Barrie Swain semiflex

I've got one. I bought it from my then YO when I had Joe pony after my rib accident in 2012. She had bought it brand new some years previously, brand new from BS and had it checked at least annually by them, but her old boy was then retired. I found it to be very comfortable, thought it fitted nicely and Joey went well in it. Mine has a serge, upswept panel. After a few weeks I booked Norm to come and check fit and also to totally reflock it as it was a fairly old saddle. He agreed that it fitted Joe nicely and proceeded to unstitch the panels. Unfortunately that's when it all went wrong. Inside, the Saddle was not we'll made at all. The girth straps had been attached asymmetrically onto the tree and the tree points had weird resin extensions, one of which was cracked. There were a few other issues whuch escape my memory (6 years later!) but in a nutshell Norm condemned it and told me he would not reflock it as in his opinion it should never be used again. So it sits in my store, in two pieces. I wanted Dom to make me a chair using the tree'd part and the bottom, stem and wheels, of an office chair but he "claims" he'd need to weld it. So there it sits.

By the time I discovered this, I had left that yard so I messaged old YO to let her know what had happened. I didn't blame her because she wouldn't have known about the innards of it. She never replied. Not even an "oops, sorry"
 
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I had a Barry Swain saddle which came with Ben. It was a lovely leather saddle and fitted Ben brilliantly, the only problem was that it didn't fit me so well so I sold it about 3 years ago and got a Kent and Masters instead. I never had any problems with it. I am not sure how old the saddle was but it sold easily for £450 so they are in demand.
 
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