Saddle Fitting Sorrows

Well to my luck saddle fitting did not got as one might have hoped especially for the outcome of my favorite saddle ever to ride in. When I bought Montego in July 2019, one of the first things I did was get a saddle fitter out to find him a jumping saddle. I had big plans for him to love jumping and I wanted to treat myself to my first really nice piece of tack. Insert 2019 Michel Robert Prestige 18″ 34cm Jump Saddle. It has the most comfortable seat, softest leather, and beautiful forward flap that I have have ever ridden in. Naturally this dream saddle came with a higher price tag, but I chalked it off to a graduation gift and it was mine. Fast forward, Montego doesn’t really love jumping so saddle is only used for trail riding. BOO, but naturally this saddle will still fit. WRONG. Saddle starts really slipping to one side when I am riding. So much so that friends have videos of me looking like I should slide right off at any moment.

Insert second horse, Luna. Now all my hopes are dreams at that she’ll be my jumping horse and hoping that this dream saddle I still own will fit her. ALSO VERY WRONG. Saddle fitter pretty much confirmed that my favorite saddle ever will not ever fit any of my horses…YAY! So unfortunately that saddle is listed for sale and I am only crying a little bit on the inside.

My other saddle is an older Frank Baines I bought off Facebook on a whim for like $500. Naturally this is the saddle the fitter loved the best on Luna. I had been using it on Montego has his main dressage saddle as it fits me relatively well and I thought fit him too. Turns out even at a wide its a little too narrow for him which is causing slipping side to side.

So now the fun saddle hunt begins. I am ultimately looking for three saddles. The two that are taking priority are a dressage saddle for Montego and a Jumping Saddle for Luna. The third if I can find it at a steal of a price would be a jumping saddle for Montego because I do like having that to hack out and do conditioning sets in. The saddle fitter I am working with was awesome in recommending brands for both horses, but that also have a more forward flap to fit me too! Thank you Sarah for the recommendation, she is awesome!

Recommendations for each horse:

Montego: Saddle fitter notes “very broad”…yes my little piggy has a big barrel to take up my long legs 🙂 Needs a W-XW depending on brand. I like dressage saddles with FWD flaps and shorter blocks, so some brands she recommend me to try out were- Custom Wolfgang or Icon, Passier Optimum, Schleese, County Fusion, Stubben Aramis, Trilogy all needed in an 18 in. For jumping, he fit in Friend W’s 31cm Stubben Portos pretty well so anything along those same lines with a FWD flap.

Luna: She needs saddles with curvy bars and wool panels. Suggested a tree width of M-MW however with her growing and still filling out ultimately looking for something MW-W since the W Frank Baines is the saddle I am currently now riding her in. Brands to try- Albion, Hastily, Schleese, Stubben 29-30cm, Adam Ellis, and Frank Baines. Since the Frank Baines dressage saddle at least fits her relatively well now, that good ol FB find will stay around.

If anyone has had any experiences riding in the saddles above and LOVES or HATES a certain brand please let me know. OR if anyone is looking to buy the most comfortable and most favorite saddle on the planet reach out. I will be sad to see it go, but the horses have spoken. Hopefully it won’t be too long that I am saddle-less for, we have shows and goals to get to!