I’ve been riding in a borrowed TexTan Flex Tex endurance saddle with no horn. My time with this saddle draws to an end and I have to find one of my own. Of course I’m looking for that particular type, but my knowledge range of Western saddles is very limited. Fella takes full bars BTW.
So I’m on craigs list and find this;
http://reading.craigslist.org/grd/4996839215.html
What do you think? It has a horn I see, but is it too heavy? Is this a good brand?
Paula
It would be too heavy for me. How strong and how tall are you and how tall is the horse?
JC Martin makes a fair saddle, that model is 1,000.00 when new so not the best and not to be confused with a Martin Saddlery Brand.
35lbs is about normal for a Wade Saddle, most good brands are slightly heavier.
Even a good regular Trail Saddle will weigh 28lbs or more, so 35lbs might seem heavy, but after all Western Saddles weigh more then the frilly English Saddles …lol…
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I still can’t figure out why everything in western has to be so bloody heavy - even my big wool pad is an armful.
[QUOTE=Preposterous Ponies!;8124920]
I still can’t figure out why everything in western has to be so bloody heavy - even my big wool pad is an armful.[/QUOTE]
Nobody ropes angry cows in a dressage saddle, that’s why. Complaining about weight with western tack is like complaining that your full size pickup doesn’t get the same gas mileage as your Toyota Prius.
The only way I know is to try it on your horse and see how it fits both of you. 35 pounds isn’t terrible. Some of the roping saddles with stirrups, all the fittings and breast collar are over 50#. My saddle is fairly light and it is a ladies all around.
Wade type saddles tend to fit horses well. You do get what you pay for in a saddle. People tend to love or dislike Wade or a-fork saddles. I had a modified Wade and I did not like it. Fit my horse well though. I recently rode in a true custom Wade that my cowboy trainer had. Still didn’t like it. Stirrup bars to far forward and seat still was too flat for my pelvis.
For a nice light weight saddle don’t ignore a good quality barrel saddle. I wasn’t interested at first but during my saddle woe period, I had a couple that worked well until I settled on my current customized Courts saddle.
Try on lots of saddles. You may get it right the first time or the 20th.
If you’re looking for a western dressage saddle, a wade has the right general shape (minimal/no swells etc), but it’s a pickup truck…it’s a roping saddle. 35 lbs will be on the light end of that style of saddle.
I don’t care for having that much weight in a saddle just to fart around in. Too heavy, awkward to load on a rear tack for us shorties trying to wrestle them.
[QUOTE=aktill;8124985]
Nobody ropes angry cows in a dressage saddle, that’s why. Complaining about weight with western tack is like complaining that your full size pickup doesn’t get the same gas mileage as your Toyota Prius.[/QUOTE]
but you don’t rope one in a reiner, either.
Thanks, guys. I texted my trainer and she said I wouldn’t like it as I prefer closer contact, and that yes, it’s heavy. It was one I came across on CL. There’s also a tex tan on Ebay that if it’s still there on pay day I’ll get it. Other than that there is a neat tack shop about an hour from me (Original Horse Tack Company) that has a number of types to try.
BTW Wintec makes a synthetic Western saddle. Has anyone tried them?
Paula
[QUOTE=PeanutButterPony;8125007]
but you don’t rope one in a reiner, either.[/QUOTE]
Fair enough, but they’re built more or less the same as roping saddles under the skin. The thickness of the ground seat/thickness of tree bars and rawhide/weights of leathers are generally the same, with maybe slightly weaker trees and slightly lighter leathers.
Let me put it this way…the seat on a dressage saddle above the tree is generally one or two 1/32" layers of webbing, 1/8 or more of foam padding, and 2-4 oz (1/32"-1/16") of leather. If a dressage saddle falls off a horse and lands on concrete, the fall will often score right through the seat leather on the cantle top.
On even a reiner you often have 1/32"-1/16" of tin, 1/4-1/2" of leather in the ground seat, and AT LEAST 3/16" or more of leather over that. A fall off a horse scuffs it…that’s about it.
I picked up a used JC martin a few years ago and was extremely unsatisfied with the quality. They cut every corner they could with materials when making that saddle - even my Fabtron has better quality leather on the bits that are leather.
I test rode a Wintec at one point and it had an uncomfortable seat and I had to fight the whole ride to keep my feet under me and stay balanced. Everyone has a different body and YMMV.
My favorite saddle is 40lbs fully rigged and I can swing it up one-handed (and have it settle down softly) even on tall horses and I have severe tendonitis in both arms, so I’m no strongman! Once you learn the trick to it it’s easy. I don’t even look at weight anymore when buying a new saddle.
[QUOTE=aktill;8124985]
Nobody ropes angry cows in a dressage saddle, that’s why. Complaining about weight with western tack is like complaining that your full size pickup doesn’t get the same gas mileage as your Toyota Prius.[/QUOTE]
It was a bit of a joke. I know why they’re heavy, but it sure makes that walk to the tack room seem just a bit longer.
First of all, a Tex Tan flex endurance saddle and a Wade roping saddle are two completely different saddles.
