# Multiple Horses...One Saddle?



## justsambam08 (Sep 26, 2009)

You have two options: You can buy a treeless saddle (look at some of the debates on treeless saddles in this forum for more info) or you can buy a saddle that fits the horse you ride most often, and then use the schooling tack for other horse you ride less often.

Another option entirely is to look into possibly leasing a horse that has tack included, so you can have your own horse without worrying that other people will ride it, and not have to spend the time and effort of finding a saddle that fits the horse as well as finding one you like.


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## thunderhooves (Aug 9, 2009)

I don't think you should get a saddle until you lease/buy a horse. if you have access to different saddles that fit all the horses you ride, why get another? I think you should save the money for the saddle and pad until you need it.


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## AQHA13 (Apr 19, 2017)

If you have a local tack shop they often have saddles. New used and on consignment. Sometimes they will let you keep them for the day to check fit ect. Even though they aren't new you can usually find great quality saddles for decent prices.


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## QHDragon (Mar 6, 2009)

What about trying a wintec? They are fairly inexpensive used and last a long time. Plus if you ride a lot of "normal backed" horses it should fit most of them pretty well in the tree, and then you can adjust the gullet to whatever width they need.


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## kevinshorses (Aug 15, 2009)

First, if you buy a good quality saddle it will out last any horse so it makes no sense to buy a saddle for one particular horse. Treeless saddle in my opinion are a gimmick and the wintecs are low quality at best. Buy yourself a good quality leather saddle. I own a Corriente and I like it. Those can be had for 600-700 dollars. My FIL has a Billy Cook that is also quite nice and is a little better finish-wise. It was about $1500. Semi-quarterhorse bars will fit most horses.

Untill I joined this forum I had never heard of people buying saddles for each horse. I have one saddle and ride alot of different horses but I have NEVER put a sore on a horses back. Unless your horse has some kind of funky back you should be fine. It would be easier and cheaper to get another horse to ride.


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## luvs2ride1979 (Nov 9, 2007)

I have a treeless and love it, but if you're a H/J rider, then you're out of luck. There are only a couple of treeless saddles out there that are made for jumping, and even fewer that look traditional enough to show hunters in. If you're an eventer or Dressage rider, then you can look in to Sensation, Freeform, Ansur, or Heather Moffett saddles. All make nice English models that are traditional enough for Dressage or Eventing.

If you want to stick with a treed saddle, then I would go with either a Courbette with their Swiss E-Motion tree (which self-adjusts to fit a few different shapes of horses), or something with a changable gullet system, like Collegiate, Wintec, Bates, Anky, Pessoa, etc.

Kevin, I agree that she shouldn't buy a saddle to fit a horse that's not hers, but it is important to have a well fitting saddle. English saddles are NOT the type to fit many different shapes of horses. If she buys a fixed-tree saddle now and ends up leasing or buying a horse that doesn't fit it, then she's stuck losing money on the saddle.

Well, actually, there aren't many fixed tree saddles out there that fit a lot of different shaped horses, western or english. With western saddles, you can find one that fits lots of horses because, well, many western horses are the same basic shape. Most western riders ride some kind of stock horse or stock horse cross. English horses can varry from small, fine boned Arabs, to tall lean & lanky TBs, to HUGE wide Warmbloods or draft crosses.

Different shaped horses require different shaped saddles/trees. Try putting your stock horse western saddle on a tall Thoroughbred or a small Arabian. Not gonna happen, lol.


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## Quixotic (May 22, 2009)

Most Arabs actually tend to take a wider tree, but a lot of them probably don't get that because it's assumed that they'd need a narrower tree, since overall they tend to look more delicate.

But I agree, it's hard to find a saddle that will fit everyone you put it on. My trainer has a Stubben Siegfried that somehow magically seems to fit everyone - her 17.2 Hanoverian, my bony TB, her draft cross, etc.


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## wild_spot (Jan 30, 2008)

You can really only use one saddle on numerous horses if you ride the same type of horses.

My stock sadde is on a standard stock horse tree - It has fitted every stock horse i've put it on so far. Would it fit a TB or super wide pony? Heck no!


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## kevinshorses (Aug 15, 2009)

luvs2ride1979 said:


> Try putting your stock horse western saddle on a tall Thoroughbred or a small Arabian. Not gonna happen, lol.


I have done it and it didn't cause too many problems. If you pad correctly you can fit alot of horses with one saddle and no more than most people ride it will never harm your horse.


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## luvs2ride1979 (Nov 9, 2007)

You should not fit a saddle using extra pads. It can work in a pinch for a short ride, but it is not a good idea. You can cause the horse to have back pain and/or fatigue. It's like trying to wear shoes that are two sizes to big with extra thick socks. Or wearing clothes that are too big by putting on lots of layers underneath. Neither one is very comortable.


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## kitten_Val (Apr 25, 2007)

luvs2ride1979 said:


> Try putting your stock horse western saddle on a tall Thoroughbred or a small Arabian. Not gonna happen, lol.


