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| Get ready for some French saddle porn |
I learned SO much from this experience, but I think my most important takeaway is that saddles should be seen as temporary residents in your tack room (thank you, JenJ).
Your position changes, you get fat, you get skinny, you start working out, you stop working out, you have a baby, your horse loses topline, gains topline, gets fat, gets EPM, and the saddle that works for you today likely isn't the saddle that works for you five years from now. And I feel like that's especially true for Dressage saddles.
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| Getting its first deep condition in my workshop. It was clearly well-taken care of, but it still soaked every bit of it up. |
Combine that with not really ever having a "wow!" moment with any of the trial saddles, (do not tell me how amazing it will be if we order mine with slightly different features, I need to feel it before I sign my life savings away), with how much new saddles depreciate as soon as you take delivery, with how expensive they are, and with how generally screwed you are if you don't like it/it doesn't fit, and I ultimately decided a custom saddle isn't for me, and truly, it isn't the holy grail of saddle shopping I thought it was. Maybe if custom saddle money was throwaway money for me I'd do it, but it's not.
It's entirely possible that two years from now I'm going to be moving this CWD along after one or both of us changes, but at this price point, I'll almost certainly be able to recoup most of my money, whereas I wouldn't with a custom saddle, which made signing away the money so much less painful!
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| After conditioning. It has a 13.5" flap measured from the bottom of the stirrup bar, tee hee. |
Some of my other takeaways:
1. Searching for used saddles is time-consuming and frustrating, but ultimately less risky than going custom
2. It's impossible to know what a saddle will feel like just by looking at it, which makes used saddle shopping insanely difficult. Heck, just looking at the picture of the CWD I ended up with, it doesn't look like something I'd like. But I love it.
3. I still firmly believe the saddle industry is broken. I have no answers. I admire the people who are trying to do something about it.
4. Brown Dressage tack would have been awesome, but a saddle we both love matters SO much more than aesthetics.
5. Maybe Connor does have a type.
At any rate, I'm now the proud owner of two CWD saddles, so I guess I can keep wearing my jacket! Now to sell my brown short girth...
Girl I feel this. I think the industry is impossibly difficult, but the following things just... never worked for me:
ReplyDelete1. It'll fit if you order it with these 5 modifications. Promise. (oh and those things add $$$$ to the purchase price)
2. A custom saddle is the only option
3. Oh this saddle is perfect for you. We just need to try it on a horse that fits in a medium tree and then you can order it in a wide, and it will fit great! (HAH)
I went through something similar. Saved all my pennies and rubbed them together in hopes of having enough to buy a custom saddle... and then ended up with a well used county.
The biggest roadblock for me in ordering a new, custom saddle is that it is SO dependent on your rep. And since there tends to be high turnover of saddle reps (because the industry IS broken), a lot of people end up at the mercy of a total stranger when SOME saddle EVENTUALLY shows up. Ugh.
I respect anyone who take the time to really learn about saddle fitting and the saddle making process. But I am not really sure what an overall solution would even look like.
Yeah, all that sounds SO familiar. I also don't know what an overall solution looks like. I think the best answer is to live in a horse-dense area like Ocala or Virginia where reps can make a living without traveling a ton, which makes it more long term sustainable, but obviously that's not an answer that will work for everyone.
DeleteUsed is definitely my favorite way to go. I've been so lucky to buy two saddles based on "eyeing it" and have them work out. I do think something people shopping now need to be aware of is that modern saddle trends (deeper seats, bigger blocks) can make a saddle perfect or make a saddle trash, very easily. It's hard to get by in a modern saddle that is a mediocre fit, unlike older saddles with flatter seats and smaller blocks. Neither style is better than the other, but it's something to know and be aware of while searching for Cinderella.
ReplyDeleteIn the meantime... I'm sad about brown, but OMGSOHAPPY you found something!! 🙌
That is a REALLY good point about modern saddles making this all harder. And lends one more vote for my increasing thought they every saddle should have interchangeable Velcro blocks.
DeleteIt's kind of funny how life works out, isn't it? I'm so glad you found such a lovely saddle!
