Wintec

[Blair Witch]

I'm thinking of buying myself a Western Wintec saddle for trail riding this summer. I want something that comfortable and fairly lightweight. I don't really care about cosmetics, as long as it work for me and my horse. I'm drawn to them by the price and the warranty, which seems great.

Does anyone on here have a Wintec saddle? What are their pros and cons? Are you satisfied with it?

[KateWooten]

I think the Abetta is a better built saddle. There are so many options though, in Western synthetic - even just between those two companies.

[Blair Witch]

What do you find is better with Abetta? What are the differences?

[KateWooten]

I knew I wasn't going to get away with such a vague answer !!! My buddy has the Abetta, it's a synthetic fabric type saddle - like 'Cordura', rather than the 'Equileather' type. She finds it very comfortable and has no problem trail riding for hours.

We bought a similar synthetic fabric saddle ... and I think it's a Wintec .... but now I"m not sure so I'm going to run to the barn to have a look ... Hold on ...

[KateWooten]

... ok, so now I'm going to have to delete my previous post and run away all embarrassed .. the saddle I have in the barn ... the one that we don't like much is .... an Abetta !! It's not the cheapest Abetta either - it's a wide arabian 'flex' tree. We hate it. I don't ride in it - it's not for me, it's for my husband. It has no padding at all on the seat and we had to buy quite an expensive gel cushion seat cover before he could sit in it at all. It has no padding underneath for the horse either - I think we paid extra for some kind of airflow cushiony stuff underneath as opposed to foam which looked like it would just fall apart. Any rate, it needed a good firm saddle pad underneath it.

I really don't like its stirrups - but that's just me - stirrups should be designed to hang so you can get your feet in them - western stirrups have a vast swathe of fabric / leather tacked onto them for no apparent reason, that holds the iron flat to the horse's side so you're constantly fighting it with your knee. That's all western tack though, so not a criticism of this particular saddle.

Also, things have moved on since the 1880s, and for example, buckles have been invented - our western saddle came with all sorts of bits of webbing you were supposed to tie in elaborate cravats in order to hold the cinch on. Cost a fortune to throw all that away and get buckles you could actually adjust while riding.

What with little connector thingys to hang the stirrups on at the right angle, and endless leather connectors so we could adjust the girth properly, and the padding for the seat, we spent more on gadgets for this saddle than on the saddle itself !