First Saddle

[Crownfox]

Hello, I am new to the forums. I've enjoyed reading the posts on this forum, and I have a question I hope you all can help me with.

I used to ride a lot when I was younger and worked at a horse farm. However I always used the saddles at the stable where I worked. Its been several years but I recently started taking lessons again and am thinking of buying my own saddle. I've only been back to riding serious again for a month and half. My husband thinks I'm a little nuts for wanting to spend a lot of money to get a new saddle, but I really believe it will help me to perform better at my lessons. I think I have my mind set on the 2004 wintec close contact saddle. Please if anyone has some advice on when is the right time to purchase your first saddle, if having your own really can help you ride better and any suggestions of good, affordable first saddles besides wintec I would really appreciate it.

[galadriel]

My recommendation for a saddle to buy for lessons:

Don't.

A saddle must fit the horse on which it is set. You can't guarantee that every horse you ride will fit this saddle well; you can't even guarantee that it will fit one. It is most important to know that the horse's back looks like, THEN buy a saddle for him. If you don't have your own horse, or a lease horse, or a horse that you can reasonably consider "yours" for a long stretch of time, then it can be very unwise to buy a saddle.

Now, if you DO have a horse that you ride exclusively, then it can be a decent idea to get your own saddle to ride that horse. But there is a lot more to fitting than Wintec's "Easy Change Gullet System" would like to suggest. It's not enough to get a Wintec and assume that it will fit any horse you put it on; there are a lot of horses that can't wear a Wintec at all, no matter what gullet is in it.

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If you feel that some consistency would help you in lessons, then you can easily purchase your own stirrups and leathers and switch them out before your lessons (and switch them back, of course). If you feel that the saddles in which you ride don't fit you well, that's something that you can address with your instructor: see if s/he has another saddle that fits the lesson horse, or another horse who wears a saddle that would be more comfortable for you.

[Crownfox]

Thank you for your advice, could you elaborate a little more though on why you don't think the gullet system works? Or recommend a good source for information on saddle fitting.

I do have the option to only ride one horse, however I plan to purchase my own horse when I'm ready in a year or two and felt the gullet system would allow me to keep the saddle. Of course I wouldn't use it on a wide backed horse, or any horse that the saddle clearly couldn't fit. My instructor wouldn't allow this. I felt the gullet system allowed some flexibility while other saddles do not offer any.

Where I take lessons is very strict about only using a certain saddle for a certain horse. It caused a conflict for me because I really like the horse, except her saddle gave me bruises, and does not fit for me at all, hence my strong interest in owning my own saddle.

[IrisSilverMoon]

Originally posted by Crownfox
Thank you for your advice, could you elaborate a little more though on why you don't think the gullet system works? Or recommend a good source for information on saddle fitting.




the problem with the gullet system is that even if you can change the gullet it doesn't garuntee your horse will be happy in that saddle. THere are a lot of differences between saddles besides just the gullet (although that's a big part). Two saddles may havea medium sized gullet, but only one may fit your horse. Saddles come in such a wide range of shapes and sizes, they're sort of like shoes, just because something is the right shoe size for you doesn't mean its going to be comfortable to wear...)

[jinglejoys]

Just getting my head around this saddle thing myself (You just had saddles when I was a kis and that was that)--Ever thought of a treeless saddle?

[Wobblydeb]

How about a seat saver that you can pop on top of the saddle that you are going to use? It will cushion your boney bits... :)

It seams odd however that a saddle is giving you bruises. Is it in good repair?

[Crownfox]

At this point you have convinced me that I should wait before I make a saddle purchase.


The saddle on the horse I like gives me bruises on my inner knees and was too big for my seat. At first I thought it was my fault and the way I was riding but after trying 2 other horses with different saddles, they didnt cause me any problems. (however they still didnt feel all that comfortable)

I am going to look into the seat saver, that sounds like a good idea.

Thanks all

[shirley]

Good for you. I am fortunate enough to own my own horse, we had a saddle with him, but this was too small for me, so I got a size bigger, same width fitting for him. So the saddler actually fitted it for him and me, so we are now both happy. My old saddle used to give me bruises on my tummy (bulges in the wrong places really!!!) Now both are very happy. I get the saddle checked every six monthes or so and some of the flocking needs replacing etc then it is done. This is a wintac saddle 2000 and is very comfortable.