Fiberglass trees

So I found a saddle I love but it has a fiberglass tree. I want the saddle to be fit to my horse after I buy it and I'm wondering how easy it is to modify a fiberglass tree? Also do you guys trust them? I can't use my old western saddle because it is starting to fall apart and it would cost me just as much to have it completely fixed as it would to just buy a new one. Here's a link to the saddle.....http://www.ebay.com/itm/London-Tan-B...item2ec1b12657

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There are wood trees with a fiberglass covering... which is good

The are polymer plastic trees... which are OK

Most fiberglass trees are hollow and means the saddle was made in India or Pakistan.... which is bad

Did you see the weight? 20lbs. That tells me right away to stay away from that thing.

I have seen a few fiberglass trees wrapped in rawhide (what a joke), I have a pic of one somewhere, will post it (need to find it) showing the crack where it broke the 1st day after it was purchased.


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Found it:
Notice the arrows pointing to the cracks?
See the rawhide (the maroon flaky looking stuff) wrapped slightly around the front of the bars, indicated by the red curved line?

This is the imports idea of strengthening a tree




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Wow thanks for the warning...ok what do you think of this one?
14" WESTERN ROPING HORSE SADDLE | eBay

That one says it's a mexican made saddle. Not sure if that's good or bad but I wouldn't buy it.

Do you have any sale barns by you? Ours here sell awesome tack at a cheap price. They have the saddles sitting out so you can look at them, measure, and feel before the bidding. I just scored an awesome Aussie saddle for $125 yesterday, still have to try it on my horse though.

We do have a sale barn and a lot of tack shops but the prices are CRAZY....I have scoured the area for a saddle that I like enough to think of purchasing and found 1 that I kinda liked but then I saw it and it was a definite no.

The sale barn I go to is all western folk, so you throw in an english or aussie and they go for pennies. I watched english saddles that were worth a few hundred, the cheapest went for $10 a few for 15 and 25 most expensive was a brand new wintec jumping saddle for $100. I was so pissed I was flat broke or I would be the proud owner of 5 more saddles lol.

It's worth buying up the good looking, good brands, then reselling on ebay to make money if they don't fit your horse lol.

Agreed! I've done that before lol but now I actually need a saddle and have 1 I need to get rid of and there's nothing here I like aghhhh

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I have seen some good Mexican made Saddles, a very popular one many people like on here is made in Mexico.

The one on Ebay looks pretty rough, without a Name on it there is no way check if others have one similar and it is comfortable for you and the Horse.

Sometimes it takes a while to find a good used Saddle, but I would try to stay with a Brand that is recognizable and made in the US or Canada.



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^^^ Yes, make sure you know the brand before buying. At the sale barns they have those cheap imports they try to sell for just under 300 but they also have very nice quality used saddles too. Research brands and and know what you want before you go looking. And since fqhb and sqhb are different depending on brand I would make sure you just know all the measurements your horse needs. But since she's gaited it might be harder. Have you looked into the synthetic gaited brands that seem to be popular?