buying a first saddle

[hot-to-trot]

I wanted to hear your opinion, is it better to start off with a new saddle, or a used one makes more sence?:confused:
And also does anyone have any recomendations when it comes to brand, i would appreciate it.;)
I am taking lessons right now, i do not own my own horse, but it is always a problem with finding the tack, plus their saddles don't fit me right.:mad:

[Pink's lady]

The saddle has to fit the horse. Much more important than fitting you. Saddles come in all sorts of different shapes and sizes and it is absolutely essential that the horse has the right shaped saddle. Unless you always ride the same horse and no others you can't have your own saddle. It's not going to fit all the horses you ride and could cause them great pain and discomfort.:(

The best thing to buy would be a good seat saver that slips onto the seat of whatever ever saddle you use. It makes the saddle seat much comfier for you but doesn't affect the fit for the horse. The Heather Moffatt Seat Savers are really good and cost about £40. Not sure if you can get them in the USA though. Maybe looks for a gel seat saver instead.

[hot-to-trot]

Thank you for that info, i was under the impression that there were some kind of adjustible saddles to fit the horse.
Another thing is that in the place where i ride not all the horses have their own saddles, alot of times you have to "borrow" a saddle from another horse, so now i feel terrible, knowing how important it is to have a saddle that actually fits the animal.

[hot-to-trot]

There is a possibility however of me leasing a horse, in that case i will definately will need my own tack, any suggestions?:confused:

[galadriel]

Don't you hate double posts? Sigh.

[galadriel]

If you could give a general idea of where you are and what style you ride, that might help. For example, I'm in Florida, so I'm in the SouthEast USA. And I ride eventing, so I ride in English saddles; I ride dressage (flatwork) and jumping, and also go on pleasure rides (trail rides/hacks).

You don't need to be too specific, but if you're in, say, Thailand and we give you helpful information for, say, Romania, that won't do you much good. It also wouldn't help you much if we gave you detailed suggestions about, say, English jumping saddles if you want to ride, say, barrel racing.

Overall if you're looking for "inexpensive" definitely go with a used saddle. An inexpensive new saddle is usually just cheap--cheap materials, cheap construction, just not good for the horse.

[hot-to-trot]

I ride english and i'm in New York

[carrieh]

Whatever style you ride, whatever horse you get, please please make sure that you find a suitably qualified saddler to fit your horse with a saddle. If you wonder why that is so important, think about these words from Julie Dicker's book, as if spoken by your horse:

"This saddle feels as if knives are stuck in my shoulders because it is too narrow, my guts are being squeezed because the girth is too tight, every nerve in my back is being pinched because it is too small, and you're on top of me, permanently leaning to one side. Then you say in a surprised voice "He isn't going forward as he should". Would you like to run a marathon in shoes that are 2 sizes too small with a heavy pack on your back? Get this ill-fitting saddle off my back please before I am tempted to buck to remove it - and you - myself."

That's why your saddle must fit your horse!

[hot-to-trot]

It's great that you all care for the horses so much, really, but all i wanted was some recommendations on brands of saddles, and i got a lecture on cruelty to animals!:confused: I just wanted to say that that was uncalled for, i am not trying to be rude, but if you don't have anything to say on the subject, maybe you should't say anything at all.:eek:
Thanks anyway.:cool:

[CurlyWurlyRach]

were just concerned about the horses you ride in an ill-fitting saddle, which may lead to bad behaviour, leading to you getting hurt.

[galadriel]

If you use a saddle that doesn't fit, it's extremely uncomfortable for the horse. As you're in NY, it's likely that no one has told you about this before. Americans are woefully under-educated about saddle fitting in general. People are trying to inform you, not to harass you.

However, once again, carrieh--the majority of the time, over here, there simply AREN'T "suitably qualified saddle fitters" available. That's a great deal of the impetus for me writing my book--people can at least have a good grounding in the concept, even if they can't get a professional out to see their horse. Having someone check your saddle's fit is ideal; we don't live in an ideal world.

Still--*IF* you have access to a saddle fitter and you don't call them, that's very sad.

