used saddles

[Vee]

Has anyone successfully found a god used saddle? How did you do it? I've been riding about 1.5 years and bought a old school saddle from my trainer, had it restuffed and it's doing fine but I'm at the point where I'd like to get a new or newer dressage saddle. (My current used item is a 25 year old Courbette).

Any favorites to recommend? I'm a bit afraid of using classifieds and would especially be interested if anyone had good results buyng a used saddle on the internet. I've looked at a few sites and there's lots out there but as a novice, I'm concerned about what I DON"T know!

Vee

 

[Sarah]

hello!

Why don't you call up a a few saddlers and ask them if they do second hand saddles, most do in the UK. the advantage of that is that the saddler can then come out and check that the saddle fits your horse.

Saddle design has changed a lot in the last 20 years with wider gullets to reguce the pressure on teh spine, larger areas of padding (again to reduce the pressure on teh horse's back), etc so i would definately take the advice of a saddler on the fit.

bye!

 

[Catherine]

Sarah is quite right about using a saddler, as they often have a wide variety of secondhand ones in stock. Mine charges £25 to come and measure up and take a profile of horse; he will deduct that from the price of the saddle if you buy one form him. He will already have got an idea about the horse from me and so may have a couple in the car that he would like to try out. Sometimes one is right, and just need a bit of reflocking, sometimes they are way wrong and he has to go back to the shop to have another look.

You need to have decided what type of saddle you want, i.e. General Purpose, dressage, long-distance etc, and also price, as there is no point him finding you something that is way out of your league. Also, some people specifically want brown, some want black, so it's worth saying whether you are bothered. It would be a shame to miss out on a decent saddle just because it doesn't match your bridle!

The other thing to remember is that your horse changes shape according to its fitness level; muscle bulk will affect the way the saddle fits, so if your horse loses and gains weight markedly, according to changes in what he is doing (i.e. thinner in winter when he can be ridden less, say) you'll need to think about how you are going to compensate for the 'thin' times.

If you let us know where you are, someone might be able to recommend you someone.

Good luck, otherwise!