I’ve discovered that it takes a long time to find a good saddle. After looking at western saddles I decided they were not for us. I still want to keep a foot in with English riding, maybe do a dressage test or local show now and then. So, after some deliberating I’ve decided to go for either a traditional looking endurance saddle, or maybe something VSD looking (not really sure what VSD stands for, to me it means ‘very nearly dressage’ as it’s somewhere in between a GP and a dressage saddle).
The choice is varied. You can go for a budget option (Thorowgood or Wintec are popular choices) but as I’ve just had a synthetic budget saddle I’d like to treat us to a nicer saddle that will last longer. There are also a range of mid range saddles and I do like the look of this one, Equxtra Terranger but the mechanism where you alter the gullet size can be bulky apparently so I’m concerned about it putting pressure on the withers. Or maybe this one from the Saddle Co, but I’m not sure about how comfortable they are for long hours in the saddle. So I’m down to the really nice, top range options, but I’d like to find a second hand one as I can’t really afford to pay £1500+ for a saddle. It’s a hobby, not a full time occupation! In this range you have, for example, Strada, Reactor Panel, WOW and Ortho-Flex saddles.
I might have found one…will let you know more when I’ve finally decided.
Just to check how Shah reacts to a different saddle I put his old one on the other day and he refused to trot and canter, so the borrowed saddle quickly went back on again and we were back to normal. Funny how sensitive they are, they will tell you whether the saddle is right or not. And even when it’s not perfect they will still tell you if it’s better than the old one. Wonderful animals!
