Show saddles

[mickey]

I'm looking to finally get Oz a proper show saddle- he proved himself at the performance show for me so he needs the kit, his whitaker jumping saddle isn't really suitable
So black or brown?
What makes suit dales ponies?
ANy recommendations for saddler fitters in yorkshire, preferably that have experience with natives and have 2nd hand saddles!

[sammy]

I wish some people would reply to this!!
Delight needs a new saddle as she is sooooo wide but on a diet.
Which saddle do you all use and why?

[Anna]

Just seen this. We have a mixture of show-saddles, and normal gp saddles. They are all second-hand with the exception of one. Annie has a very old straight cut leather saddle with no knee rolls that fits no-end of our horses and is generally a very beautiful and comfortable old saddle. It has no make or name though, sorry!

A lot of ours have the Ideal WH saddle on, Little M's is this and its so comfortable and offers more support when jumping and with baby horses I prefer a knee roll (just in case of a spook etc!) but is still straight cut enough to show the shoulder off and allow freedom of movement through it.

If you have a good idea on fitting/what fits your horse you could try second hand off Horsequest or through horsegossip as both carry a lot of saddles in their for sale pages. Our saddler comes from Malton, we think, will check on this but that might be of use to you Mickey? He's very good, and if you talk to him before he'll tell you if he's got anything of any use.

[Anna]

Meant to say, I would recommend Dark havanna Brown saddle for showing if you're looking to buy a saddle anyway really.

[lancslass]

im with anna on the dark havana or brown.

we use the fylde saddles. they fit our dales and fell spot on and the tree can be altered by fylde saddlery if the pony changes shape.
we have both the haydon and the samantha. both of which have very flat trees.

[mickey]

Thankyou- Malton isn't too far from us in the grand scheme of things, I dont want to buy unseen online as I'm not good enough to fit it myself, and as its a show saddle I cant cheat with pads etc
The ideal sounds like what I want- he needs something with a little knee roll as he's very green jumping.
Lu has spotted Farrington's (I think) that she likes the look of.
I could really do with taking him somewhere / someone bringing a van full of saddles to try as Ive never had WH saddles before.

[Anna]

Give me until tomorrow/sunday and I'll find out where he is based, he travels out to us with a car full of saddles (and I mean FULL!).

[mickey]

Cheers- there's no drastic rush (well not for me anyway).
A car full of saddles sounds good. Ungrateful sister- she's got a saddle that cost more than the pony already but wants another, and another bridle to match no doubt :rolleyes:

[vonny]

We've just bought a Black Country working hunter in havanna for Andy. Lovely to ride and jump - and looks good. It was the best out of several we tried for versatility and fit on him.

[JoM]

Hi Emily

Have you had any joy with a saddle yet?

I used Fox's Saddlers in Wetherby for dancer. I had an Ideal Show ramsey saddle made to measure for him in the end. Sick of faffing about with half fits and 'will do's'!! Not as expensive as i thought it was going to be either. The guy there is really good - he does 2nd hand as well. I tried a few, but just asked him to template him and get one that fits ordered! The saddle i got is really straight cut, but still has a touch of padding so i can use it everyday.

www.idealsaddle.com/catalogue/saddle/25

Dancer is going really well in it - the amount of action it has released from the shoulder is unreal.

I had it made in black - simply because, i prefer black to brown and all my bridles are black - i dont do enough showing, and at a high enough level for the leather colour to really make a differance if im honest!

[mickey]

Hi Jo!
Great to "see" you- was wondering the other day how you and Dancer were!
Not got anything yet- good to know about Fox's, Lu's desperate to bankrupt me!