Saddle dilemma--- hate mine, horse is growing, how do I sell and buy?

[Jagged]

So here's the problem. I have had this dressage saddle for years, and it has always been less that great for me. It's built for a long-legged person with a big rear. I am a short legged-person with a small build.

My horse is going to stick around with me for a while, and I have big goals for us. It has come to the point where I rarely-to-never ride in my dressage saddle, but mostly in my jump saddle.

In order to buy a new saddle, I will need to sell the current saddle. How do I do this without having a huge gap inbetween where I have no dressage saddle to compete in? (If I go to an event, I use my dressage saddle for that 30 minute time...)

And also, the horse is still filling out a good bit, and will probably change muscle-wise. Do they make gullet-change dressage saddles that are *not* Wintec? Thanks so much.

[jn4jenny]

You can trade it in with a big consignment shop like Rick's or Usedsaddles.com, or many saddleries will take your trade-in as a credit toward a new saddle. It won't be as financially efficient as selling the first saddle yourself, but it's the most seamless route.

Alternately, you can identify exactly the brand/model/size of saddle that you intend to buy next, then set about selling your dressage saddle yourself and hope that the saddle you need is still available on the used market.

Yes, there are adjustable gullet saddles besides the Bates/Wintec line. None of the rest are quite as user-friendly--Passier, Prestige, Classic, some Schleese, Hennig, etc. all have to be adjusted by a brand-certified fitter. Thorowgood makes adjustables but like the Wintec, they are synthetic (and there's nothing wrong with that if it doesn't bother you). Personally, even as a former owner of a Bates saddle, I think adjustable gullets are overrated. I've met very few folks whose horses grew more than one or two gullet sizes in either direction--you meet a lot of folks whose horse went from, say, medium-wide to narrow or medium to extra-wide, but I haven't yet met someone who went from medium-narrow to extra-wide. So for most people, it would be prudent to buy a saddle at a good value that's a little too wide, pad it up with something like a sheepskin half pad, and hope for the best. If and when the horse grows into the too-wide saddle, you can decide THEN whether to drop $300 on having your tree widened--and most saddles, even so-called "non adjustable" saddles, can be widened or narrowed by one size.

As for going without the dressage saddle, it sounds like that's practically what you're doing now anyway. Are you competing at Prelim or above, where the dressage saddle is a necessity?

[Jagged]

Thanks, I'll look into those sites and see what we can do. How do they appraise a saddle?

[Jagged]

What about the Anky XCH? Anyone know anything about that? It looks quite nice and if I can get $500-600 from my saddle... it would be at least affordable? Maybe I should take this to the dressage forum....

[asterix]

I just had this dilemma! In my case, I managed to get it done before my season started, and rode in a bareback pad for dressage schooling at home. I am running my young horse at Novice, and figured worst case I could certainly do a test in the jump saddle for that.

My saddle fitter brought a bunch of used saddles out for me to try, and one of them worked great for me. I took it on trial for a week and started advertising my old saddle. I was actually able to sell the old one (run a search -- I just asked for advice on where to advertise on here maybe 6 weeks ago, and got lots of great suggestions) and get the check before sending the check out for the new saddle!!

I would start investigating what type of saddle you want, and once you've identified that, start advertising your old one -- that way hopefully the selling and buying will be close together :)

[jn4jenny]

What about the Anky XCH? Anyone know anything about that? It looks quite nice and if I can get $500-600 from my saddle... it would be at least affordable? Maybe I should take this to the dressage forum....

Forgive me if you've already thought of this or you've already personally sat in an Anky XCH and put one on your horse, but I have seen WAY too many people here on COTH get Shiny Ball Syndrome when it comes to buying a new saddle. They start browsing the internet and find some pretty-looking saddle with some good-sounding mumbo jumbo next to it, and before you know it, there's a thread here on COTH asking "What do you think of [fill in any saddle model here]?" And most of the time, they've never sat in that saddle and have never put that saddle on their horse.

My feeling is that if you ask such a general question, you're going about your saddle search in the wrong way. The operative questions about a saddle that you haven't laid hands on should be related directly to you and your horse, for example, "What do you think about the Anky XCH for a wide, table-backed warmblood with a banana-shaped topline?" The fact that you've offered no information about your horse's back shape suggests that you're shooting in the dark--i.e., you have Shiny Ball Syndrome. What happens if you buy the Anky, or any other saddle for that matter, and it's just as bad as the one you've got? You will easily lose $75-$100 every time you flip a saddle that wasn't quite right, and if you do that two or three times, now you've shrunk your saddle budget by $300-$500. I think of saddles sort of like buying jeans--a lot of jeans look fabulous on the rack in the store, but when you take them into the dressing room, suddenly things look very different. No woman I know would ever buy a pair of jeans without trying them on, not even if they were a steal of a price. And if there's one body structure in the world more complex than a woman's butt and hips, it is the equine back.

