Saddles

I currently have a close contact pessoa with a nice deep seat. At what point do you need a dressage saddle for eventing?

I don't do eventing, but I have friends that do and once they started competing well in novice, they started using traditional dressage saddles - nothing fancy, just good used ones - one friend of mine in particular waited until she started getting decent scores in Level 1 at dressage schooling shows (outside of eventing - the regular level 1 tests) - what are the other folks in your area doing?

I have evented through training with out one. But I would say get one when you are doing training. You really don't need them at all for BN or N. You don't really need one at training but I think it would be nice to have.

I did entry with my green mare in a CC. My coach only just got her a dressage saddle after at least 10 years without one and she was going training level, intending to do prelim, with a deep seated close contact. It depends on what you're comfortable in, but most people have 2 saddles once you get to training and prelim.

I wasnt planning on getting a dressage saddle until I reached training level, but I found a gorgeous almost new circut for $130.....and figured I might as well! I like having the dressage tack, but I certainly don't NEED it.

I've evented through novice and always done all three phases in my CC saddle as it fit me best. I suppose part of it also is how serious are you about the sport. If I were going for points or to qualify for regionals and nationals, i'd be more likely to have different saddles for the different phases, but since I do mostly schooling fun shows, regardless of level I try to keep it simple.

What worries me is not that you do not have a dressage saddle but the fact that you have a Pessoa with 'a nice deep seat'
This to my experience is a definite NO for X country!
A deep seated saddle with both knee and thigh rolls holds a rider in the saddle to long in the case of a fall of the horse.

I can't for the life of me imagine going prelim without a deep seat with blocks. This is the first time I have ever heard this theory honestly. Love my blocks and deep seat saddle.

To the OP, I evented up to prelim without a dressage saddle. I did get one after going prelim a few times as I found it to allow me to ride a stronger test. I got out of eventing for awhile and truly regret selling my dressage saddle. I am taking my mare pretraining this year and wish I had a dressage saddle. I miss it.

Completely agree. I have gone XC in the past in an old GP without a deep seat and blocks, but much better in it! Far more likely to get injured XC by falling off than a horse falling on you, so likelihood is you'll be saved by rather than harmed by deep seat and blocks. Plus if the horse did fall (not that common an occurrence until the higher levels), how many riders are quick enough to realise what is happening and get out of the way? Not me, that's for sure.

I'm competing preliminary and still just have my cc saddle. It just depends on the person, you certainly don't *NEED* to go out and get a dressage saddle specifically for eventing. I've been looking at buying one for awhile but haven't found anything suitable yet, I'm not in a rush either, my horse goes far better in my cc than any other saddle I've tried. I know our local eventing Olympian still rides some of her lower-mid level horses dressage in a cc saddle. So get one whenever you're ready, it's totally up to you:)