ridecamp@endurance.net: Cordura Saddle: fit, and a warning-long.

Cordura Saddle: fit, and a warning-long.

Bridget M Brickson (Bridget_M_Brickson%notes@sb.com)
26 Jul 95 16:27:55 EDT

When you buy a new mass-produced saddle, really check it out.
Watch for staple points from staples sticking down through the
tree through the saddle panels, or screw points. There were
staple points sticking out of the A-Betta endurance saddle I
received Fri.

The company I ordered from was apologetic; they will check
all these saddles. I could've exchanged, but I think the tree is
too long and a bit wide anyway. They sent UPS to come & get it.

I'm so disappointed. I had high expectations after hearing that it
weighed only 15 pounds (including girth & stirrups). A friend has
an old similar model from a different maker which she uses (to
death!) for trail rides, which still looks new and it's comfortable.
I think hers is a Big Horn.

I cut the points (saved them to return), put a bedsheet on Firefly
and tried the horse-fit without sitting in it. Three fingers vertically
fit between spine and pommel=ok. I would've had to add shims,
however, under the seat of the tree, where my upper thigh is
when I ride bareback. There should've been support there, of all
places. Granted, she's a tad out of shape, but I could easily stick
my hand in that pocket between saddle & horse. Even without
weight in the saddle, the pommel pushed down hardest. It
reminded me of quite a few fits I've seen of western saddles'
bars that dig into the shoulders such that they bulge out before it.

Also, if I'd have tightened the girth with its centered rigging, I
think it may have gone forward & put even more pressure on her
above-shoulder area. The rigging wasn't adjustable. Is that
the way center-fired rigging is on Western Saddles, i.e, fixed?

I haven't fitted Western saddles as many times as English types
on different horses. I sincerely hope that this wasn't the standard
Western tree that I hear that's used to make lots of saddles with.
It was made for a long, arch-backed, slightly wider horse!
Firefly has "average light horse" withers and length of back.
I admit there's no such thing as average. I mean I've tried
a lot of other people's English saddles on her; she's really easy to
fit compared to Jeff's horse as well as various school horses I ride.
This saddle fit her worse than any other saddles we own, including
the widest (a Western) one.

Major Bummer. It had all the details that long-distance riders ask
for (ie, light wt, no horn, hose-off care, girth centered for horse
comfort and for equalization of weight, stainless steel rings sturdily
attached for crupper, water bottles, raincoat, etc). Unfortunately
they seemed to be simply attaching them onto a bunch of extra
western trees that they had laying around which were made for
standard forward-type girths.

It also wasn't as cushy a seat as Jeff's Collegiate Marathon, despite
the advert describing the closed cell foam in the seat. His Marathon
is too narrow for Firefly, however, but it fits Sabra (Appen.QH) well.

Bridget in PA, going back to read saved posts about others' saddles...
Brickson@sb.com