Oh, yeah, Adrienne is great! That is who sold me my L&R for this mare.
Just wanted to pop in to say as someone who has ridden in hennig and county. County saddles are much wider measurements the most other saddles on the market, in regards to N/M/W.
There is absolutely NO industry standard on tree sizes.
So if I had an XW hennig and an XW county side by side I would expect the hennig to be about 2 centimeters narrower then the county.
I’m loving my Albion. My DHH moves great in it.
I want to revive this thread to ask @Cowgirl if the Ellipse saddle was still working for her horse(s). It’s time to replace my dear old Hennig. I’ve worked with two saddle fitters and haven’t found a solution for my extra wide, flat-backed horse. One fitter does have a used saddle she thinks will work for my horse, but there is a steep fee for me to try it and I’ve already returned one saddle and resold another.
It seems the Love and Ricketts Ellipse would be a good match for my horse and I found one on Ebay, but wondered about the twist. Does anyone else have some experience with this saddle? I’m a deep seat, narrow twist person.
I very much liked the demo Ellipse and would recommend it if you have a good local fitter. The person who fit my horses locally and worked with the remote seller/fitter recommended the hoop tree, and when my custom saddle came, it was too wide flat shaped for my horse. I ended up determining that I needed to buy local and use a different fitter so I bought a Fairfax World Class for each horse (two of them) and I love them (one horse is a wide and the other is an mw, but the local fitter I used for the Lovatt & Rickets said xw and w and was wrong as she measured too far back). I recommend that you try both. I think the Ellipse and the World Class are good transitions from a beloved Hennig. Both have narrow twists and a similar knee block position. Fairfax just came out with a new version that has a full panel and a softer seat, but a slightly different angle to the knee block (World Class II). Mine have adustable front panel blocks but are really half panel saddles. For the wide horse, I would have been happy with the Ellipse demo if I had kept it, but I love the adjustable gullet plate in the Fairfax because the saddle presses destroyed my Hennig saddle and I’d rather not use them. Also, I lost track of how wide my Hennig was due to the adjustments on a press. Similar narrow twist in both (maybe more so in the Fairfax).
If your horse is really wide and flat backed, the Ellipse hoop tree is for you. Contact Adrienne Hendricks as she is wonderful.
Thank you so much! There are two wide Ellipses on EBay, but I’m a little gun shy after two misses. My challenge is finding an independent fitter. The two who are somewhat local are reps for different companies. They will work on other saddles, but would rather you buy new from them.
The Saddlebank in the UK has a huge selection of Fairfax saddles. They will change the tree on any saddle you would like to buy. My horse does need a hoop tree, so I would need to look into those. I’m short, 5’2”, so I prefer a shorter flap.
I’ll keep my Hennig. I thought about buying a newer one, but since the saddles are no longer supported here, I won’t.
One more thing. Do you change the gullet plates on the Fairfax by yourself?
You can change it yourself. I use a saddle fitter who also checks the wool flocking (it has prolite lined panels but it fully wool flocked) and if I need a different sized gullet plate (I refit the original one I bought for my MW 3 year old, and she did that for me) she just swaps them out without charging for another one. I bought the saddle from her. I did have the original one fit xw at first so that I could use it on my now retired horse that is flat backed (the one I bought the Hennig for) and it fit her nicely. When I bought the Fairfax, they had all the models that I could sit in and there was a huge different with twist and block placement. The World Class model was the closest to the Hennig for me as it has the narrowest twist and a similar knee block. If you are interested in the Ellipse, Adrienne often has a demo saddle.
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Thanks! I need to find out if there is a fitter for Fairfax who comes to my area. I did see Adrienne is in Idaho, so will contact her to see if she comes to Oregon.
It seems in the past I have been able to buy saddles on my own that were a good fit, with only small adjustments needed. Now, apparently everything I know is wrong. Or, maybe not. It’s frustrating.
as an aside, I have a “Technical and Traditional” adjustable model from Ideal and I am surprised by how wide it fits - the extra wide gullet is 107 degrees, which is really quite wide. The medium is too wide for my guy who is in a MW Albion.