In fact I do.  I have Alamo trail pleasure saddle I use on my stocky qh as well as narrow high withers paint (she's tb type). It has quarter horse bars (I don't think Alamo has semi-qh bars) and really high clearance. But it was a pain to find one, which would be fine for both of them - took me couple weeks of driving around and looking at different ones. 

P.S. I use the same pad on both of them.


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## luvs2ride1979 (Nov 9, 2007)

Quixotic said:


> Most Arabs actually tend to take a wider tree, but a lot of them probably don't get that because it's assumed that they'd need a narrower tree, since overall they tend to look more delicate.


True, but QH bars or Full QH bars on most western saddles are going to be too long for an average Arab's back and have the wrong "flare" in the front. They need a wide gullet, but different angled bars and definitely shorter bars. That's why we have "Arab" saddles ;-).



> But I agree, it's hard to find a saddle that will fit everyone you put it on. My trainer has a Stubben Siegfried that somehow magically seems to fit everyone - her 17.2 Hanoverian, my bony TB, her draft cross, etc.


I have a couple of Stubbens that are pretty versatile (versitale? lol) as well. Passiers have a "magic" tree in them too. It's because the tree points on both saddles (the older models particularly) are shorter and the pommels usually have some cut back. The shorter tree points make fitting easier and the slightly cut back pommel gives some room for high withers.


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## luvs2ride1979 (Nov 9, 2007)

kitten_Val said:


> In fact I do.  I have Alamo trail pleasure saddle I use on my stocky qh as well as narrow high withers paint (she's tb type). It has quarter horse bars (I don't think Alamo has semi-qh bars) and really high clearance. But it was a pain to find one, which would be fine for both of them - took me couple weeks of driving around and looking at different ones.
> 
> P.S. I use the same pad on both of them.


Very cool! But see, both horses need about the same bar angle, you just have one with giant withers ;-). A typical TB is going to be narrower than a typical stock horse, so he will need those steeper semi-qh bars, plus mega clearance for the withers. Of course, there are wide TBs out there. I had one as a teenager. He looked part draft almost, lol. But, he was very atypical.


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## kevinshorses (Aug 15, 2009)

luvs2ride1979 said:


> You should not fit a saddle using extra pads. It can work in a pinch for a short ride, but it is not a good idea. You can cause the horse to have back pain and/or fatigue. It's like trying to wear shoes that are two sizes to big with extra thick socks. Or wearing clothes that are too big by putting on lots of layers underneath. Neither one is very comortable.


I said "properly padded" not over padded. I train horses for a major part of my income and I ride them all in the same saddle. I check daily for signs of soreness or for the start of sores and I have yet to find any. I ride mostly stock horses but I have ridden arabs, TBs and drafts for at least a month and often two months with no problems. I also ride harder than most of the members of this forum.


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## luvs2ride1979 (Nov 9, 2007)

Some problems take more than 30-60 days to show up. I'm glad you've had good luck so far.


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## Tymer (Dec 28, 2009)

Thanks for all the replies, but I think my post was misunderstood.
Though it would be nice to have a saddle that fit the horse I ride often very well, that's not very practical if I get to college and none of their horses fit the saddle at all. Money down the drain.
The question I'm asking is more along the lines of "Is there a saddle I can get that will fit most horses an English rider will flat and jump - of course assuming they don't have an extremely wide or skinny back or very high withers."
I think writing the post I got a little distracted and wrote about some other stuff too. 
In addition (since the topic is in discussion) I have been told that accurately played saddle pads can make an ill fitting saddle feel at least a bit better by at least not letting it pinch them. (For example: A tall skinny horse with tall withers only fits well one saddle in the whole barn. Unluckily for everyone else, this is someone's private saddle and they do not share. We throw this pad I forget the name of at the moment on top of a square pad when we ride her with the school saddles. Not exactly sure why.)
Anyway, sorry for getting off topic there in the beginning. That wasn't very useful.


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## iridehorses (Oct 22, 2007)

Welcome to the forum, Tymer.

One thing in your original post bothered me, why are they using a horse with a sore back?

Alright, aside from that question, the advise I would give you is not to buy a saddle until you have your own horse. Since you are taking lessons on various horses, and you intend to go to an equine college (unless I misread that), you don't know what you will ride.

I really know the thrill of owning my own tack. I take care of my things as much as I do my horses and I had some of my bridles made for me over 25 years ago. A bride can fit nearly all horses but a saddle, and especially an English saddle, is much more particular.

My advise is to take the money from your 16th birthday, keep adding to it and when the time comes, you will have a heck of a bankroll for a first class saddle.

BTW, a Wintec, although a nice saddle as a starter, is a low line saddle at best.


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## kitten_Val (Apr 25, 2007)

luvs2ride1979 said:


> Very cool! But see, *both horses need about the same bar angle*, you just have one with giant withers ;-). A typical TB is going to be narrower than a typical stock horse, so he will need those steeper semi-qh bars, plus mega clearance for the withers. Of course, there are wide TBs out there. I had one as a teenager. He looked part draft almost, lol. But, he was very atypical.


