Cashel soft saddle.

[harleydales]

www.bettersaddles.co.uk/acatalog/Cashel_Soft_Saddle.html

Has anyone had any experience of one of these? Quite interested in one, but most of these pads recommend you don't use the stirrups for rising etc because of pressure.

[zeldalithgow]

Jane, I think Jacqui (Nars) and Debbie have had them

[harleydales]

Thanks Zelda.
Debbie??
Jacqui?
LOL!

[zeldalithgow]

Jane try PMing them

[Debbie]

Whoops!! Sorry Jane, I haven't peeked in here for a few days.

I had one of these for Lady Bear, the Missouri Foxtrotter. It was extremely comfy for me and her, but we didn't do more than short rides with it. I don't think I would feel secure to do higher speed turnarounds with it. I'm pretty sure it would roll under pressure, unless your horse had very high withers.

As for the posting trot, Nancy pointed out the obvious that I missed: the stirrup bar is placed very far forwards, placing the rider in a 'chair seat' (which explained why I did struggle a bit with positioning. You won't ever post a trot on a foxtrotter, but I'd imagine you 'could' with the cashel soft saddle. It won't be easy because of the stirrup positioning, but it could be done.

The only thing that I found that I passed on as a warning for this particular saddle was mine developed 'wrinkle's in the foam on the seat. Since the material and design were totally new to me, I didn't recognize this was saddle failure, and continued to ride in it....leading to me promptly being 'dumped' by the saddle.

Cashel replaced the saddle and assured me up one side and down the other that this was not the norm for their saddle, but I wanted my friends to know to be alert that the wrinkles in the seat of the saddle do indicate the foam is separating.

As for horse comfort, I thought it did a magnificent job of getting out of the way of Lady Bear's shoulders, and letting her really stride out. We managed to reshape her back and shoulders considerably in the short time I had her.

The saddle itself is very cushy to ride in. The biggest downside was that if I rode for over 1/2 an hour, I did see dry spots on Lady Bear's back that corresponded to my seatbones. But keep in mind I was weighing around 160lbs too. I'm pretty sure the treeless designs do better with a lighter rider, at least on the longer rides.


Hope that helps

[greydales]

I did have one, but found it put my feet so far forwards I practically couldn't ride! Very comfy but not sure how far you could actually ride in one.

[nars]

I used it to initially back a youngster and ride a Fjord that was having saddle fitting problems (due to being 8 times XW!!)and it was good for that, but I wouldn't train a horse in it.

[harleydales]

Hmm, not convinced either way....
I have acouple of bareback pads and like them, but one you can't use stirrups at all with and Harley is very hard to mount without! The other isn't a Little John but very similar and is extremely comfy on Harley, but awful on Apollo because of his boniness! It is long though, and it feels to me like the girth is in the wrong place, putting pressure on the back of the withers, whereas my 'real' saddle the girth is further back.

I got a nice e-mailback from K M Elite and they were very honest, saying that all saddles can create pressure points etc. They didn't do the hard sell.

Don't know what to do now!! Tempted, but at £200 I need more convincing.

[Debbie]

I wouldn't pay that much for it. It was all good fun, but at $200, rather than 400 pounds.