My Butet with the newer FB2 tree - love love love IT!! I have put it on several different horses and it fits them all pretty well!
[QUOTE=ktm2007;5397711]
Saddles are such a personal thing, I don’t know if the question “what are the best brands?” can really be answered.[/QUOTE]
Yep. The one that fits his back and your butt, with the former getting priorty! (Personally, I love my used Crosby PDN, despite loathing them as a kid, and now feel insecure in anything with more padding.)
1 Like
Most of the characteristics people want in saddles nowadays are simply based on marketing, fashion, and prevailing trends, and not necessarily functional considerations. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that the “best” saddle on the market is:
-well balanced
-fits both horse and rider
-good billets, in sound condition
-leather of good enough quality that it will have longevity
Secondary: if resale is a factor, a major brand name helps
Things that do not matter:
Knee rolls (many Olympic medals and equitation championships have been won both with/without–it’s not about the knee-rolls)
Deep/flat seat (many Olympic medals and equitation championships have been won both with/without–it’s not about the deep/flat seat)
French/English/German/Argentine (Quality is quality, no matter the accent of the salesperson or the origin of the maker)
New or used: there are scores of second-hand bargains available, particularly in (gasp) flat saddles, which are fully functional and often fit better than their well-padded counterparts.
I love my childeric and the prestige. I found the Prestige fine for the lower level stuff, but as we move up my childeric definitely helps me maintain my position better.
But I think Butet, Dev., Richard Castellow are some of the top ones out there.
[QUOTE=M. O’Connor;5419027]
New or used: there are scores of second-hand bargains available, particularly in (gasp) flat saddles, which are fully functional and often fit better than their well-padded counterparts.[/QUOTE]
I actually tried my old Steubben AP that had worked so well on my old OTTB. Did not fit Lucky AT ALL. The pancake saddle? Fits him perfectly. He’s far more comfortable and I’ve learned to live with sitting on a board (the lack of knee rolls doesn’t bother me.) As long as it fits his back and he’s comfy, and I’m not limping every time I get off, it’s good. And the saddle’s in amazing shape considering how old it has to be.
PJ DelGrange
My personal favorite is the PJ DelGrange. I have had mine for 10 years and I love love love it. It seems to fit a wide variety of horses, and is very balanced and comfortable. It has also held up very well over all these years.
I love the CWD, but my new trainer swears over the Regal saddle (custom), which is better for the horse and riders backs. www.regalsaddles.ca . He used to ride in Antares and had to go to the chiro at least 4 times a week, now its once a month. Its definitely a very comfortable saddle… I might get one in the future. Right now I dig my cwd and I have to admit the Tad Coffin was a great saddle as well. Tried an Antares and Pessoa Legacy and hated them both. Heard good about the Brunos and Butet but haven’t tried those yet.
My barn has been trying these saddles. They seem very nice, but I haven’t personally ridden in one yet.
Lots of interesting claims on that website. Some unsupportable. They’re the first “environmentally-friendly saddler” because they plant a tree for each saddle sold and take orders on iPads? How do they know what each other saddler is doing? There was one slip of paper for my Bruno Delgrange and the rest of the invoices/receipts were .pdfs.
And this gets a pfffft from me unless they decide to explain it further:
“But Voltaire Design is also the first saddle maker to get help from the fashion industry in the designing of our product.” You better prove to me that the fashion industry has some sort of legitimate knowledge about saddle design before that sentence means anything.
Maybe the saddles are great. But I’m not impressed with the “sales” pitch.
1 Like
I love my Childeric as well.
Mine has the knee blocks cut off and I couldn’t be happier without them.
It’s well balanced and doesn’t feel like too much saddle to me.
Another vote for the PJs and Del Grange saddles.
My personal rule is to run, not walk, away from anything that is foam filled and French. JMO.[/QUOTE]
This is a GREAT quote!
you do realize this thread is very old… check the dates
This and only this. There is no best brand, it’s the one that fits, both you and your horse and is within your budget.
I have a Luc Childeric (will be selling it soon), and just got a CWD. I found the Childeric to be very comfortable and it fitted almost every pony and small horse that I rode. My Childeric is 15 inches, so I am only selling it because it is too small for me.
I love my CWD and find it super comfortable. It is fairly new, so I do not know how ‘durable’ it is yet, but, so far I am a big fan!
I highly recommend both!!
Some things have changed since this thread was started 7 years ago. Some recommended on here are no longer available, prices have increased considerably on some and customer service has gone downhill on at least one often named. Don’t use it as a sole source of the current market conditions and product quality today.
3 Likes
I know this is an older thread but I LOVEEEEE my Voltaire. Like, you can pry it from my cold, dead fingers.
1 Like