Yes, that's certainly seems to be true. It's kinda funny though, because one is very narrow in chest comparable to other one. I believe what Alamo calls "qh bars" is something in between semi-qh and qh, and that's why it fitted them both. I remember contacting them about it at some point.


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## Tymer (Dec 28, 2009)

iridehorses said:


> Welcome to the forum, Tymer.
> 
> One thing in your original post bothered me, why are they using a horse with a sore back?
> 
> ...


To answer your question, she doesn't exactly have a sore back but she is recovering from some nasty blanket sores.

I love your advice, but I'm fairly set on getting a saddle. I've found that in general a horse I don't ride every day is going to fit most given horses unless they're awkward. If I started riding the same horse every day for a long time and the saddle wasn't a great fit I would change to a friends or get one.

And right now I keep having to "borrow" people's private saddles because there are none of the Wintecs left whatsoever. Without asking them, because all the people who have saddles who are THERE are using them. Don't really enjoy that...

What's kind of bugging me is that all of you are saying that its difficult or impossible to have a "general" English saddle yet I know a lot of people who DO have English saddles they use on every horse they ride (which is many) without a hitch. I dunno, maybe they're doing something wrong.


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## kevinshorses (Aug 15, 2009)

Or maybe they use the internet for porn and have never heard of things like buying a saddle for every horse. Find a saddle you like and that will fit the TYPE of horse you are likely to ride then don't worry about it untill you are trying to make the olympic team.


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## iridehorses (Oct 22, 2007)

Tymer said:


> What's kind of bugging me is that all of you are saying that its difficult or impossible to have a "general" English saddle yet I know a lot of people who DO have English saddles they use on every horse they ride (which is many) without a hitch. I dunno, maybe they're doing something wrong.


There are many people on the forum and everywhere who don't believe in the concept of correct saddle fit or just don't care. If you are only riding for an hour or so every few days, a saddle that comes close and with the proper pad will do fine for you for now. It's when you start heavy riding that it will become necessary to fit the saddle properly to your horse. 

You can get away with a pair of shoes that are a size too large if you are not going on a sight seeing tour but a pair of well fitting sneakers sure makes a difference if you are.


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## luvs2ride1979 (Nov 9, 2007)

I don't believe I said it was impossible, especially if you're riding many of the same type of horses, or horses with similarly shaped backs. A "medium" tree in most saddles will fit many "English" type horses that are TB or TB-types. A "wide" tree in most saddles will fit many wider stock-type horses or warmblood types. 

Courbette's Swiss E-Motion tree self adusts to most horses that fall into the medium-narrow to medium-wide category. They only don't fit broad backed horses, like thick warmbloods or flat backed horses. You can often find these saddles reasonably priced used on ebay, tacktrader, or consignment shops. You can see the line of Swiss saddles on Courbette's web site:
Courbette Saddlery Company, Inc. Online Catalog
Their Magic saddles are reasonably priced new and very hard-wearing.


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## masatisan (Jan 12, 2009)

If you're looking for a high quality saddle that will fit a wide variety of horses I'd say Bates is the way to go. They are made by the same company as Wintecs, so they have the gullet system, but Bates uses high quality leather. 

There is the Bates Caprilli All purpose, 

Then there are

The Bates Elevation Deep Seat close contact

And the Bates Elevation Jumper which I think has the same cut as the Wintec 500 close contact.


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## wild_spot (Jan 30, 2008)

> BTW, a Wintec, although a nice saddle as a starter, is a low line saddle at best.


Just want to put in a plug for Wintecs - I have had my first one for 10 years and it looks a bit shabby but is still the most comfortable AP we have, and does it's job great :]



> What's kind of bugging me is that all of you are saying that its difficult or impossible to have a "general" English saddle yet I know a lot of people who DO have English saddles they use on every horse they ride (which is many) without a hitch. I dunno, maybe they're doing something wrong.


_Think about shoes. You can wear a badly fitting pair of shoes for a little while - It's uncomfortable, but the pain goes away once you take the shoe off. But if you were to walk in those shoes for hours a day for weeks, then the pain wouldn't go away so easy, you might get blisters, your legs might get sore due to compensating for the pain in your feet, you would get cranky, and not want to walk anymore.

Saddle fit is important. My current horse was almost crippled by a badly fitted saddle and for a while I was contemplating retiring him because of it. It has taken at least 6 months, numerous different professionals (Chiropractors, body workers, massage, laser therapy, diet changes, etc.) and a custom made saddle to get him to a point where he can be ridden and work comfortably for any length of time. He still has white patches to show where the damage was greatest.

On most horses without issues it isn't too hard to fit a saddle - But on those that do have issues, it is an ongoing saga. So please, don't play a part in creating those issues.
_


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## Tymer (Dec 28, 2009)

I think you guys have been very helpful. I don't ride for more than two hours at a time and only a few times a week. If I start riding every day but Sunday and Monday (horseman's weekend) then it would only be for one hour or less every day. I think I can get away with a medium tree, high quality leather saddle to last me a while. Thank you so much, and feel free to add any brands you favor after this post.


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## Horseychick94 (Nov 19, 2009)

Get a wintec!!!!!


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