Endurance saddles for the petite rider? Do they exist?!

That would be a lot of fun, alas, I am without transportation. I wasn't expecting to even get a saddle this soon, but it just worked out this way. My guy is coming four and just being started on riding, so I won't be doing anything besides trail riding until later next year when he is closer to five. I am hoping to drive to something like this and get some experience, but I don't know when yet.

JB, I remember a thread you posted awhile back when you were saddle shopping - what did you end up finding that you liked?

I bought phantomhorse's Big Horn endurance and am on day two for testing it out. I love it so far! I have another thread on here and it's also on my blog
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I went to pay for the saddle today since the store is closed Sunday and Monday. I asked if they knew what the lowest price was that the owners would accept and I got a good surprise.

They would take $200. I also had dropped off a bunch of stuff in December that I didn't feel like trying to sell on my own. It turns out that I had several things sell so we credited that sum to the saddle.

After a 10% tax, the total was just over $200. I am so happy. I saved $80 off of the asking price. I've been grinning like an idiot since I left the place. I dropped off my Big Horn there for consignment as I don't have the motivation to actually sell it myself.

Unfortunately, my dressage pad did sell, so now I am buying a new one. But that's okay. I really can't complain about getting to shop more. I am ordering my shims right now and hopefully next week I can order my girth.

Yay!!! Happy happy happy dance!!

Also, here are a couple of other photos. These are more 'fitting' photos. You can see where the back of the saddle needs shimming to match the shape of his back. The front looks nearly okay. There are a couple of inches of space for the withers and I can see a good amount of light through the channel.

Wow,,, someone definitely didnt know what they had.

More likely, they didn't care. The shop that this came from is in the Northwest suburbs of Chicago in a very (And I mean VERY) affluent horse community. Multi million dollar horse barns are everywhere. They maintain somewhere around 200 miles of bridle trails for their use.

I am moving Mana down there in March to make use of these trails. The only downer is that I have to pay $100 a year to join the Riding Club and get a map+tag to ride the trails. It's worth it though.

These people are your stereotypical rich horse people. Polo, dressage and Fox Hunting are regular events out there. It's crazy. A couple thousand bucks is nothing out there.

Barrington Hills, Illinois - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Oh, and I looked at the other saddle while I was there. I didn't have time to measure since I went over there on my break for lunch, but this is what I remember. It was aTex Tan endurance saddle. It was a pretty big seat. I would guess 17in seat. It was like new. They wanted $900 for it. That's all I got.

I LOVED mine that I had a few years ago - it was half leather half synthetic....but the semi QH fit didn't fit my horses worth a darn. So I sold it and it has a happy place somewhere else. I LOVED the way it rode, and loved how light it was. I haven't been able to find a half/half saddle like it since that fits anything I have....oh well. I'm still saving for a SS Trailmaster. Won't be much longer now!