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Signs of a saddle addiction

5K views 41 replies 28 participants last post by  freia 
#1 ·
1. you currently own more saddles than the number of horses you own x 2.

2. you are buying saddles for horses you don't actually own yet "just in case".

3. you are having to hide saddles from your better half so he/she doesn't divorce you or at the very least, think you've lost your mind.

4. you find yourself buying yet another saddle "because it was such a good deal I couldn't pass it up."

5. you currently are currently watching saddles on ebay and possibly on several other used saddle sites even though you've already checked off numbers 1 through 4.

Other symptoms from fellow saddle addiction sufferers? Is there a cure to this ailment?
 
#4 ·
1. You currently own more saddles than the number of horses you own x 2.

i have one horse and just bought saddle #5. yeah, i can check this one off!

2. You are buying saddles for horses you don't actually own yet "just in case".

not yet, but i do help friends find saddles to fit their horses! And can't seem to sell the saddles that don't fit my mare, because you know, they might work for something in the future.

3. You are having to hide saddles from your better half so he/she doesn't divorce you or at the very least, think you've lost your mind.

the not so better half didn't appreciate my horseyness so i got rid of them and bought saddle #5 haha!

4. You find yourself buying yet another saddle "because it was such a good deal I couldn't pass it up."

yep! the budget was higher than the price tag on the saddle i just got.

5. You currently are currently watching saddles on ebay and possibly on several other used saddle sites even though you've already checked off numbers 1 through 4.

shhhhhhh............... ;)
 
#6 ·
Stop making posts about me!

Umm... I own 8 saddles... I don't own a horse... I don't hide them, I keep them in the back of the storage room at the school where I work. What do you mean "that's the same thing"?

But they were really good deals! I'll need them eventually! Buying saddles is fun! Did I mention they were really good deals?

Fine... guilty as charged.
 
#7 ·
Guilty of all of the above except hiding saddles from spouse no longer hitched ! I got the saddle collecting thing "BAD". Tend to collect wades / ropers / drafts / and CA Martin Aussie's with horns . Always looking for top of the line pricey when new saddles at a bargain. An when its a no brainer deal buy em any size between 15 and 17 1/2 " . FQHB /semi HB/ gullet size don't matter if I like it (saddle). Even though I tend to ride in a 16 . :racing: YUP ! Count me in ! :thumbsup: BTW I don't wanna get cured . Tell EM to leave me alone !
 
#11 ·
Sign of saddle addiction - had to go over in my head how many saddles I have, took me a while. I have 9, and 3 horses. In all fairness, 3 are my granddaughter's because she's small and rides English & Western and has one to play around on in the house, 1 is my husband's, and the rest are mine, I need them!
 
#12 ·
I am not an addict.

I own 3 horses and one donkey, only currently ride one, and another will be coming back into work soon.

I own one good western saddle, 1 good English saddle (even though currently I can't see me ever riding English again) I do own 3 'other' Western Saddles, horrible quality that I need to clean up and condition so I can sell them and buy one more decent Western.

At one time I owned at least 5 or 6 of both Western and English, but had to cut down :cry:
 
#17 ·
Oh yes, the blanket addiction... almost as bad as the saddle addiction. Before I got my horse last October, I did some reading and the previous owners told me they NEVER blanketed him, not even in our bitterly cold winters. So I haughtily thought I wouldn't blanket either. They're horses, they can cope with whatever nature throws at them right? But then it got really cold so I bought him a winter blanket. And then we were trailering for lessons and I didn't want him to be filthy so I had to buy a stable blanket. And of course he NEEDED that pretty little pink fleece coolers (it's ok, he's confident in his masculinity). And then spring came, with its rain, and I was horrified he might get rain rot so - you guessed it - time for a rainsheet! I've owned him six months and am up to four. And that stable blanket really doesn't fit him well... also, the fleece cooler doesn't cover his neck so I think I need a loose wool cooler too...
 
#16 ·
I have seven saddles, including the Sears-Roebuck saddle mom bought me brand new, in 1959.

That doesn't count a few saddles I bought in the bar parking lot because the guy needed beer money. They turned out to be collector saddles:D

I have never had more than four horses.

The kicker is that I have ridden bareback most of my life:neutral:
 
#19 ·
I can't afford to be a saddle addict, so I am a bit addict. I own bits that I can never imagine even wanting to use; bits that look like torture devices employed by the Spanish Inquisition. I have owned five saddles: a Kieffer dressage and a Stubben jumping saddle: both stolen; a little kid western saddle which I loved, but gave to a therapeutic riding program, and a draft saddle which didn't fit Ahab, and I gave to our local Shire farm.

