle pads or blanket combinations. The western saddle tree spreads the rider weight above, over a bigger surface because of their tree. Exact fit is not usually such a big deal as it is with English saddle fit and their smaller tree surface on a horse. Plus you have thicker western saddle blankets and pads that help spread out the load too.

Things to consider while shopping for Arab bodies, include their shorter backs, usually withers with some height. Most Arabs I know have shorter, rounded skirt saddles, which don’t poke horse during tight turns as square skirts can. They are actually called Arab saddles or “built on an Arab tree” in their descriptions. Such models usually have a higher front gullet to fit those good withers. I want at least 2 fingers vertical above pad or blanket, before they touch saddle. More finger room is ok too. You don’t want saddle gullet touching the pad. I personally like big rings for my front cinch straps over in-skirt rigging designs. Seems the in-skirt types wear out faster, need repair to be safe as they age.

Have you visited any tack shops with used saddles? This allows you to sit on them, maybe try saddles on your clean horse. I put the saddle on horse over a clean bath towel. This lets you feel how saddle actually fits horse, no padding to cushion pressure areas as you run your hand under the saddle, between horse and saddle above. You want no pinch points, where hand can’t slide along easily, even girthed up snug, but not extremely tight. Saddle should fit his shape, lay slightly above the body. Maybe like a leather coat fits around a person? Perhaps such a tack shop has a resident saddle expert who can help with fitting the saddle. Any “tight” spot you feel will be worse with a riders weight in the saddle. Your blankets or saddle pad just is preventing abrasion of his skin, soaking up sweat. Not terribly thick in most cases, though dense is good. I look at pad or blanket washability too. Dirt on them will rub holes in the horse.

If you now ride a 16.5 seat on an English saddle, your western seat size will be much smaller. Maybe youth size at 14 or 14.5. The cantle behind you, can make a difference in fit too. The higher-rise cantle (like many barrel racing saddles) will need a slightly bigger seat size to allow comfortable shifting, adjustment, during rides, especially very long rides. That high cantle holds you more firmly in place than the older style, low cantle with a Cheyenne roll will. That lower cantle is the type of cantle you see on many show saddles. So the lower cantle allows you a comfortable, smaller seat size, while still letting you “move around” within that seat size. I ride a western, padded 14.5 or 15 inch seat, while I ride a 17 inch seat in an English saddle. I personally do not like an unpadded seat, especially for long hours of trail riding. You want to be able to sit in the saddle with your legs under you, same old head, hips, ankles in a straight line for practical equitation. Your stirrups will be adjusted longer than you use for English riding. Stirrups should swing easily so you can keep your feet/legs under your hips. You may want to ask about narrow twist saddles, which are usually more comfortable for females. At least try sitting on some, see if they feel any different, more or less comfortable to you.

On details, I want saddle strings so I can tie on a slicker, cantle bag with some lunch, water bottle, hoof pick, sunscreen. You can get strings added with a d-ring under the back Conchos if there are no strings. I am a “buckle and tie” person about girths. I do put the buckle tongue thru the hole, but also ALWAYS use a cinch knot on my saddle ring before looping up any left over girth-latigo strap. Be SURE to recheck your girth at the 15 minute mark after getting on and then once an hour during long rides. Girths do loosen, horses dehydrate, you need to readjust cinch strap tightness as the ride continues. I also use a breastcollar, it helps hold the saddle in position over up and down hill terrain, without needing to overtighten girth to keep saddle in place.

One last tip is to keep both phone and a couple horse treats, on your person, in case you and horse get seperated somehow. Luring horse back to you with treat reward could save a lot of time trying to catch him! Phone is with you when you need it, not in the cantle bag with silly horse!

Please post back on how things are going.

I am in the same position as you but I am interested in doing English and am looking for a saddle as well. It is hard to find good western saddles for cheap. Stay away from anything under 1000 unless you get it used. I tend to look on classified groups and find good deals on expensive brands. Some of the better brands I have found are Courts, Crates, Billy Cook etc. Stay away from circle anything. Ex: circle y. I am 5’6" and my saddle is a 14.5" but could do a 15" seat. I hope this helps. If you have any english saddle suggestions for me it would be much appreciated.

I believe there is a FB group for trading used gear for each of the major brands. Be aware that western saddle sizing is like women’s jeans. A size 7 in one brand fits very differently than a size 7 in another. Also, measuring gullet width or seat size doesn’t tell you as much as you’d think. Gullet width depends upon how the tree was made, and trying to measure it on a finished saddle isn’t completely possible. Same for seat size – the classic measure from base of horn to cantle can vary widely if the cantle is more “stood up” or the fork is more tilted forward. Better to measure between base of fork and where cantle meets seat: thigh space!

www.rodnikkel. com has a wealth of information about sizing a western saddle.

Be careful about getting a great saddle, in great condition, but is a decade or so old. They are beautiful but made for smaller horses than we tend to raise today.

