Are all western saddles THAT expensive!?

[Spotty_Pony]

WOW! Looking at the price tags on some second hand western saddles are making my chin drop to the floor! I've heard of treeless western saddles that can be used- is this a cheaper option?

Thanks!

SP

[KateWooten]

My new one (well, my husband's actually, I hate the badly designed pieces of junk) cost $370 new .. that's what #250 english ? Depends what you want. They're all built on the same trees. If you want 1 1/2 dead cows tooled to death and half my grandma's silver collection, then yes, you have to pay a bunch of money. If you just want it for the rock-hard plank seat with very poor balance, ridiculous stirrups that break your knees, and no way to adjust your girth sensibly, then you can just get a synthetic one, with the advantage that they are only twice as heavy on the poor horse's back than they need to be, rather than 10 times.

Kate (not a big fan, can you tell :rolleyes: )

[Spotty_Pony]

WOW! Thank you for your help! What is the brand that you like? Thanks! :cool:

[KateWooten]

:D We bought my husband an Abetta - it's the best of the synthetics. It's made of that cordura fabric and it's fine, you know, it's ok. You couldn't show in it ... but over here, we're really the country of brands for this, brands for that .. you couldn't hope to compete at all in showing unless you had an expensive brand name whatever (even though it's supposed to be about showing off the horse !!!) The Abetta is fine for general riding, and very good for a beginner, because he doesn't have to worry about damaging it. Compared to my english saddles, though, it's like sitting on a plank - but they all feel like that to me - too much stuff keeping me away from the horse. He's riding in it because he wants to go with me on rides he's not really up to yet - in the western saddle, he doesn't have to be able to ride - he can just hang on (lord help the poor horse's back !)

[Spotty_Pony]

Lol! If you have a look at my other threads you will clearly see what I need the saddle for- an Abetta sounds absolutley perfect! Thank you very much, I'll look it up on the internet! Thanks loads! ;)

[galadriel]

Oh. Gawd. I don't even know where to start.

The tree in the synthetic saddles IS in fact different from the tree in the well-designed leather saddles. There are a few synthetic saddles built on wooden trees, but hard to find. The majority of the synthetic saddles, and many of the cheap leather saddles, are built on a tree with so many design flaws that it simply can't fit a horse. The tree is simply horrid; too straight sp it usually doesn't touch in the middle of the back, too narrow/short for the length of the seat, the seat dips too much and often grinds on the horse's spine toward the horse's lower back, throws the rider towards the back which is hard on both the rider AND the horse's lower back...there's so much more I could give myself carpal tunnel describing it all.

There *IS* a difference. Western saddle design DOES make a difference and Western saddle fitting does make a difference. Those inexpensive Western saddles are cheap because they are junk.

[Jessey]

I just brought a new saddle on a budget (taking in to consideration the points Galadriel mentions and more) and brought a continential saddlery reiner, I paid about $900 for the saddle (brand new, plus shipping and a couple of other little bits) and that was the cheapest I found for a good saddle built on a good tree which also checked my other boxes (style etc).

If you want to spend less my opinion is that you are better to buy a good quality second hand, well made, leather saddle in reasonable condition, that is 50 years old than to buy a cheaper new saddle which the likelyhood is won't fit very well (as G mentioned the cheap tree's are often very odd shapes/poorly made), either way the fitting is the most important thing, you might be lucky if your horse is not a normal shape and a cheaper tree might be whats best for him.

J x

[Tootsie4U]

My western saddle shopping experinece was AWFUL!

Not only are they considerably more expensive, its so extremely difficult to find a good fit. Thats compared to an english saddle.

I actually ended up with a Wintec Western because even the expensive types just didnt fit him right. I have had a good history with Wintec before so thought I'd give it a try. Turns out the thing just hangs on my tack room wall anyway - hubby hasnt taken to riding like I hoped he would :rolleyes:

[heather1982]

Alot of times the stirrup placement on the cheaper westerns is rubbish. The cheaper ones tend to put the stirrups too far forward in a chair seat. Does nothing to help you develop the correct position and balance. When you look for a western saddle, one thing to look at is make sure the stirrups are in a more natural position.

[Peace]

I rode in an Abetta endurance for a year or so and I can't tell you how much I grew to loathe that saddle. It forces you into an armchair seat, and the stirrups are so badly placed that I finally just stopped using them. I guess the only good thing I can say about that saddle is it really got me used to posting without stirrups.

It didn't even come close to fitting my younger horse, though. It only touched him in one spot, right at the cantle. It didn't fit my older horse real well, either. So I traded the Abetta to my RI for a used eventing-type english saddle that fit the older guy better, and ordered a new saddle for the young'un.

My RI collects these Abettas, for the reason KateWooten mentioned.;) They are fairly hard to fall out of.

[Shadowlark]

Careful! I know you are excited about going "western" with your horse - but you can very easily make a mess of things and end up with both of you miserable!

Western saddles can be the most comfortable thing for horse and rider, if well fitted to you both - I could snooze in both of mine - one treeless the other has a teakwood tree. both are barrel models as I tend to pick short backed speed demons who don't like that extra skirting down thier flanks

they can also be a disasterous nightmare! And not every saddle will fit your horse right, you will need establish what bars he needs, what size seat you need.. and then a whole load of stuff after that!

And then if you have a morgan or an arab.. look out.. they are REALLY hard to get a good saddle for (although from the looks of the spots.. I don't think that's the problem ;))

So yes, they are expensive - there are "deals to be had" out there - but be careful! Western saddles are things of beuty, and can with care become cherished heirlooms - or peaces of junk that made ridding so miserable they are just collecting dust somewhere.

I managed to get my teakwood tree one for 500$ - because it was used to train someone to make saddles - he didn't make the tree, but did all the leather work etc. There are "errors" on it that arn't noticable when I am flying around the barrels anyway all people notice is the sexy royal blue seat.

One of my boarders just bought an abetta.. she refers to it as her "tuperwear" saddle.. she is ordering a treeless this week and relisting the Abetta back to the E-bay abyss

[Spotty_Pony]

Thanks alot!!! This has really helped me! I've found a desent leather 300 bux. It's really snazzy! ;) Thank you ever so much!

[CatG]

I love my Billy Cook saddle. My husband bought it in Texas, second hand for $500 and it looked like new. Fabulous fit for me and my horse

[Spotty_Pony]

Cool, Thank you :D