Ridecamp: [RC] saddles

Jen!
How can you say there's not a selection in endurance saddles????
I had a devil of a time making a choice before I finally bought my Express 
Lite Orthoflex. Love it. You can find many choices out there in endurance 
saddleland. Every price option, too, from Mercainte saddles starting at $699 
up to treeless Sports saddles at $2600+. There's Sharon Saare, Boz, 
Orthoflex, Wintec, RR, Rocking R (not the same thing)and others. You can get 
wood trees, synthetic trees, fixed trees, flex trees, or no tree ;) Horns on 
saddles or no horns. Knee and cantle rolls or none. DON'T get something 
cheap like a ABetta or cheap cordura saddle. They seldom fit the horse, are 
crappy built, and can even have warped frames when brand new.

Basically, most endurance saddles run on a western or english style frame. I 
don't like english saddles because they generally have problems with the 
balance. Forward seats are too forward, dressage seats are too deep, and all 
purpose still have a problem with balance over varied terrain. It can be 
tough doing long downhills after 45 miles with nothing to brace your thighs 
agains, and if your horse is a spooker, or trips, or is young and foolish, 
you might wind up doing the "dirt dive" more often then you like.

All the english have lightly attached rings, so the items you wind up 
carrying, or your breast collar, pulls out the rings in time. Plus there's 
the restuffing issue--plenty time in the saddle insures you have to restuff 
again and again, which means eventually the saddle can't be stitched. 
Despite all this, to my mind severe disadvantages, many people love 'em and 
find ways to work around it.

Usually, it's tough to find a western saddle that will fit an Arab well. 
They do a great job of distributing rider weight, but better quality ones 
are generally much heavier, plus the larger skirts retain heat on the horse. 
Rigging options are great--I like a 3/4 to centerfire, but western saddles 
with a back cinch (more weight) are usually rigged 7/8 or full forward. This 
can cause elbow sores or rubs, and unless the back cinch is fairly tight, 
the forward style rigging can make the back of the saddle scurf up the hair 
on the loins and cause bald spots or even sore areas. Western saddle strings 
don't hold stuff that well, except maybe your slicker, but you can easily 
screw in rings. The major drawback in my mind is that blasted horn. After 
years of bruises in the midsection from colts spooking and stopping 
suddenly, I really LOVE my saddle without one. Took a while though to quit 
trying to hang the bridle on the horn when I took it off though :)

This said, for years I rode many thousands of miles and over 2000 endurance 
competition miles in a western saddle. The western fit my horses SO well 
that the weight was a minor concern (and I was a bit lighter then, so all 
balanced out) Eventually had a colt rear over backwards on it though, and 
that broke the tree. :(

As far as Aussies, usually they're too narrow for most endurance horses, and 
the pulleys on the front keep you from standing the stirrups and balancing 
properly. I've ridden a few that have not been a problem, but they were just 
as, or more, expensive as endurance saddles--namely the ones made by Sid 
Hill or Fallis. DON'T get some cheap piece of garbage made in India or 
China. They have poor quality leather, bad trees, and fit neither horse nor 
rider. Sure, you can get one for $299, but you'll spend $1000s trying to fix 
your horse ever after.

My two cents, for what it's worth. Everybody rides what they like 
(hopefully) and what fits you and your horse is the BEST saddle of all.
Andrea

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