What are your favorite Dressage saddles to use for showing?

[traceykasten]

OK, the time has come to find a perfect dressage saddle for my very choosy, sensitive mare (a la "Princess and the Pea"!). I'm looking at some "previously loved" saddles, one is a Schleese, one is a Courbette, and the other an Schumacher.

So, all this saddle shopping had me wondering what other Paso people gravitate to for their horses?

Thoughts or previous experiences you'd like to share?

This ought to be good! :-)

Thanks so much,

Tracey Kasten
Renaissance Farms Paso Finos
Camas, WA

[Laura S]

I have an Albion Dressage. I love it because of the deep seat. It is very old, it came with my horse. I bet the saddle is at least 20 yrs old, but very comfy. I also have a Kieffer all purpose. I chose the all purpose, over a dressage because it is my trail saddle, and it is my most comfortable saddle. A friend of mine has a County dressage and that is very comfortable and she has an Ainsley that I have ridden in, and that is comfy as well.

I visited Camas about 7 years ago when my brother lived there. It is a beautiful area. He lived on top of a mountain. Then he moved to Memphis, but is now looking at houses to move back to the Vancouver area. So I have a feeling I'll be visiting him out there again soon!

[traceykasten]

Very cool that you've been to Camas. :-D It has changed a LOT in the past seven years, and east Vancouver is creeping ever closer to where we live.

It sounds like your brother must have lived up on Prune Hill. We live just two miles north of Lacamas Lake (you drive by it on the way up to Prune Hill), so next time you come visit, you'll have a Paso Fino place to visit.
:D

Vancouver is a far cry from Memphis - the city itself may not be as pretty, but at least there's no heat and humidity. I went to school at NCSU in North Carolina and welcomed the lack of heat/humidity (plus no tornadoes!) out here.

-Tracey

[CarolU]

Tracey, I have 3 dressage saddles that I really like. None are the brands you are looking at though.

My favorite saddle is a treeless Ansur dressage. I bought it because of a finicky mare that has mutton withers and I couldn't fit her in anything else. Even wide tree saddles pinched her shoulders. The Ansur is not what I'd call a "safe" saddle though. It is totally treeless and fits any horse. But you (especially with round horses) have no stability over the withers, so the saddle will slide easily if you weight the stirrups. I use mine with grippy pads that help, but don't eleminate the problem. They are expensive saddles and not safe for a good many riders.

My second favorite is a Barefoot Dressage saddle. This is a newly marketed saddle and you won't find used ones, I don't think. It is semi-treeless, with rigid cantle and pomel, so it has good stability. It's very cushy, great for trail or show, and good for finicky horses, or picky hineys. It will spoil you quickly. They retail for around $750.

My favorite treed dressage saddle is an old Wintec. I paid $150 for it and love it still. Wintec makes saddles with interchangeable gullets, so there is some adjustment for different width horses.

Good luck on your shopping!

[Laura S]

Tracey, I will look you up when we visit. My brother and his wife are having a baby this summer, then moving in the fall. So we will have to be making trips to visit the baby! My sister in law was born in the Memphis area, so I think at first it is going to be a little culture shock for her.

Good luck on your saddle quest. Are there any tack shops in your area? A few years ago we had a tack shop that would travel to your barn and you could try out all the saddles and the owner would help with the saddle fit. That is how I got my Kieffer. I wish more tack shops could do that! Or if you could bring your horse to the tack shop. :D

[Bonnie M]

Most of the saddles I see in the show ring are Orthoflex and Casa Dosa.

I couldn't afford either of those so I bought a very cheap dressage saddle to show in.

A friend of mine actually had one that I rode in and I thought it was really comfy so looked for one like it. It is a Kincaid and I think I paid ~$300 for it.

It has a nice deep seat and it fits pretty well.

http://www.windandwithers.com/store/products/images/medium/PAAAIAGCDGHDMHAP-100.jpg

[traceykasten]

One thing I've discovered as I've been shopping around is that many panels seem to be "curved", not as bad as a banana, but you get the idea. I think some of the Passiers are that way. My mare has a relatively flat back, so that's something I keep in mind.

I typically ride in a Specialized endurance saddle (the International model), as they can be adjusted and tweaked to fit your horse's ever-changing back. But that just won't fly for some classes. ;)

I *used* to ride in an Ortho-Flex Patriot Officer's Model saddle, as did my hubby. However, with the long hours we can put in the saddle at times with Endurance riding, I noticed that one of our horses (my husband's gelding) was getting a little tender right where the rockers attach the panel to the saddle are. I guess that after hours and hours, they begin to act as "pressure points", as the panels are relatively thin and simply cannot distribute your weight that well when you consider that all of your weight is being concentrated over those four metal pivot-points. The mere physics of it make it just about impossible for there not to be more pressure over those four points, and it's hard for that pressure not to be concentrated on those points along the panel, translating that pressure onto four points along the horse's back.

I had never thought about it until we had our equine Chiropractor out. I was sure thought my saddle was comfy, as so did my hubby, as he has the exact same saddle as I did (his was a pretty black color!). But when we saw what it was doing to his horse's back, we knew we'd have to start looking for another saddle for our everyday use.

I think that the Ortho-Flex saddles are just fine if you're not putting hours and hours on them at a time. I think my 8 y.o. daughter would be OK logging tons of hours on one, but she's a feather. ;-)

Oh, theres' been *tons* of debate on this topic on one of our endurance riding email lists, as there are lots of middle and heavy weight riders who swear by their treeless saddles for long-distance riding, so it just goes to show how subjective this can be from one horse/rider combination to the next! What works for some will not necessarily work for others!

