Your favorite english saddle ever?

I am saving up for a good quality, and very comfortable close contact or all purpose saddle. I am unsure of what brand or style of saddle I want though.

I was wondering if any of you have a saddle that you love, and let me know why. I will be saving up, and buying one next spring.
Also, I will be willing to pay up to approx. $600 new or used.

Thanks so much!

PS: it would be great if you had a picture too, but if not that's okay too!

I LOVE my Stubben AP saddle. It is so comfy and fits my horse beautifully! I will most definatley be purchasing another soon.

Awesome, thank you :)

Horseluver, before looking into the brands you really want to know what brands are good for your horse's conformation.

Like yes, Stubbens are great saddles, however I can NOT use them on my horses, because they are horrible fit. So what's great for me may not be great for you or (in opposite) what's bad for me may be the great fit for you. I loved the Pessoa - VERY comfortable saddle, but as my horses grew up it wasn't a good fit anymore, so I ended up selling it. I have Collegiate A/P now, which is a good fit (per my saddle fitter) and comfortable, but again it may not be a good fit for you.

If you want to get fit suggestions take some pics of your horse (front, shoulders, sides, back), and post so people could see what type of conformation it is. :)

^^ Thanks so much! I will be trailing her into our tack store and trying on a bunch of saddles there. I will definetly be getting a good fitting one, but also want one comfy for me, and more affordable (preferably used).

I will post pictures of her in a few minutes!

Her back is pretty wide, really comfy bareback. She has higher withers than most quarter horses, she's a pretty average quarter horse, besides the withers :)
Heres pictures:




The saddle on in this picture fits her amazingly:


Not sure if these pictures work too well, but they are the best I have right now. :)

Are you positive she has a wide back? Because to me she looks more like TB (slimmer look). May be just pics too.

I hope luvs will comment (as she's definitely much better at that than me ).

What I did when I was looking for the saddle (which was just last August), I took pics and measurements and contacted Saddle Fitting | Trumbull Mountain Tack Shop to see what they will advise and what they have on sale. In fact their advise was about the same as my local saddle fitter's advise. They also sell used saddles (which you can try to negotiate), and I ordered one from them (great service and trial policy too!).

It's not wide, just average. I am 5'9, she is 15.1hh, and when I sit on her bareback my legs go to just barely below her stomach. Maybe it's just because she's fat that it takes up more of my leg, but she is really comfy bareback and feels wide and safe. She isn't really wide, and isn't narrow, just like a normal qh :]

That sounds really interesting, I will have to take some better pictures and send it it to see what they say :) Thanks!

I love my M. Toulouse Celine saddle. It is super comfy! It is close contact for hunter jumper...but it depends what you want to do. My trainer said all purpose is no purpose...(i think some one said that also on another thread lol,) because it is not for any certain dicipline.. I have a quarter horse and it fits him perfectly. Just get a wide tree. But I highly recommend it! :)

I recently got the latest Pessoa Gen-X. At least for me, the balance is absolutely perfect. It's a nice soft leather to the point where I'm a little concerned how long it will hold up to moderate work. It sells for around $1300. Right now it's coming with lots of extras for free, stirrups, girth, leathers, etc. Figures it's after I buy it, but oh well.