Good luck. I find saddle shopping to be 2nd most difficult thing to do (horse shopping is #1)

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Guideline would be you would need about a 14.5 to 15 inch western seat. I myself have a 17.5 inch jumping saddle and am most comfortable in a 14.5 inch barrel saddle, so I am a bit outside the norm. It just depends on what you are comfortable with and what kind of saddle you have.

If you have friends with Western saddles, ask to try them on your horse! See how it fits the horse and see how the seat size feels to you. Thats your best bet to figure out what is going to work for you.

Your budget is reasonable for an OLDER name brand saddle. Last summer, I found an old Longhorn roping saddle for $300. Great condition yet and so very comfortable, even though the seat size was bigger than they advertised it for (they said 15 inch … it’s actually a 15.5 inch which is fine).

So look for things like Longhorn, Tex Tan, Circle Y, Billy Cook, Hereford, etc. Those old old brands. So long as they were taken care of, they will still last you many years to come if you just want it for casual trail riding.

https://www.horsesaddleshop.com/easy…mendation.html
^ Those are some templates that might be useful to see what fits your horses. You can keep the part you cut out of the middle and take it with you to tack stores or saddles you go to look at. In my local, used western saddles, older ones, are plentiful, and a lot of them have shorter rounded skirts that will work on Arabians. I think 26" skirt is what I’ve usually seen as the upper limit for many Arabian backs. Bona Allen, Simco, Big Horn, and American are some brands you might look at. American is probably my least favorite of those since their saddles just tend to be on the “cheap” side. Old Ralide trees are prone to stress cracking in winter in colder climates. Personally, I like the seat shape of the TexTan Flex tree saddles but I just don’t like flex trees at all. Nothing rides as well as an old school bullhide or rawhide srapped wooden tree, is my experience. Ralide trees can be quite jarring on some rougher-gaited horses.
“Equitation” type trees, of the modern ones, are the ones that tend to align you in the “classical” position. Reining saddles are designed so sit you back on your pockets with freely-swinging stirrups to put your feet out in front of you.

Their are “women’s” seats and "men’s seats. The men’s saddles are very wide across and kind of like straddling a barrel. The women’s seats have a different ground seat installed that builds the seat higher and narrows the place where a woman’s thighs have to straddle. The McCall “Lady” saddles like Lady McCall and Lady Pendleton are great examples of a narrower-waisted seat that is more comfortable for a woman.

This saddle is an oldie from the '50s or maybe late '40s that I cleaned up and relined. It’s wide across the seat, but not uncomfortably so. It also has more of the “classical” seating position vs. the chair-seat for reining. It technically has a 28" skirt but that length is all straight across the topline where it’s not going to jab a short horse in the hip. I have a round skirt Simco that is a shorter skirt.
https://s889.photobucket.com/user/saddles4sale_2009/library/SaddleKing?sort=2&page=1

https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/ac95/saddles4sale_2009/TexTan_Hillcrest/DSCN4335_zps2775f657.jpg
TexTan Hillcrest with TexFlex tree. Loved the seat shape but flex trees just have too many issues and really, the leather used in such saddles it too soft and lumps end up telegraphing through to your thigh and seat bones after heavy usage.

Looking for a Western Saddle that would fit a very high withered quarter horse. I have tried about six so far and they do not clear his withers unless I go to barrel racing saddles. Looking for somewhat lightweight but FQHB as he is very muscular and wide. Anyone know a brand that fits high withers? It’s so tiring. I have different pads, but just can’t get the clearance.

I recently purchased my first western saddle fort arab. I wanted it for exactly what you described. I went with the big horn ladies trail saddle. I was also recommended to look at fabtron. They are a mix of leather and synthetic and very comfortable and affordable. Also great reviews and many modes! I highly recommend visiting horse saddle shop.com. They have a wealth of information on saddles, fitting, brands, and reviews.

Coates, Dale Martin, Courts or even Reinsman make quality saddles. The Cecil Phillips (barrel saddle) is comfortable, shorter and usually fits horses with withers. Try to seek out someone familiar with proper fit of western saddles to help you with your selection. Lots of good advice has been shared here. Ride as many as possible. Agree with others, 14 to 141/2” seat should work. Might need more $ for the brands I listed but ya never know, everything is on sale right now! Good luck with your saddle search!

If you’re looking for a saddle that fits a short backed horse and is good for trail and not too expensive, try a round skirt Fabtron Arab saddle! The “arab” label really just stands for a tree that’s more likely to fit the Arab frame, though if you know what kind of tree your horse works in you don’t need the label necessarily. I bought one for my short backed gaited Rocky Mountain who was big shouldered but high withered and the gaited fabtron saddle worked for its wide gullet which she needed for freed up shoulder movement. I’ve seen about half a dozen folks at my boarding facility with Fabtrons since they are affordable and well made. They may not last as long or be as fancy as a billy cook, but with good upkeep and care they should last for several years. One gal even had hers for 20 years! They’re also lighter than most western saddles since they are partially synthetic, which I like since I’m weak as hell lol. I’m 5’6” and 130lb and ride in a 15” seat comfortably.