english saddles

Most local tack shops do reride/consignment. Advantage there is you can usually take it home and try it out, but you are limited by what is in your area.

Also, for online, ebay is a great place to find high quality used saddles at a great price. But it helps to have some idea what size/fit you are looking for as often you can't give it back if it doesn't work out.

Collegiates are great saddles and pretty common, so you can usually find one used and not at an astronomical price. I'd start looking there.

thanks. There's really no where around here that sells them. Most tack/horsey type stores carry western one supplies. I have been looking on craigslist but most people don't know what kind it is they have...can give no advice on the 'tree' so I don't know for sure it will fit the horse I ride. I was looking to spend as little as possible, I know that sounds cheap...but the fact is, I don't own a horse. This is someone else's horse that I ride. I have been using her saddle, which is fine with her, but now there are other people at the barn that have been using her stuff and leaving it out, not taking care of it, etc...so she doesn't want to leave it out there. So now if I'm going to go out and ride, I have to tell her at least a day in advance so she has time to drive out there and leave the tack for me to use the next day. Just a big ole hassle. So I thought if I had my OWN stuff, then it would be LESS hassle. I found a saddle on craigslist for $75. It looked pretty nice, good condition etc...but I didn't like the color (call me superficial) but I think if I'm going to have my OWN stuff, it should be stuff that I LIKE...right?
Seems like the wintecs LOOK comfortable and it says stuff about the CAIR system they have which makes it sound comfortable for the horse. State Line Tack has some saddles that are under $300 that come with 'stuff'. there is even a 'kit' that comes with everything...what do you think?
EquiRoyal Event Saddle Package - Statelinetack.com

Wintec's are excellent starter saddles. However, everyone I have known that got one, ended up wanting to upgrade to a leather saddle shortly after. So I would just spring for the leather saddle now. Before you go out and buy a starter kit of a lower quality saddle, try and find a higher brand saddle used. Some people said consignment shops, they are perfect because you can see the saddle and sometimes try it on your horse before purchasing. Try tacktrader.com too. I sold a saddle on there. Another benefit of a used saddle is that they are already broken in!! And a consignment shop usually has standards on what they will re-sell. I'd go that route first!

thanks for the website link, I will check it out. As I said, there's noone around here that sells english stuff. The local 'feed store' has ONE saddle in it for sale, and it is a new western one. There is some tack store that specializes in english stuff about a 30-40 minute drive from here, has weird short hours, that I haven't been able to check out yet. I haven't even been able to find a nice pair of paddock boots around here!

Try e-bay ... if you can save a little more and get a little nicer saddle it will benefit you in the long run.

I have a Collegiate(which I would recommend as a great starter saddle) that I got when I was about 12 or 13. My trainer had us buy it big and i have now had it for 13 years. It is still in great condition and fits me wonderfully.

I also just bought a Stubben on e-bay for $510 (which anyone will tell you is a STEAL) ... You can get good quality saddles right now for nothing so if you can save up a little i would suggest that.

KenTaur. I don't know where are you exactly from and if it is possible to buy it there, but it's number one in Czech Rep. It makes leather saddle
If you want AP, you can try
KENTAUR - All purpose saddles
I've sat in almost all types of KT saddles and they really are perfect. Dressage, AP and even jumping saddles...

i LOVE ebay ! if you find a saddle you like that fits you & your horse just see if someone is selling one on ebay, bc they probably are ! i just got an m toulouse cc saddle barely used for really cheap ! it is now my favorite saddle