The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread! - Thread FIVE

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[FrogInABlender]

I used to have the American Outback model, but it hurt my butt. I kept it for a year or so and sold it for what I paid for it and got this one. Not a bad deal. They do hold their value. Didja look at the Western models? They've got some pretty ones.

[tuffydoodle]

Well, that's different. Looks very cozy and secure. This is the one I had made. The saddler here takes the measurements on the horse then sends them to Black Country Saddles in England. They make the saddle then send it back.

[Momto2]

Both of my kids have synthetic western saddles for trail - My dd rides mostly English, too. We paid about $350 new - at a discount saddle shop. I think they list around $500. They are easy for the kids and their friends to manage, easy to clean, and look fine to me. I can't remember the name - I'll run out to the tack room and check later today.

We are finishing up tests this week... Almost time for summer and riding every day (Hooray!)

[HairOfTheDog]

Heh... did you see this?

Breast Collar Trail Light	Price	Picture
Breast Collar Trail Light	$49

[tuffydoodle]

Holy cow, those people are proud of those saddles! The prices are astronomical.

[tuffydoodle]

Breast collar trail light? Now I've seen it all.

[HairOfTheDog]

Great gift for that trail rider on your list who is always running late! ;~D

[tuffydoodle]

I want to look at the synthetic "leather-look" saddles.

[FrogInABlender]

Boy, that one looks nice too. I can see why your daughter stole it from you. ;o)

[FrogInABlender]

Yeah, They cost about as much as my horse when I bought mine 12 years ago, now they're just outta sight. The thing about them is that they're supposed to fit ANY horse and never create a pressure point. There's another company called Timberline Saddles that makes saddles pretty much just like them. In fact, they have the original Ortho Flex saddle makers. The original owner got divorced and lost the company and there was a falling out with the new owner and the employees, so they left and started a new company. The patent on the saddle design had expired so they could pretty much make the same saddle. If I was to buy a new one, I'd get a Timberline. They're cheaper, but not cheap by any means. This is their model that's like mine...

http://www.timberlinesaddlecompany.com/

[FrogInABlender]

LOL!!! Sounds like something I'd buy! ;o)

[HairOfTheDog]

It'd be a good gift for my friend Bob, because he's ~always~ running late. :~D

[HairOfTheDog]

I just went out to try to take a picture of all three horses laying down in the red grass in the sun, but I disturbed 'em. and they all popped up. I feel bad now ;~D

They always lay down about this time in the morning if they've been outside all night. That's why I like to put them in the night before a ride. I hate to take them out for a trail ride right about the time they'd like a nap. If they're in, they lay down and sleep at night. The time Bay tripped and fell down on trail, he'd been out all night the night before, and he was napping on his feet at the rest stop so much that we'd joked about us disturbing his rest. I think it was a real issue!

[MissTargets]

That reminds me, of when we would be camping out on trail rides. Just about the time, you got them fed, you fed, and stuff gathering up to go riding, they would take a nap. Many a day, we saw wrinkled up nostrils and laid back ears..for disturbing their nap.

Ecurbh's saddle is very similar to mine. They have went up in price about $300, but still reasonable. Very comfortable, and light weight.

[HairOfTheDog]

I think it can be an issue! When we were looking at Bay napping at the rest stop, he was clearly trying to sleep, and it was about 10:30 in the morning. When we saddled back up to go on, he made it about 25 feet and tripped and hit the dirt. I don't think he was awake!

[FrogInABlender]

Have you ever heard of a treeless saddle? I've thought about getting one of these...

It's a Bob Marshall Circle Y Treeless Saddle. I've seen these on trail rides before and they look like they'd be really comfortable for both horse and rider. You can actually bend the saddle in half and make the cantle touch the pommel. I found this one on e-bay. The current bid is $768, which ain't bad for one of these. I think they sell for over $1000 normally.

[HairOfTheDog]

I have seen them at the tack shop, but I don't know anyone who actually owns one. They seem interesting, and more comfortable than two bars, even well padded bars. They seem like they'd be good for a tough-to-fit horse, and would be close contact too.

I wonder if they are secure enough... My instinct looking at them was that they were sortof like a bareback pad with cantles and stirrups... I wonder if they would stay in place in a slippy situation without the tree... kindof like the risk with bareback pads that have stirrups.

[FrogInABlender]

I don't know, but the girls who were riding them didn't seem to have a problem with them slipping when mounting up or anything. They may actually have some kind of fork in the front at the withers that keeps it from pulling over. I've got a bareback pad like that. The girth and stirrups attach to a hard plastic thing shaped like the pommel of a western saddle with no bars or cantle. The pad just sits underneath it. I don't use it much coz you get dirty, but it works better than just a standard bareback pad.

[HairOfTheDog]

Well, if I had a horse that was any harder to fit than Bay, I'd surely consider it. We got ecurbh's to fit because it had so much rock in it, and still we had to make the custom pad to go under it to make sure it didn't bridge. Also might be good if you had to fit multiple horses with very different backs and only one saddle.

We chose ecurbh's for Bay, but it seems to fit Cyn as well. That was just lucky, with the cost of western saddles it'd be expensive to have to replace them whenever you change horses.

[HairOfTheDog]

And that is exactly why I don't like shows:), if you have a great moving, great looking, great behaving horse, what the he!! difference does it make what type of saddle you have....

I wanted to go back to this comment.... You know, it's worse in Western, with all the flash and silver that isn't an issue in English, but I've wondered if my synthetic english saddle would be considered passible in the show ring, and I'm not sure. English riders are plainer, but just as particular about the details.