I now have just one Rhino western saddle: tried to buy a Kieffer dressage saddle, but lost it on ebay. :cry:
 
#29 ·
I can't afford to be a saddle addict, so I am a bit addict.
Oh my... yes... after I purchased Cally & my "world of bits" was turned upside down (what do you mean horses like things other than this single joint eggbutt my Arabian mare has used her entire life??). I bought so many different bits to try on that mare. Expanding my bit knowledge... probably the best & worst thing to ever happen LOL. Now I've got the same bit, but with 5 different cheek pieces. It's to the point where other boarders don't need to "take the risk" on buying a new bit before they try it because I've likely got it :neutral:

Saddles I seem to go up & down with. I either have too many or the right amount. Honestly it just depends on what I've found & couldn't pass up 'a steal of a deal.' I did finally convince myself to sell my Courbette Athena even thought I loved that thing, but had to admit I love my Collegiate CC just as much *sigh* Right now I've got 1 CC, 1 Dressage, 2 Western (1 is the boyfriend's so that doesn't really count right?) between 3 horses. Fairly conservative for me :sad:
 
#23 ·
Blankets of any type are one thing I don't have to bother with. Aires thinks we live somewhere far colder than we do and grows an adequate coat for Antarctica. In summer, we don't really get Mosquitos and the flies aren't so bad that a fly sheet is necessary. If I still had my old gelding, I'd probably be a blanketer, as he never grew an adequate coat and he had a fly allergy.
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#25 ·
I'm definitely in saddle-obsessive mode. I'm learning more and more about fitment and have been incredibly OCD about finding proper fitting saddles since it's very hard to get an English fitter out here. So I asked around and finally picked one and it wasn't the color I wanted, so I've been having fun and gradually darkening it from the orange two-tone, to a more understated hue.

I currently own 2 (3 if you count the one I've been using lately but haven't officially bought, but my BO has been letting me use). One english and one western.

Then I have my trail saddle obsession. I currently ride in a full synthetic Abetta my B.O has been loaning me. While it's comfortable, I feel it really restricts my movement (and messes up my riding pants like you wouldn't believe!), so I've got my budget set aside for a local saddle maker to fit my boy for a lighter weight leather endurance style saddle. If he has one already made that fits him, I'll gladly take it because I really don't want to spend most of the summer riding in a synthetic saddle, though when we are jumping into water my mind is rested.
 
#26 ·
Up until a couple months ago, I had 5 saddles taking up a dedicated spare bedroom. I only use one. But I bit the bullet and sold the Circle Y that I had since 1985; I had kept it even though I stopped riding western in 1992 and can't lift any kind of weight because of a bad back. Pathetic.

However, after reading this thread I feel kind of... conservative.
 
#27 ·
I have 5 saddles for 2 horses. But I used to have more, I actually culled my hoard and sold several a few years ago. Ones that I finally admitted I would probably never ride in again......a 15" western when I ride in a 16-17" western, a cordura that was my first saddle. It was a Big Horn, a great saddle, but I am really into slick fork saddles with high cantles now. A 17" saddle that was way too big and not that comfortable, a saddle I found on Craigslist for a great price but didn't fit either horse even remotely.

Now here is something I probably shouldn't admit. That out of the 5 saddles I still own, three are exactly the same brand and model number! One I got in trade and I liked it so much that when I saw another one on Craigslist I had to have it, and the 3rd I got really reasonable at a tack shop that was going out of business. But 2 of those saddles I am actually using on my two horses. I could probably sell the 3rd, but I haven't yet!

I used to hoard bits but not so much anymore. My young horse really only does well in one bit. And my older horse really loves only a certain bit as well, so with no horses to play around with bits on has dampened my collecting.

What I'm really bad about though is saddle pads and saddle blankets. I don't even know how many I own. I wouldn't want to guess!
 
#28 ·
I think saddles are like the horse version of shoes. You cannot have too many, you just cannot, even if other people (most likely your significant other) think you do. I bought my first saddle last December, but I'm already up to 3 (for 1 horse) and of course I'm currently shopping for a new one (or two).

As for blankets, my poor equine only has three: a warm blanket, a stable sheet, and a fly sheet. Poor deprived baby. Excuse me while I shop.
 
#31 ·
7 saddles, soon to be eight. 2 australians, 2 english, 3 western. three horses. the new saddle is an english saddle that belonged to my great great grandfather. so we're talking a circa 1930 english saddle. its my new refurb project :)

in my defense though, i was running a lesson program up until two weeks ago, so i had to have saddles for anyone of any size....

im also a polo wrap hoarder. i have bins and bins of polo/shipping wraps. all colors, all styles, i could mummify a horse with polo wraps if i felt like it.
 
#32 ·
Saddles I'm not so bad with, only 4 for two horses. However bits and blankets... Whole 'nother story. Last I counted I had around 25 bits-just snaffles- and something in the range of 20 blankets, for two horses. And I have bought another fly sheet and winter blanket since the last count. I've even got a 64" cotton sheet and my smallest horse is a 75". Heeeeelllp meeee.... JK, I'm happy over here...
 
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