ReplyDeleteSo funny!
DeleteI've never actually had a custom-made saddle - I have to sit in it and see it on my horse for me to buy. As you know I quite like a particular brand that is adjustable to some degree, wool-flocked, and also has a very high resale value. So when a particular saddle no longer works for the horse, I can quickly sell it (with very little loss, if any at all) and find something else that does. It's probably a situation that would work for everyone, but it has definitely taken a lot of the stress out of saddle buying for me.
ReplyDeleteGlad you found something awesome that you are both happy with... not to mention your bank account!
You forgot to mention you also have the world's greatest saddle rep. If I had your Custom rep, I'd buy one just to stay with her!
DeleteI so agree that the saddle industry seems largely broken. I think new saddle prices have reached "unattainable for the vast majority of 'normal' people." I firmly stick to my conviction that no piece of tack should ever cost as much as a used car! So glad you were able to find something that worked out!
ReplyDeleteI agree with you. I almost said I would've signed any amount of money away if I could be guaranteed it was perfect, but I think I could've gotten that with Patrick and I still couldn't bring myself to pull the trigger. I think I'm just not a new saddle person, much like I'm not at all a new car person. That depreciation hit is STEEP on saddles! Can't tell you how many I've seen where someone is trying to recoup 5/6ths of their purchase price on a saddle with 2 rides on it. So sad.
Deletegreat you found something. Tell me about your brown short girth LOL how big? I am very relieved you have a 'new' saddle for you and Connor. I know that had to be very frustrating!! Congrats!
ReplyDeleteThank you! JenJ already called dibs on the girth since this was posted :) It's a 20" brown Prolite and I highly recommend them!
Deleteha oh well...actually i dont know if a 20 would work, Remus has lost weight but not that much. But his total saddle fit girth is up on both sides to the top (obviously bought when he was pudgy mcpudge) :)
DeleteCongratulations on your new-to-you saddle. I am firmly in the camp of buying used because then you actually can check that the saddle fits you and your horse. I know way too many people who went custom, had their saddle delivered, and then fought with the company because it didn't fit! I do have a custom Roosli, that was made for me many years ago. Since it fit me perfectly, I'm never parting with it (even if it doesn't fit my current horse).
ReplyDeleteThank you! I feel about my CWD jump saddle how you feel about your Roosli, even though it wasn't made for me. I'd sooner sell the horse than the saddle, it fits me so well!
DeleteSo glad you found something AND It came in under budget! It looks beautiful! Yay for wool flockimg too!
ReplyDeleteI have to tell you though, my Hermes saddle has been with me since 2002. I really need to replace it because I did in fact, get fat. And it's definitely a bit small for me. But it's worked on almost all of my horses through the years. I've tried to replace it twice and I always wind up back in it. Really not excited to actually replace it, but for sure will one of these days.
I do think jump saddles are much more forgiving than Dressage saddles which is why I worded this post this way. Maybe it's the long points or something.
Deletethat was quite the saddle shopping adventure! Thanks for sharing it all with us. the good the bad and the ugly. I still want to sit in a flapless!
ReplyDeleteI hope you get a chance to! If/when I get another horse I'm going to give them a call again. Weirdly enough between the hilariously tiny flap on this one and the way CWD hangs their monoflaps, it feels a lot like the flapless, minus the squishy horse body under my thigh.
DeleteWhat an amazing trip around the saddle industry - and so glad you found a winner! It's so true that all things horse are honestly temporary, so get what works in the moment.
ReplyDeleteThank you! Yes that's definitely true.
DeleteSaddle shopping is the tenth circle of hell. Dante was so afraid of it that he stopped after 9.
ReplyDeleteI am glad that you found a saddle that works (for now). I am very biased for wool flocked saddles.
Lol! I am not biased against foam, clearly, since my beloved jump saddle is foam, but since this one doesn't fit quite perfectly (yet), I was thrilled (and shocked) to find it's wool. We'll be able to adjust the flocking no problem, which is clearly a big problem with foam.
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