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Thread Six: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/1414401/posts |
Posted on 03/21/2005 7:18:04 PM PST by HairOfTheDog
And of course, the cost of replacement was one of the reasons we chose the one we did... for less than $500, you can afford to replace it whenever you have a new horse with new needs.
I fit into the multiple horses with just one saddle. My Ortho Flex fits Tennessee, who's 17hh and weighs 1300 lbs as well as Blade who's maybe 15hh and 900 lbs. So I can't complain.
English Saddles are a little more forgiving to fit. I can't imagine a horse my saddle wouldn't fit... and the gullet is exchangeable for a narrower or wider one if need be.
I think Western saddles are more particular because they are more rigid, and longer. Lots more places for them to not fit.
I have no personal experience with one of those, but when they first came out, alot of the barrel racing people we knew tried them. They didn't like them and most of them went back to a regular saddle. If I understood them correctly their complaint about them was they did not hold their shape good and so would cause soreness in places on the horse. Like I said that is hear say so take it for what it is worth.
Becky
I've always liked watching english pleasure classes better then western for that reason. It doesn't seem to be so much about looks of tack.
When your in your saddle does enough of it show to tell it's synthetic?
Becky
Not from a distance, certainly... I wonder about it, but I bet it would be OK... especially at local levels.
Unfortunately, they really stand out in a ring full of leather saddles.
How does that work? I've seen ads for them, but I never new anybody who actually had one.
I figured as much ;~D Thanks.
I gave up showing a long time ago, it isn't really an issue I'm grappling with ;~D
The only people I've talked to that have used those saddles didn't like them. I don't remember why but I'm thinking it's what you said, it feels too much like a bareback pad with stirrups. I almost always use a bareback pad but I would never try to use it with stirrups, too dangerous.
The gullet has a metal bar in it that comes out, leaving only the more flexible frame. They sell gullets in a variety of widths. A narrower or wider one fits in there and the saddle conforms to it. It's not something you'd want to switch back and forth, but something to do when you buy it to ensure it has the best fit for the horse it's going on.
Now there was a nifty saddle I saw at the shop where the gullet inside actually spreads or narrows with an allen wrench. You could do that on the fly, if you were swapping horses.
I was just talking to a friend of mine on the phone who sells Amish made saddles over the internet and she just said pretty much the same thing. There is now a "flex-tree" that alot of saddle makers are using that sounds pretty interesting. If you to go www.dixielandgaitedsaddles.com, then click on the Flex Tree Info link, you can read about it. It sounds like a good compromise between treeless and rigid trees. They have some pretty saddles to look at too.
The kids get on my case when we wind up in the same class at the little itty bitty shows, though . . . I've got 40 years of showing experience, and I know ALL the tricks, like getting my horse to stand square when we line up, and how to do a sharp canter depart after the trot circle . . . that sort of thing.
Cool! Sounds really handy. I'd like to see that.
I don't remember who made it.
Ok, I'm gonna be dumb here:), whats a gullet?
Becky
I'd be drawn to show at little shows if I had kids going to them I bet...
I guess I'm lucky that way ;~D
The gullet is the front part over the wither... it can be too wide or too narrow in English saddles
I had a Stubben that was really wide, made for wide warmbloods, and I actually padded it with an extra roll in the front when riding a lot of horses, including Bay, to keep it from hitting him at the wither.
The newer saddles come with exchangeable bars to make them fit better.
Hey, those look pretty good, price wise too.
I like the Mahgaoney endurance saddle with the horn. I like the high back on the seat, and the flat seat. I'm not real crazy with the western saddles that have all that slope at the front of the seat....I don't know what the point of that is. I remember when I had mine made I told the guy, I want a flat seat, don't build it up.
Becky
Did you take pictures of your saddle?
Or ~gasp~ trail riding pics? :~D
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