Alice, you might want to look into Specialized Saddles - these are GREAT in
that you can adjust them to fit and change them as your horse changes shapes,
and from horse to horse in about 2 minutes flat. They come in english and
Western styling, horns, no horns, fenders, leathers, interchangeable fenders so
you can ride with or without and again they can be adjusted to fit any
horse. Holly and I went thru way too many saddles trying to find 'the'
saddle, or ANY saddle that was comfortable for both her back and my knees (3
weeks post op on my 4th knee surgery doing well) and you just can't beat
them.
Yes, I realize t his is the most over discussed topic on this
list, but unfortunately, the question must be asked. is there a
better way to go? English or Western? I'm working with a saddle fitter on
my n ew horse, JJ Freeley, and she says that every saddle I own is totally
not a good fit (not to mention that the English saddle I just purchased
from teh barn trainer turned out to have a broken tree adn she hasn't told
me if she'll give me back my money or not GRRR) I need something to begin
to ride him comfortably, but it doesn't have to be "the" saddle for all
time. He is out of shape and working LSD and he needs to be comfortable,
but he's not competing ... the saddle fitter and I had discussed an English
style endurance saddle or a dressage saddle so I could have one saddle for
both sports. He's very wide and his back is fairly straight. I was
all set to look for an english saddle, but then was told that they aren't
great for distance. Is that true? or is it completely individual to the
horse?
