Image got a early Christmas present!

[New_Image]

This is what he got!!!

His own BLACK saddle, Its beautiful.

Here he is trying it on.....

Its very comfortable, and exactly what I have been looking for looks wise, its the THIRD saddle I have gotten and set on my horses and doesn't fit.

I thought it fit, but when I tighten the sinch he gets really grumpy, glares, and kicks out (he has never done this when using Molly's saddle) which tells me something doesn't feel right.

I am wondering if a different much less thick pad would help?

If not, can anyone tell me of a cheaper, black, western, preferably NOT synthetic, saddle?

They are making saddles cheaper and cheaper, too light and un balanced and un comfortable these days, drives me nuts! Then I finally find a nice one, full QH bars, should fit... doesn't seem too. *sigh*

 

[babygoose]

Not easy to tell from a picture, but it looks too small. It looks like it is tilted forward a little and maybe pinching the withers. It looks kind of narrow across the front. One thing about a lot of new western saddles, especially the less expensive ones, is alot of them have in-skirt rigging. The rigging (dee rings for the cinch etc) should be built in to the tree. If the rigging is built into the skirt, when you tighten the cinch, it pulls the skirting into the horses withers and shoulders. I can't tell from the photos if the rigging is in-skirt or not.

People do tend to overpad saddles too. Too much padding can actually make it worse, like putting on extra socks to make a pair of shoes fit. It doesn't look like your saddle pad is really thick though. Also, when you put the saddle on and settle it in place, before you girth up, pull all the padding up into the gullet of the saddle so it doesn't mash down on the withers.

The other thing I noticed about your saddle is the slope up in the seat from cantle to pommel. This will tend to push your seat back and your legs forward so you won't be as well balanced as in a saddle with a flatter seat.

Do you have a saddle fitter in your area that could maybe help you? You might also consider looking for an older used saddle. Some of the new inexpensive, and synthetic, saddles are just not built well. Find a good older saddle with rigging in the tree. It will probably be heavy and bulkier, but will probably also fit better and be more comfortable.

 

[babygoose]

Here is a good web page too. I have this guys video and it has a lot of info.

http://www.aboutthehorse.com/

He makes custom saddles which I am sure are pretty expensive! But I noticed he had a used saddle section on his webpage. I didn't look at it, but it might be worth checking out to see if he has anything used.

By the way, I love Image. He is so cute!

 

[Marty]

That is a youth saddle

 

[mydaddysjag]

I had my "new" saddle made by a place called riders choice. They only have an ebay store I beleive, but you can email the guy to have something custom made. The address to their ebay store is :

http://stores.ebay.com/Riders-Choice-Saddl...9QQftidZ2QQtZkm

For the money its a very well made saddle, they will custom make something for you, and it's nice, thick leather, not the crappy stuff.

I have a light oil barrel saddle that only has spot tooling on the skirt (I always had fully tooled saddles, and I dont miss late nights with a toothbrush cleaning them) It has a purple seat, and a few other modifications to make it fit my mare better. Honestly, these saddles are made pretty nice. Mine is a few years old now, and still looks brand new. Actually, its STILL not completely broken in. Ive probably ridden in it maybe 50 times (I kept my old saddle for a while after I got this one, and it was so comphy that I usually rode in it because I hate riding in new saddles, finally decided that I was gonna have to sell it because that was the only way I would break my new one in.) The only thing about this company is that their fenders are LONG. Im 5'6" and I had to get their youth size, and I ride with them maybe 1/2 the full length. They also come with nylon tie straps, or latigos, whichever you call them. I personally prefer the leather, but I guess some people might like the nylon. They make saddles in black.

Lastyear my 11 year old cousin showed my barrel mare and I had to get a saddle that would fit her. Well, it's pretty hard to find a 13" barrel saddle, let alone one to fit my horse.

First I bought her a cheaper made saddle online. It was supposed to be full QH bars, and it defiantly wasnt. It was made for a pony. I ended up getting her an older but well cared for used Circle Y Martha Josey barrel saddle. Ended up getting her a 14" because she was growing like a weed and we figured she would fit good by show season. Good thing we were right. I think I paid $250 or $275 for it, but I would never expect to find one in that condition for that price again.

If you did decide to get a used saddle, it is pretty easy to dye a saddle yourself, but I have to warn you, go LIGHT with the dye, or you'll be buffing for months. Just thought you might want to know that incase you found something that fit great but wasnt the right color.

 

[Marty]

Sonny has a couple of them but the better one is a Crates which I love

Be sure to get quarter horse bars; that's a lot of the mis-fit problems

Babygoose made a lot of good points

 

[Ferrah]

I had tons of problems saddle fitting my new QH mare. I had went through tons of "cheaper" saddles that said they were full QH bars, but they were not. A lot of the cheaper saddles also were not balanced or rigged correctly. I ended up just shelling out the money for a nice Circle Y that fits perfectly.

I know Circle Y and Tex Tan both make a black saddle, but you might have to custom order it. Dale Chavez makes a nice black saddle too, but it is a lot more expensive than the Circle Y and Tex Tan.

Some tack stores do payment plans, maybe that could help with buying a more expensive saddle. Also some tack stores let you take the saddle home and if it doesn't fit you can return it.

 

[The Dynamic Duo]

It looks like a mini saddle

 

[New_Image]

Its not a pony or youth saddle, its a horse saddle

6" deep seat... 7" gullet... FULL QH bars... 15" seat. It should fit him!

I guess we'll have to start over again, and save up more then $350 this time.

Thanks!

 

[Leeana]

I am no expert but my first thought was that saddle looks tiny on him. Either Image has one heck of a long back and is a really big boy or that saddle is tiny lol.

I know i am going out on a limb here ...but black is only a color lol. I would just focus on finding a saddle that fits him, even if its not black. I know that you want a black saddle, and keep looking but its just a color

.

 

[Marty]

It's most definately not a quarter horse stock saddle

It could be an Arab saddle

 

[jrae]

No input on the saddle...but very pretty horse!