I recently bought a new horse and neither of my previous two saddles will fit. I have been riding in County Innovations, which I love (and so did my previous two horses!) but am not sure based on a few trial rides in the one version of my saddle that “sort of” fit my new horse if that’s the saddle for her. I am now saddle shopping and am trying to figure out what saddles feel like a deeper seat with both knee and thigh blocks?? Saddle shopping is worse than horse shopping!!
I would think these saddles would have very different feels. One is foam, one is wool. I understand the French foam saddles fit narrower than the English/German wool flocked saddles in general (based on my last shopping experience where we ended up ruling out all the French foam saddles for my mare). On the other hand, my impression is that the French foam saddles tend to have lots of rider support in the ways of rolls and blocks and so forth, There must be a reason everyone is switching to them, and it certainly isn’t their price or their durability, so they must feel like they give some position and security boost.
Se25 and S02 are CWDs current deep seats. SE01 and SE26 are their flater seats. SE03 and the mademoiselle are their flat eq seats (to me).
I sat in a Meyer this weekend and needed a crane to get out of it so that would be another deep seat brand.
Width is more of a function of the tree, not the panels. Plenty of wool saddles come with various rolls and blocks as options.
OP, what is it about the County that doesn’t seem to be right for this horse?
Voltaire Stuttgart is a deep seat, probably would feel closer to the County than any of the CWDs IMO. Butet makes a deep seat option but it’s not as popular as the half deep or the flat. I’d also suggest maybe looking at Equipe… they have a bunch of different models.
Thanks all! I do plan on asking my County Rep to bring some saddles over to try on her. She’s a totally different shape than my previous two horses that I used two different sized/shaped County saddles on. I am currently saddle-less and am using a variety of CWDs in the meantime. The majority of horses/riders in the barn have CWDs and that seems the way my trainer would like me to go…so I’m battling that. It’s just so hard! Getting saddles on trial takes $$$ and forever to ship them in and out. The only tack store with used saddles on commission is an hour from home with no traffic (ha! in Portland? as if!), so hard to get a saddle back and forth. But… I will figure it out.
Any thoughts on the Mademoiselle saddles from CWD?
I realize width is a function of the tree. But when I took my mares back tracings to a very competent regional consignment seller of nice used French foam saddles, the seller said that pretty much nothing would be a good fit. We popped the tracings into the panels of a number of brands. Seller would have been motivated to make a sale and keep me on notice if something appropriate came in but she basically said nothing would work except maybe one model of Equipe? I was surprised. Horse is a big paint with proper English withers, a nice topline, and shoulders
It’s a nice saddle but I’d call the seat more of a half deep and the feeling in the twist is more like some of the older French brands (Butet, etc.). Which is nice, but to me, it’s not very comparable to a County Innovation. I personally like the balance better of the Mademoiselle for the rider compared to the deeper seat other models of CWD–it’s a more forward balance. CWDs are also made to order, so you if you are buying used, you might see some variety in the blocks and rolls selected by the original owner.
I’m on my second French saddle and I don’t love them. The most comfortable saddles I’ve ever sat in were County saddles. Instant love. Sadly, despite several attempts, none fit my horse.
I find the CWD SE02 and the Voltaire Palm Beach similarly deep. I’m currently in the Voltaire but the balance wasn’t right and it was chafing horribly (same problem with the CWD), but the new panels I just got and the deep massages I have to give them per the Voltaire rep are helping break it in. It’s 95% better but I still regret not having a County.
I am very smitten with my mademoiselle. But you should really ride in them to see. Despite my size and anatomy on paper saying I should be in a 17.5” seat I am more comfortable and found my balance better in the 17” seat so that is what I bought. I agree the balance point for riders is better in the mademoiselles.
SE25 - the “half deep” 2Gs is going to have the closest feel to a county. The depth of the seat and the twist will be most similar, however there will be some differences of course brand to brand and in brand, year to year.