That might be worth a look. I can take photos of the shaping of mine if you’re interested. I liked the tree shape and seat on it better than the Fairfax I tried.
Thanks! I looked at the Fairfax and it has a more “A” frame tree. A hoop tree will work for my horse.
Try the Fairfax low wither classic model they have. It fits my u-ish shaped QH really well.
I’ll try to find some examples. My horse is chubby right now and should lose some weight once the spring grass is not so rich and he goes back to full work. That’s another challenge
I’ve had great luck with HDR, Albion, and Ansur saddles. None of them were the fanciest but they fit my horses well and didn’t create issues. I prefer a less is more approach and these all worked well for me in that regard.
Here’s the top pluses and if it didn’t work out the reason:
Albion: First saddle for my thoroughbred/andalusian mare with a medium-wide tree. Best part of this saddle is I didn’t feel like it bothered her (a big deal because she was a baby and this was her first saddle!) and it felt very balanced. Training for canter leads was easier than expected and I think this saddle being so sable helped in that regard. Negative was there was some slight interference with her shoulders that may have been more problematic as she moved up the levels. She ended up growing out of it before that happened and I consigned her saddle.
HDR: Did not expect to like this saddle and it was actually taken on trial with a group of 5! Ended up purchasing this consignment saddle and it had the benefits of the Albion with a wider tree and no hint of shoulder restriction. It’s another simple, easy to clean and use saddle that some people hated at the barn and shows. I had one boarder tell me “HDR is a hunter/jumper brand and shouldn’t have been brought into the barn.” People at shows were more polite but I did have several “I didn’t realize such a cheap, inexpensive saddle would work” comments while showing 2/3 level. After retiring my mare, I consigned this saddle because I felt like it would be best to start my next horse with what worked best without my history and preference. And I was totally broke haha
Ansur: This was my dream saddle and the only one I purchased new. Most importantly, it fits my Andalusian mare perfectly and allowed her to grow with it (started her at 4 and she’s now 11). What I appreciate most about this saddle is it works well for riders with a soft seat and horses sensitive to contact. It’s been a huge favorite at the barn and I’m always happy to let people try it. A downside, you have to be a strong rider to a certain degree because some of the supports of a traditional saddle are not there. I had to really look at my position and work on my posture because I experienced some back pain that wasn’t present using lesson horse saddles and those my trainer generously let me try for extended stretches. That resolved after I strengthened some weak areas in my body through no stirrup work and home Pilates exercises. My mare hasn’t shown any signs or symptoms of discomfort whatsoever. She’s also become less girthy and anxious about being saddled. It’s very light weight, easy to care for, and seems to allow my horse to move freely as intended.
Hope this helps anyone in the saddle search 
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You have all been so helpful! I’m not sure what is going on with saddle sellers, though. I found two extra wide saddles on Ebay that I think will work. One seller won’t respond to a simple question. I’ve sent her a message twice. Another has a saddle listed on Ebay for $700 more than it is listed on Facebook and her website. When I asked a question about the saddle yesterday and mentioned the price difference, I saw she removed the Facebook ad. The website still shows the lower price.
Makes me gun shy. I’ve bought and returned sold two saddles during my recent search and people have been super good at communication. This is so frustrating.
Generally when buying used, and especially the brands that are more favored elsewhere, I buy from reputable UK consignment sites. All of them have been great about giving me measurements/taking extra photos, and the saddles are often significantly cheaper to boot.
Years ago, I bought a new saddle from the UK and loved the price! I paid less than a $1,000 for a saddle that was selling for over $2,000 here. That included shipping.
The Saddle Bank is a great website with a huge selection of British-made saddles. Sometimes I think it would be easier to take tracings to the little town of Walsall, where almost all of them are made.
Apropos of absolutely nothing, my husband’s grandfather was a saddler in Walsall. About 120 years ago…
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I bought a saddle from the UK and it was $110 shipped and insured. It was less than some of the domestic shipping prices that I’ve seen!
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True! It costs about $150 to ship from the UK now. It cost about $175 to ship vis Fed Ex here. UPS is over $200.
