Hi! I am new here. Just been browsing the topics and you all sound pretty cluey!
I am thinking of starting endurance riding some time in the near future. I have been researching saddles and would like to know your opinions of these brands, as they are the ones I like the look of.
Tucker: Equitition endurance, endurance trail and river plantation.
Trekker Neutron and Trekker leather without horn.
I like what I’ve read about them, particuarly the Tucker, but I want to know personal experiecnes. If I do choose to get one then I would not be able to try it first, I would have to have it delivered to Australia from USA as saddle shops here don’t carry those brands. In fact, they carry very little in the endurance range and I don’t really like what’s available here.
Also if you know of any other saddles that have a similar appearance. I like the security of this style but I definately don’t want a horn. I don’t mind fenders or english leathers. I usually ride in an Aussie stock saddle but I find it puts me slightly behind the movement and I would like to be more centred.
I am mainly looking for comfort (rider and horse), and security but not constriction.
Thanks in advance for your help. 
I have had both- A Tucker Montreal Trooper Light and a Trekker Neutron.
I LOFFED the Tucker- my favorite saddle and I logged tons of miles in it- comfy, fit most of my horses (TWH’s and Morgans). Unfortunately I had to sell to pay medical bills from a bad accident.
I HATED the Trekker with a passion. Terribly unconfortable, not great quality- didn’t fit anything I had right either. I sold it on Ebay
I was interested in a Tucker a few years ago but the saddle fitter told me that a Tucker either fits great, or not at all. They’re heavy, and the tree is oddly shaped apparently?? I don’t know anything about it other than what she told me. I’ve looked at them a couple of times in the tack store, but they seem like gargantuan beasts. I like saddles that are light as a feather. I figure I’m big enough without adding another 40 pounds to the payload.
LOVE my Tucker Aussie, got it from one of the COTHer’s. It was used and about 10 yrs. old and very well taken care of and broken in. Went through several other saddles (we trail ride alot). It fits my high withered QH and also my arab! How often does that happen? I just use a different pad. It does seem to center you more than a “regular” aussie…I hated mine.
I have a Tucker Endurance with the Enduro Balance rigiing and luff it! It most definatly is not heavy (22 pounds) and with the regular tree fits all of my average width horses very well. They alos have a wide tree and even an x-wide tree on some models and if you go to the company website there are tracing instructions so you can get advice direct fromt he company as to what tree size may work for your horse. The other bonus is many models have short trees and I am able to use my Tucker on even the shortest backed Arab. And the seat is so soft and comfy and puts you in a very balanced spot.
I have a Tucker River Plantation. I loff that saddle.
Not too heavy…it only weighs 23 lbs so it’s not a 40lb monster, good Lord… Excellent leather quality with a soft, buttery feel.
Stirrup leathers easily adjust from my 6’ husband to tiny me at 5’4". Secure feel, excellent quality. Ample tie rings and saddle strings.
Fit is impossible to guess- it fits my one TWH to a T, the other not at all.
My favorite is the River Plantation–balanced, secure, and oh so comfy. 
In my experience, they best fit a horse with some curve to it’s topline–it it’s spine is prominent and super straight, these saddles can rock or bottom out under your seat. Fits my tall TWH like a glove
Okay -
loffed
luff
loff
So…does anyone ever just LOVE something? Sheesh. Is that a bad word now, or what? We can say hate here, but we can’t say love?? where’s the fruitbat on this one? laugh!
Can anyone tell me exactly what the trees are like in these saddles? I’m just curious because of what that saddle fitter told me. I should have asked more questions, but I was overwhelmed with info at the time.
I say Loff on COTH because every time I do, it reminds me of Willem. I like that.
I don’t know how to explain the tree- there’s a lot of rock to it and it’s narrow in the front. Somehow it’s fine with my shapely TWH filly but not a good fit on my pocket rocket TWH.
This is it on the horse it doesn’t fit well…it wiggles back off his shoulders:
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b7d928b3127cce8744a3ec76f000000026108AZN2TRm4Yt9
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b7d928b3127cce8744a3adf78100000026108AZN2TRm4Yt9
and the filly it does fit beautifully.She’s much rounder and shaplier than he, as you can see here with them side by side. She’s a big baby!
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b7cf25b3127ccebf7f0d01c41f00000026108AZN2TRm4Yt9
saddle itself:
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b7dc22b3127cce81072d9bbf2b00000036108AZN2TRm4Yt9
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b7dc22b3127cce810722f77ee800000025108AZN2TRm4Yt9
No clue who Willem is. ??
