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Re: tucker or stubben survival saddles?



Sherry and Hudson bsdavis@kansas.net wrote:
> Hello all again-forgot to ask in my first post.  If
> anyone out there has experience with Tucker and
> Stubben survival or Kerry saddles would you please
> tell me what you think.

Hi Sherry,

I don't have any experience with the Tucker saddle, but
I have both a Stubben Survival and a Stubben Kerry GX
LD.  I like the Kerry GX LD better, but they are both
great saddles.  They are "english" type saddles.  Both
Magnum and Blue have withers.  Magnum has a "bit of a
Royal (Bold Ruler) sway back" and Blue has a nice flat
strong back with width to his rib spring.

Magnum's Survival is about 7 years old now and it's seen
a lot of miles and adventures.  It still has many miles
and years left in it.  I bought it new and it just fit
him like a glove from the first time I placed it on his
back.  It fit him when he got real thin (lots of work,
not enough calories) and it fit him when he got really
fat.  Magnum wears a 31.5 Kerry tree.  Stubben came out
with the more "dressagey" seat Kerry GX after I'd
bought Magnum's Survival.

The Survival has huge knee roll blocks which is nice to
keep me on the TB when he's feeling frisky, but the leg
is a bit forward... more like a cross country saddle.

I got Blue a Stubben Kerry GX LD, brand new as well.  I
was hoping Magnum's would fit him, but it does not.  He
wears a 32 cm tree and that extra 1/2 cm makes a huge
difference, as does the seat size.  The leg position is
great on this saddle and I use it for dressage lessons.
Blue was gangly when I first got him and all he's done
is pretty much just gotten fat.  His saddle has fit him
like a glove from the day it arrived as well.

They are both 17 1/2 seats (for me).  I tried to buy a
used Kerry in an 18 inch seat for Blue but the saddle
was just that much too long for little Blue and the
seat was  significantly too big for me.  Blue's Kerry is
about 1 1/2 years old.  Blue hasn't had any back issues
at all since I bought him his new Stubben Kerry GX LD.
So if you buy a new Stubben, definately make sure you
get the right tree for your horse and don't get talked
into the wrong seat size for you.

The Kerry tree is a spring type tree that moves with the
horse.  There are diagrams up on their website:
http://www.stuebben.de/english/index1.html , click on
Products / Saddles to see how they work.  There is also:
http://www.stubbenusa.com

The endurance made Stubbens come with quite a bit more
wool stuffing than the non-endurance Stubbens (like the
one shown in the Donna-SS article in Endurance News a
few months ago).  The thing with a brand new Stubben is
the wool will form fit to *your* horse's back.  So if
the tree fits, the wool stuffing does the rest.

If you order a Stubben Kerry GX LD, make sure to specify
"LD" as there is also a Stubben Kerry GX that is a
regular dressage-event saddle.  The GX LD comes with the
huge wonderful D-Rings (lots of them!) which really do
carry as much stuff as you can fit on your saddle with
out pulling out and the extra wool padding.  There is a
solid crupper bar and the same big D-Rings on the front
for your breastplate.  No need for "D-Ring savers" with
a Stubben Kerry endurance made saddle!

Can you tell I love these saddles?  I think they are
really comfy, they hold up to the work required, they
fit and move with the horse, and they are actually very
reasonablely priced even brand new.  I think we as 
endurance riders are very lucky a quality saddle maker
like Stubben is making us these wonderful endurance
saddles.

Please let me know if you have any questions.  I'd be
happy to fill in any blanks.

Kathy Myers
magnumsmom@aol.com
in No. Cal. with Magnum the TB ex-racer (31.5 Survival)
and Mr Maajistic, aka Blue (32cm Kerry GX LD)



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