[Pink's lady]

No-one on here is ever going to suggest a brand of saddle unless it's for one horse and going to be fitted to that horse - you'll never get brand recommendations of a saddle for you (as apposed to the horse). And asking for it suugests you didn't realise how important it is that it fits the horse, so of course everyone's going to point it out.

You're obviously in the US, where it's common to have a coupple of saddles for a few horses:( People just don't know or worse don't care that the saddle has to fit the horse.:( This board is about eductaion and learning new things and you will have saddle fit impressed on you everytime you ask something like this.

[colettybetty]

Thank you for that info, i was under the impression that there were some kind of adjustible saddles to fit the horse.
Another thing is that in the place where i ride not all the horses have their own saddles, alot of times you have to "borrow" a saddle from another horse, so now i feel terrible, knowing how important it is to have a saddle that actually fits the animal.

Hi,you've raised a very common issue, something that is quite different here is the UK,it seems to be difficult to get saddle fitters for you folk in the US and saddle sharing is something I hear happens alot over there.Hopefully the new generation of riders will begin to question this.
You are quite right, there are adjustable saddles of sorts, treeless saddles can be used on different horses, but still need to have the correct size gullet for different widths.Some treed saddles have adjustable gullets, but they do need to be correctly fitted to the horse, as do the flair saddles, they allow some for some change of shape, but again they must be fitted and checked by the saddler, ideally every 6 months as the horse may change shape as it gets fitter (and through the seasons).
You are right to question the fit for yourself, its important too. a good saddle fitter will want to ensure that you are comfortable too, it will help your position.Pinks lady mentions the heather Moffat seat saver, these are great, I have one and I can ride all day in it (luxury !)
If you are looking to buy a saddle to use on different horses, I'd recommend a treeless saddle, but if you're buying for your own horse, get it fitted professionally and your horse will love you for it. Saddles that I've had and loved for their quality are made by Bates, ideal and stubben and for a new general purpose saddle here in the uk, I'd expect to pay about £750.
Along with a good farrier and vet, my saddle fitter is my most important person in my life ( oh, yeah, and my OH too...hee hee )

[Bay Mare]

I wanted to hear your opinion, is it better to start off with a new saddle, or a used one makes more sence?:confused:
And also does anyone have any recomendations when it comes to brand, i would appreciate it.;)
I am taking lessons right now, i do not own my own horse, but it is always a problem with finding the tack, plus their saddles don't fit me right.:mad:


I can understand your frustration but I wouldn't recommend that you do buy a saddle if you're riding at a riding school and, therefore, riding different horses. You could buy a treeless but the school may not let you use it anyway and although they 'fit all' they do not necessarily 'suit all'. I have a Heather Moffett SBS for my girl which is fabulous and I have used it on riding school horses but I knew them well, they knew me and were happy that I wasn't going to put any old junk on their neds.


It's great that you all care for the horses so much, really, but all i wanted was some recommendations on brands of saddles, and i got a lecture on cruelty to animals! I just wanted to say that that was uncalled for, i am not trying to be rude, but if you don't have anything to say on the subject, maybe you should't say anything at all.


But putting a badly fitting saddle on a horse is going to affect it physically and mentally so it's important that you (and others) know why the saddle has to fit correctly. A badly fitted saddle can cause muscle wastage, back pain, 'bad' behaviour and a whole host of other problems.

The reason that people aren't giving you the names of the types of saddles that we recommend is because we don't know the horse you're putting the saddle on. It's a bit like us buying riding hats, I can wear C&O and Champion but JTE give me a really bad headache because of their fit.


You are quite right, there are adjustable saddles of sorts, treeless saddles can be used on different horses, but still need to have the correct size gullet for different widths

I've never come across this for treeless saddles. My saddle has a gullet but they don't tend to come in different fittings. I've used my SBS on everything from a 14.2hh podgy pony to a 15hh chunky cob and right up to a 17.2hh skinny!

[colettybetty]

We have a Barefoot saddle which has a standard or wide pommel insert to accomadate skinny TB's or roly cobs.You just unzip the front and swop over.