On a completely different note, I had the chance to try an Ansur dressage saddle, and I agree with Carol - it just slid one way and then another - wouldn't stay in place as I mounted, even with a mounting block! :P That much drama with just getting on is too much for this girl - let's save the drama for when we're on the trail! :P

:prancer

[moonrize]

I love my good ol' Wintec dressage saddle for everything from trail to rail. In fact the first Wintec I rode in was the endurance model and it was very comfortable. However, if I was much richer than I am, I would buy a County Competitor. OMG, they are so comfortable and I really do like a leather saddle better than synthetic.

[Terry Wallace]

You are so right about that orthoflex (panels)..that is why they need to be replaced sometimes... they are "rebuildable" but its pricey to do so....

As for dressage saddles... I used a Thorogood..for my wide backed. mutton withered mare. Other than that, I really like the Wintec Isabella, and just Wintecs in general.

Both Dressage saddles I owned were synthetic... I really LOVE the
"hose-ability" for clean up & dry time...

[traceykasten]

So I was checking out the Bates Innova dressage saddles... I find them somewhat compelling in design.

With that said, I HATE the CAIR panels on most Bates/Wintec saddles - I had them on my Wintec Isabell and I felt a slight "bouncy" motion that I'm not accustomed to feeling on my other saddles, so I attributed it to the CAIR panels.

I mentioned that to a gal at an area tack shop and she mentioned that it was possible to get them with wool-flocked panels, however I never saw any mention of that option on the Bates Innova website or on others I checked.

Does anyone have any experience with whether this is truly a viable option?

[pasobeat]

I've had a Courbette dressage saddle for about 12 years now. It is the Charles de Knuffy II, which they no longer make. It is wool flocked, and it has held up the test of time. I did have to special order it, as it is an XX-Wide for my paso. It was a special order, as they don't keep them in stock. If I recall, it only took about 4 weeks to get it. Well worth the wait!

[motorgypsy]

Our very cheap bottom of the "food chain" dressage saddle from Case Dos look good, is comfortable and fits our girls well but it is slick. I wear full seat deerskin breeches with it and still had to buy some of this gooey stinky saddle protective stuff to help reduce the slickness of it because I was actually spun out of it and landed standing next to my mare - who I must say gave me a very strange look. I use it in shows and parades and it is very secure once you get rid of the slipperiness of the leather. I also switched to the Peacock stirrups for safety and I have a grab strap. I also like the look and feel of the Wintec Isabella or whatever the name is. I'd love to try one for a couple of days.

I have an Aussie Orthoflex that I like really well but it has no horn and is not secure enough to do endurance or sped events because again the leather is a bit slick - nothing like the dressage but still not grippy like roughout leather or synthetic roughout or fabric. On my really flat backed paso fino it tends to shift to the side somewhat and it's hard to straighten but it does have really really cushy pads to go over the panels so no complaints from the horses. The longest I've used it is perhaps 3 hours though. I wouldn't do an all day on it.

[traceykasten]

One thing about the Wintec Isabell (and mine had the CAIR panels) is that the panels were somewhat curved along the bottom - almost giving it a slightly banana-shaped effect to them. That caused it to "rock" a little on her flat back, and no matter which gullets we swapped out, we just couldn't get it to fit her right. :-( If you know of someone who has one that you can try on your horse beforehand, definitely try out several to make sure the fit is somewhat consistent.

I will be trying out a previously-loved Schleese JES dressage this week - someone has one locally, and I'm having a former Schleese saddle fitter come out and evaluate it for fit on her back, then to see if it could be adjusted to fit her properly before I commit to buy it. The Schleese's are all adjustable from what I understand, so we'll see how it goes.

I'm surprised the OF Aussie has a slick seat - the seats on our Patriot Officers Models were just wonderful - it's just too bad about those rockers or we'd still be using them. For now, it's the Specialized Saddles for our endurance and trail: www.specializedsaddles.com

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

So what kind of pants to people wear to Paso Fino shows? I see everyone wearing black pants, but I didn't know if the new "boot cut" riding breeches would work if they were black. I'll have to start showing here eventually, and it would be nice if I could wear something that I'd normally use when riding anyway (I've never tried the boot-cut breeches, but they look very similar to pants and thought that might be a happy medium!).

-Tracey Kasten
Renaissance Farms Paso Finos
Camas, WA


Our very cheap bottom of the "food chain" dressage saddle from Case Dos look good, is comfortable and fits our girls well but it is slick. I wear full seat deerskin breeches with it and still had to buy some of this gooey stinky saddle protective stuff to help reduce the slickness of it because I was actually spun out of it and landed standing next to my mare - who I must say gave me a very strange look. I use it in shows and parades and it is very secure once you get rid of the slipperiness of the leather. I also switched to the Peacock stirrups for safety and I have a grab strap. I also like the look and feel of the Wintec Isabella or whatever the name is. I'd love to try one for a couple of days.

I have an Aussie Orthoflex that I like really well but it has no horn and is not secure enough to do endurance or sped events because again the leather is a bit slick - nothing like the dressage but still not grippy like roughout leather or synthetic roughout or fabric. On my really flat backed paso fino it tends to shift to the side somewhat and it's hard to straighten but it does have really really cushy pads to go over the panels so no complaints from the horses. The longest I've used it is perhaps 3 hours though. I wouldn't do an all day on it.

[CherylE]

I have been on a saddle mission for five years.....I now ride, even on trails, in my Stubben Dressage, it's the Roxane version. It's like riding in a glove. My horse loves it. I rode without a pad for hours, like they recommend on their website. My horse and I love it. I changed pads the other day and had a slight problem but don't know if it's from the pad or the mare's cycle :0)

[CherylE]

I got it off ebay and it was like brand new.....told it would not fit her new horse......loved the deal and the saddle