Seriously, $8000 for a new CWD? No way on God’s green earth. Neither my trainer nor I like them. Plus I’m not paying more for a saddle than I did for my horse :).
I would love to look into a lightly used consignment saddle, but I’m in West BFE, North Carolina. Unlike Wellington, I can’t sit in a bunch of options here. I am working with a fitter, though, and she’s supposed to bring several to try next weekend. Hopefully that will give me some ideas. I’m glad to hear that people like the Butets. Of all the French saddles, they are the best IMHO. But they do have a bit of a flat seat…which, as an ammy of a certain age, I don’t love! They are also super pricey to buy new (although I certainly wouldn’t mind a recent model in good shape).
The local saddle fitter has been suggesting Forestier as a “cheaper” alternative to the Voltaire Palm Beach, and by cheaper I mean 6K. As I understand it, Voltaire bought the brand a few years ago.
If you’re looking for a deeper seat the Voltaire Stuggart is honestly the best jumper saddle I’ve ever sat in. I got one used from my rep for a couple thousand off the brand new price, and the thing had been ridden in once. Honestly nothing else I’ve ridden in compares to how great it is for my jumper and me. It was honestly night and day jumping her in that. I went to struggling on staying with her over 1.0 to jumping 1.25 easily in two weeks, just because it gave me the right foundation to put the skills I had into play.
While I’m not saying the saddle is a position miracle, it kind of was for me.
I LOVE my Butet Premium. I had a Tad Coffin before and rode in my boss’s Butet Premium…I never sat in the TC again and bought her exact Butet (panels, seat, etc. exact same).
The barn I worked for had ~30 horses at any given time from GP show jumpers to OTTB short stirrup lesson horses. None of the horses were back sore and all were happy. We had various half pads ranging from Ogilvy, to Thin Line, to just those ugly yellow foam things.
The majority of people in my barn ride in Voltaire saddles (including me), and I have yet to see a single one not hold up beautifully, including my trainer’s, which obviously gets a ton of use. Most are buffalo, and we all take good care of them (cleaning and conditioning appropriately). I think you need to try a lot of saddles and chose the one that works best for you and your horse, and if that turns out to be a Voltaire, you don’t have anything to fear re: its durability.
I love my Hastilow jump saddle built on an adjustable tree. Looks great after 5 years of use. I won’t be replacing it anytime soon. Hastilow is another Walsall, England based saddlery. They are small and don’t advertise or do sponsorships. They do custom saddles but less pricey than County. http://www.hastilowusa.com/
I got my Prestige Meredith when I graduated high school and I am 31 now. I took 5 years off riding at one point but the other 11 years have been riding 1-2 horses daily or almost daily. The saddle is in wonderful condition, has not had to have any repairs, and it fits most horses very well.
My trainer has the exact same saddle and she has been doing this for a looong time.
Prestiges aren’t the trendy thing right now, but they are less expensive than the “trendy” ones while still being very nice and durable. In my opinion you can’t beat that.
I sort of think durability is the wrong thing to emphasize. All of the high quality brands are going to be durable enough for an amateur rider for a good long time. Given the array of considerations in saddle taste and fit, I’d avoid something junky, but not obsess too much about whether the stitching is marginally better on this or that French saddle. I certainly wouldn’t sacrifice balance or fit for a more durable cut of leather.
I ride around 10 horses a week in my main saddle–a 2006 Butet–and it remains in beautiful shape after 12+ years of such treatment, even if it is “trendy” and “French.” I’ve replaced the foam panels once but done no other repairs. I also have a 1992 Butet that is in terrific shape, but I bought that one used and suspect it spent a bunch of those years sitting in someone’s basement.
If you’re a professional riding 10 horses a day, then maybe you should be more concerned about a saddle wearing out. But a lot of professionals of that caliber have access to sponsorships that substantially reduce the sticker price of a new saddle anyway.
Am probably older than most here. I have to go with Pariani and Stubben. Can’t beat the quality/durability. Haven’t bought a “new” saddle in probably over 25 years.
Unless prices went up in 2020, a brand new full buffalo Palm Beach should be about $6300 so a $6000 alternative isn’t really a great suggestion for “cheaper”!
I had this exact same experience! I had a County made for my old jumper (a TB) that fit my TB but not my WB. When I rode him in the County I would get jumped out of the tack- one year I was doing the High AAs at Upperville and lost my stirrups over fence 3, still didn’t have them for 4, and finally, thankfully, regained them in front of 5, which was a triple bar liverpool nightmare monster.
After that I ended up trying a bunch of saddles and found that the Voltaire Stuttgart was the absolute best for both me and my boy. I love it- it’s super comfortable and fits my horse without any extra padding than a Contender II square pad. I have scoliosis so being comfortable is really important- this saddle is unbeatable for my body shape. I was able to get a demo saddle for much less money than custom because it fit us both perfectly.
My dumb horse rolled in a small pond with it on and a couple of years later the seat started to look wrinkly, so my rep sent it back, and they put in a new seat, new billets, and a few other things, cleaned and conditioned it beautifully, and only charged me for the seat. There are a lot of Voltaires in my barn, mostly monoflaps. The trainer has two XC, one more jumper-y, and a dressage one, and most of the other people have both a XC and a dressage Voltaire. They seem to be all wearing really well. I have buffalo, and I believe most everyone else, does, too.
I think if there’s any way to try saddles before buying, do it. I’m also an ammy and starting to ride bigger jumps. I thought I needed a saddle with big blocks and lots of grip and a deep seat and honestly, what I needed was a saddle that just fit me and allowed me to get my leg around the horses. For me the best brands have been butet and hermes.
I would never have figured that out without trying them. This weekend when I tried horses in borrowed saddles, that really really became clear to me. I tried one horse in a butet (chestnut) and one in a voltaire (grey). The butet horse actually jumped a bit harder and rounder, and was narrower and harder to get my long legs around. But my position was better on him and I actually felt more secure even though he was narrower. So lesson learned, try as many saddles as you can before committing. For some, I bet they would have opposite results!
Gah I had an issue with her, too!! And so did a friend of mine; ironically she also has an Adam Ellis. She loves her saddle, but it had to be reflocked twice because Eileen did not flock it properly.
That was an amazingly difficult back to fit. Very interesting saddle.
OP, a lot depends on the shape of your horse’s back. Most of the French saddles are built on the same trees (not all) and have short tree points. If that works for your horse, great. If the tree doesn’t fit your horse, you can adjust the panels any number of times and it still won’t really fit.
I have had very good luck with Jeffries (I like the JMX so much I bought two in different widths), Kieffer, and County. My fitter loved my JMX and thought it was better quality than many more expensive saddles. Luckily my horse liked it too.
The right saddle that puts you in the right balance makes life so much easier. I agree with one of the other posters who suggested that you jump in the saddle you want to buy. I’ve tried saddles that were great on the flat but made me feel very insecure over larger fences.
I have to go with Pariani and Stubben. Can’t beat the quality/durability. Haven’t bought a “new” saddle in probably over 25 years.