If you want to do this right, you should start by speaking to a saddle fitter--either one that you pay to come out to see your horse, or by getting free advice from an organization like Trumbull Mountain that will review your wither tracings and photos. Once you know which brands and models are likely to fit your horse, this will very considerably narrow your search. I know that when I did this for my horse, suddenly a field of hundreds of saddles sank to approximately 20 models. And from there, it was just a question of figuring out which one was most likely to suit my physical build as the rider and my needs in terms of flaps/blocking/etc. By the time that process of elimination was done, we were down to 4 or 5 saddles, and it was merely a question of which one was the best balance of budget and rider comfort.

A lot of people end up stabbing in the dark, falling in love with a saddle model because of its pretty pictures. But every time you have to flip a used saddle, you're going to lose at least $50-$100 in fees/postage/shipping supply charges. Wouldn't it be better to spend that $50-$100 on getting a saddlery to UPS you two or three saddles that have a great fighting chance of fitting you and your horse?

As for how saddleries appraise the used saddles, it's just like with used cars--they make you an offer that they think you'll take and that will still allow them to turn a profit. Trade-in value will almost always be less than regular retail value, although I hear that Usedsaddles.com tends to be a little better about giving a fair price. This is the price you pay for wanting a speedy trade-in.

Often if you are willing to trade in your used saddle for a NEW saddle, they will give you full credit for the market price of your used saddle, but they can afford to do so because your new saddle has already been marked up to the high hills and they're making they're profit there rather than on the resale value of your used saddle. To put this in perspective, most new saddles on the market are marked up to twice or three times what they cost to manufacture and make.

[Wee Dee Trrr]

I've done this a couple of times. I've never had much of a problem getting rid of my saddles (live in a well populated PC area!) I have also sold one online through dreamhorse.com. If you price them reasonably they go really fast!

I tend to ride several different horses... so it was important to me to have a saddle that was adjustable. I went the Wintec route first and HATED my Isabel dressage saddle... but used my Bates CC for 5 years! So, now I'm riding in a Rembrandt. They use the Wellep system (an allen wrench) to adjust the saddle. I absolutely LOVE this saddle. (I'm 5'6", 120 lbs and ride in a 17in). Mine is in GREAT condition and I got it for $800.

The brand "rembrandt" is not made anymore, but you can find them used. The company is now called "Classic Saddlery", as far as I know they are the same saddle. If you talk to a seller about one, make sure to ask if the tree holds the adjustment. Some of the older ones start slipping over time... but they CAN be fixed. However, not all models are adjustable, so read carefully!

Good luck!

[Jagged]

Well, I know what I like. I like deep seats, big honkin' knee blocks, and well balanced (even balanced back a little for what works best for me.) My horse would ideally take a narrow-medium, but I'm sure a medium would be something he can grow into, since N/M is sort of hard to find. I've sat in an Anky and it was like a freaking couch. I have not sat in the Anky XCH. I am not set on that saddle, though. I would love to find something cheaper (the one I found is used, FYI.) I am looking for used, preferably. I also like Countys, Black Countrys.

[Carly0789]

i just bought the M. Toulouse Mono-flap & it comes with the spring tree, which doesn't really mean too much, but it will start flexing after 20hrs of riding, and i have a draftX and it fits her GREAT! the wide tree and i love the deeper seat & the way it fits my leg!! i think they are great saddles, so you might want to try looking at those :)
happy saddle hunting!!

[Jagged]

i just bought the M. Toulouse Mono-flap & it comes with the spring tree, which doesn't really mean too much, but it will start flexing after 20hrs of riding, and i have a draftX and it fits her GREAT! the wide tree and i love the deeper seat & the way it fits my leg!! i think they are great saddles, so you might want to try looking at those :)
happy saddle hunting!!

Oh! I forgot about those! Those are really nice saddles for a great price, I didn't know they made dressage saddles... thanks, I'll look into it!

[badawg]

Love the Anky saddles, but they have a very large gusset and will only fit very flat backed types. That said, if it fits your beastie, it is a very nice saddle for the money!

[bonjovi_fan]

The ANKY Euro is a very nice saddle. It is available with exchange system. and you can't beat the price. I think I saw an ad in Dressage Today and it the saddle looked great. It is also available without the exchange system but if growth is a concern then the exchange might be perfect for you.

http://englishridingsupply.com/design/files/anky/

[rhymeswithfizz]

It's built for a long-legged person with a big rear.

Want to trade? :D :D :D My rear has indeed become more generous over the years...