Saddle....again ;)

[Jessey]

Well I finally got my butt in gear and have sold my saddle. So I have been looking at new ones. Due to Bo not being able to do much western for a while I decided I was much better off buying Jess a (desperately needed) saddle.

So after much net browsing and comparing I think I have decided which ones I like, now its just to sort out the whole trans atlantic fitting thing :rolleyes:

I started by looking at trees, and trying to find one that sounded like it was going to look at the fit more than the cost. I found that the Steele Equi-fit is used in many saddles, is wooden and uses as much material as is nec. to get a good contact area (well thats what they say anyway) The Equi-fit is one of several they make but the only full wood one (either fibre glass or bullhide wrapped).
Then I found what saddles were on that tree and which ones I liked, so here they are
The Continental Saddlery Latigo Reining Saddle:
http://www.trinitytack.com/Saddle40.jpg
The Crates Butterfly Reiner:
http://www.circleftack.com/images/crates249.jpg

What do people think? any experiance with these brands or specific saddles? any thoughts on the Steele Equi-fit trees?

Thanks

J x

[Harleyhorse]

I have rode in Continental Saddlery Latigo Reining Saddle(my ex RI had one) and it was the most comfy westren saddle I have ever sat it, (and I am english rider who finds most westren saddles very uncomfy) And it fit most of the horses in her barn(she has 23+ horses) I just loved it! Okay time to stop babbling on!
HH

[Peace]

Crates is a very good brand of saddle, and one of the few western saddles I found that allow one's feet to fall into the correct position.

My problem with the Crates saddles was they were too long for Quanah and Bram, both of whom are fairly close-coupled. My eensy little Talent is the first saddle I've found that wasn't too long, though.:)

[Bacharel]

Just a suggestion if your worrying about saddle fit. Some companies will allow you to make a cast of your horses back so you have a perfect fit.:)

[CMR]

I know Circle-Y has some saddles with flexible trees, but that's about as much knowledge of western saddles that I have :p

[galadriel]

Steele makes a pretty decent tree :) It seems to fit a fairly wide range of horses (with horse-shaped backs--those with previous back damage often don't fit in any off-the-shelf Western tree).

Dakota also uses Steele trees.

Steele themselves may be able to help you with fitting to their trees, but I don't know about trans-atlantic endeavors.

~ ~ ~

Horses I've seen in flexible Western treed saddles look like they've been ridden in saddles with broken trees. The bars flex as the horse moves, but also as the rider moves. They flex front-to-back. They act, in essence, as a broken tree. Very unpleasant.

[Jessey]

Thank you all :D

I won't even contemplate a flex tree, I can just imagine that if they flex to fit they can flex beyond that so they don't fit and there is nothing to stop them causing major pressure points.

Galadriel, I am so glad you think the Steele (wooden) tree is not a bad tree, I did spend a fair bit of time looking at the tree makes before looking at what saddle they went into (didn't want to fall in love with a completely inappropriate saddle ;))

Harleyhorse, Peace, I am so glad to hear some positive things about both brands, its a big investment for me, esp as its unseen, so its nice to hear.

Steele will hopefully help me with fit, I found a pattern on the net for different gullet widths and bar angles, I tried them on her last night and she definatly needs the wide angle (need to measure the exact angle off the template) but I am not sure about the gullet width; the 6.5" seemed to make the fake swells sit very high off her withers and the 7" looked better, it allowed me to get 3 fingers in between happily, I think I will speak with steele and see what they say :D

J x

[galadriel]

I think I will speak with steele and see what they say :D

Good luck :)

[Jessey]

Yeah, ok, you were right, steele have not responded to my emails, I am now going to try calling the saddle makers, see if they can be marjinally more helpful, otherwise I am just going to bite the bullet and order one of them, probably the Continental one, this weekend, I will just have to sell it on if it doesn't fit.

j x

[Peace]

Wow, you too? I tried getting info on these trees when I was considering a National Bridle Co saddle for Quanah. You'd have thought I was after some kind of state secret!

National Bridle Co always sent an email back - they just never answered my questions.;)

[cvb]

I take it Black Rhino are out of your budget ?

(I'm gutted that having got one for Fi, she's just been diagnosed with DJD :()

[Jessey]

CVB, thats terrible :( I hope you are able to manage it for a long time yet, Bless her she is only young, isn't she? I assume thats what her intermittant lameness has been? where is the DJD?

Black rhino right now are well out of my budget, and as it is for my 3 year old I am not keen to spend alot right now anyway, even if a saddle fits her now, the chances of it fitting in a years time are debateable :rolleyes: I would love one, maybe in a couple of years.

Continental have been very good, I emailed them yesterday afternoon and they emailed almost right back, they have passed my details on to their european HQ, who should be contacting me very soon :D

J x

[cvb]

She's ten - but as we have a 19 year old still in light work, and a 34 year old who only retired in late twenties, I figured we'd got some time together as a riding team...

I could be over reacting - but only time will tell. Its certainly an additional incentive to shift the extra weight *I* am carrying !!

The one joint they checked was near hock - but it could be in others as well... there just wasn't much point checking at this stage as the near hock is the worst affected so will be what limits any work.

If I wanted to try joint injections, it would probably then be worth checking eslewhere as well - but right now I don't think thats the way I'm going to go...

[Jessey]

Well would you believe it, Steele emailed me today, not overly helpful, basically you have to buy their template kit to check the tree fit as apparently there is no other way to check it (back templates etc won't work) :o

I have found two companies who stock the continental saddle and are happy to ship it here to an APO for me, one is a bit cheaper than the other but I just want to hold on and see who I think will give the best service and deal overall (inc shipping etc)

Getting very excited now, can't wait to ride maddam :D