Thanks for the pictures, I will check them out tonight. I can’t open links within posts from work.
Willem was Correene’s lovely old German horse. The original talking horse on COTH. If the favorite’s forum is still available… he’s all over it. He typed with a German accent, and brought tears to my eyes more than once with his tales. He is sorely missed by me, and many others. She lost him a few years ago.
The Tucker web site has a good couple of pages on how the saddles are made. I currently am riding in a friends Tucker Endurance and I found that I don’t like it for the following reasons:
a. It’s a heavy, big monster of a saddle. (My opinion, short person with tallish horse and compared to toting around a WINTEC)
b. I’ve found I don’t want to ride with western rigging. Fat, swaybacked, fuzzball horse=slipping saddle and PIA to tighten girth. The Tucker Eq Endurance does come with english rigging however.
c. Saddle puts me in a fairly decent position but I have to work to get my butt out of the tack. So I know I’m in more of a chair seat than I’d like.
d. Found out that the large metal pommel is annoying and for someone who likes to jump on trails the last two points were show stoppers for me. The Tucker saddles don’t suit my needs.
I’m now leaning more towards a Stubben Scout or Duett Companion Trail when I seriously start saddle hunting. Something that is as close to a dressage saddle as possible that still allows me the freedom to easily get into two point.
Thank you for your advice. I think I’ve decided to go for a different one altogether: an Australian one called the Ammo saddle. I sat in it and it is quite comfy (but I’ll still get a sheepskin), and it’s made with centred stirrups so it won’t seat me like a stock saddle does. I’ll let you know how it goes when I get it. Thanks again.
[QUOTE=jnel;2884766]
I’m now leaning more towards a Stubben Scout[/QUOTE]
:yes::yes::yes:
Not sure I’ve ever loved a saddle so much.
I had the Stubben Gaited Pleasure saddle that I just loved until I broke my tailbone–something about the curve of the cantle was agonizing, but I could ride the super padded Tucker seat just fine. I will get another Stubben some day though.
The Scout is soft and cushy. (Sorry to hijack.)
Not as soft and cushy as the Tuckers, though. I’ve yet to actually ride in one, but we’ve got three folks at my barn who use them (the equitation endurance model) on an Appendix, a strangely-shaped Paint x App (wide but slab sided) and a Suffolk Punch :eek:. I think the Suffolk uses a wide (not extra) and the other two use regular trees. Folks are very happy with them, and the English billets are nice.
The Tucker hunter breastplates are really nice for the money, too.
I bought an older, used Tucker Equitation Endurance about four years ago. It is still the best fitting saddle I have found for my mutton-withered Morab.
When I look at him tacked up, it looks like the seat would promote a chair-type seat, but I ride with a fairly long leg, get out of the saddle for posting and two-point well, and look fairly balanced in pictures.
I have jumped in it just a little, but I am looking at getting a different saddle for jumping, just for more knee block, and no swell in front.
I will never get rid of this saddle. I have bought and sold many, all for one horse, and this one works!
I do not necessarily think this saddle works for everyone. Unfortunately it is a lot of trial and error before you find what works best for you.
Good luck!
Diamond…
What kind of/how much knee block does the Tucker Equitation have?
Tucker won me over when they took my second hand purchased wade tree style trail saddle (I bought it almost new) and replaced the horn which had broken off when my horse tried to go under the picket line. Yep, snapped like a toothpick, made a horrible sound, then dangled from the leather. I cried. But I called, and they gave me a return number, said they’d fix it and put in an aluminum horn, like they use in their roping saddles, I guess, and made it good-no, better than new. For free. They get me for life. And it’s so comfortable, has a gel seat and very light weight, which came in handy when I had rotator problems and could barely saddle my mare. I LOVE IT.
Love the Tucker Plantation on my Paso Fino. As a former dressage enthusiast, it sits you like in a dressage saddle. The Enduro-Balance rigging is great; keeps the saddle in a nice position. I got the small fenders, so that in hot weather I don’t have to wear chaps or half chaps (no pinching like english leathers). My little guy requires the wide tree, like many of the gaited horses. The trainers that I got my horse from had never seen one (all OrthoFlex folks in the Paso Fino community), but loved it on him. (except for the trail riding stirrups that they find ugly, but I find comfortable)