How do you know the Wade will fit your horse?
How do you know that you will like riding in the Wade?
For those complaining about heavy western saddles, well then don’t get a heavy saddle if you don’t want one. To me, 35 pounds is nothing. It’s a 45-pound saddles that are getting up there and is difficult for my chicken arms to get onto the back of a horse.
Western saddles have much larger trees than English saddles, which one can argue, allows the weight of a rider to be spread over a larger area instead of concentrated in a smaller area.
One thing I want to keep in consideration regarding weight is the total weight my horse is carrying. I weigh 169 so if my saddle weighs 40 then we’re talking 204 for Fella who is about 1500 lbs would be carry about 14% or so of his weight.
Paula
Paula, if you are ok with synthetic, then I encourage you to get or try a Fabtron. They are softer to the hand than the Wintecs, and very well put together. I think Valley Vet does a trial program.
I presently own three all leather ‘real’ western saddles, all of varying degrees of heavy 
the heaviest is a custom with a bicycle seat, double rigged. It’s got to be 40 lbs, I need to weigh it. It’s my favorite but it’s a heavy sucker. My point was I wouldn’t buy a Wade just to trail rider or school in- that’s my short shelf talking. I think it’s too much truck for the job 
A framed saddles are the initial western saddles.
There is a reason swells evolved, they give more security in the saddle and are not any heavier or less close contact than Wade type saddles.
How light and how much contact you have in any western saddle depends on other than if it is built on an A frame tree or not.
There is a reason A framed old saddles had bucking rolls added to them, or rolled up thin wool blankets, before saddle makers started adding proper swells to them.
Any saddle may or not fit a horse or human, each one is built the way we are and that is why the many saddle types out there, to fit any one different type of horse and human.
The best is to try several saddles until you find one that fits best all around and will do what you want.
If you want to look old timey buckaroo, then you are tied to trying A frames until you find one, others won’t fit there.
If that is not important, then you have more of a selection.
If you don’t need a specific saddle, other than it be western looking and light, look at the less extreme barrel racing ones, not quite so tall horn and so deep seat.
When it comes to quality, you can find very nice used quality saddles, for less than new cheap saddles, something to consider.
This doesn’t answer your initial question, but looking at the underside of that saddle I would pass. The fleece underside is worn more on one side than the other - so either the horse it was on was crooked or the rider was crooked or perhaps the tree was crooked. Either way, I’d suggest not to buy it.
To me 35 lb is on the heavy-but-doable side of things. If you’re not going to be roping, though, you can certainly get away with a lighter saddle and there are plenty of saddlemakers out there now who are making “western dressage” type saddles. I got a Wade trail saddle, so not as heavy as a working ranch saddle, but still a slick fork that gives me a close contact feel. I have ridden in a few Wades by different saddle makers and to me they felt closer contact with good alignment than other style western saddles I’ve sat in. But, like Bluey said, it is all personal preference and conformation and fit for each horse and rider.
To me there are so many nuances with western saddles that it would be practically impossible to buy one online (from a private seller or eBay - I understand that there are some good online resources that will help you measure) and have it magically work out. Your best bet is to get yourself down to the tack store and get your butt in as many saddles as possible.
You guys rock; for your observations about different types of saddles, and your observations about that particular saddle for sale.
Today I tried a truly Western saddle the trainer had sitting in the tack room. It was heavyish -I’d say about 30lbs. The maker’s mark was SQ, but she didn’t know what that brand was. It had been in the tack room for a while. Well Fella hated it -went right back to sucked-back draft cross right away. After how dramatic a difference he showed the moment we tried the Tex Tan Tex Flex I could tell within a few steps this wasn’t working for him. It was like pushing rope. I didn’t particularly like how much saddle was between me and the horse, but I imagine I could have gotten used to it. But, message received, we went right back to the borrowed Tex Tan. Unfortunately it’s going away on Thursday.
I wonder if it’s the flex tree that he’s responding too? I like the Tex Tan -it fits me very well. It’s a 15.5. There’s a 16 for sale on Ebay. I can’t imagine that 1/2 an inch is going to make a difference. Hopefully if all works out I can buy it and get it here by the weekend! If not I’ll swing by the Original Horse Tack Co and try their Big Horn Flex Tree endurance saddle that looks alot like the Tex Tan Flex tree.
Here’s the Tex Tan on ebay. Pocket Pony, maybe your wise eyes would give the pictures of this saddle the once over?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/201263693990?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2648&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
I don’t know anything about the Tex Tan flex tree saddles - do they come in just one tree size for the horse but different seat sizes for the rider? Have they gone through a few incarnations; meaning, could the one on eBay be somehow structurally different than the one you’ve been riding in? (One time I tried a Martin and really liked it but it was too big for me. Unfortunately I found out it was an older tree model and they had gone to a new style of tree that had more rock, which wasn’t necessarily what I needed.)
The pictures of this one look okay in terms of even wear.
This is a frivolous question, but if you want to go all cowgirl, wouldn’t you like a horn on your saddle?
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