so, heather's new saddle...

[Claire]

course i have to ask this just as she's away for a week......

but having only seen the thread about the leather treed saddle, which contains a pic of, apparently, a synthetic one, i need to ask questions

context - looking for saddle for friend, who is interested in Fhoenix but doesn't have much money and this may fit the bill

what will it fit?  will it need anything underneath to assist fit (ni the way of shims/smartpanel/whatever)

confused.com

i know, i could go to YHL and ask heather there (hoping to do so, indeed!) but confused now and need info for my mate...

[cirocco]

Claire this is just the same sort of prob im having right now, trying to find a saddle for friend who doesn't want to spend a fortune on something that wont fit her highland x in spring.

She wants a brown suede, fit anything, so hers now, and later, to show in and for dressage.
same questions so i'll watch this space..
Im going to YHL so will look at the HM one ask questions then, if cant find out before. xxxxx

 UPDATE
My friend is coming along with us to YHL now, so she can look at the HM saddle, and chat to Heather.
It seems that there is a huge need for the sort of saddle that my friend is looking for, and you dont realise until you actually go looking, that they are not around. I would have bought a brown suede if there had been a tree less version of a dressage available at a realistic price.

[AG]

Hi all

I am in the market for a saddle for my Andalusian cross 15hh, shortbacked, WELL sprung ribs, big wide laid back shoulder.  She suits a Strada C tree very well. She has outgrown a Wintec Stock saddle extra wide and was too wide for a Kent and Master xw cob dressage.

Before leaping into a purchase I am very keen to explore whether Heather's new saddle might suit her, does anyone know when these saddles will be available for sale? I can't go to YHL to see it for myself there.

The saddle must have good lateral stability as this is a green horse with a lightening spook. For the same reason it also needs to be quite secure for me and have a knee roll I can get my short legs into! Given her horizontal ribs any saddle must also have wide flat panels.

I had assumed that a treed saddle would be best for stability and mounting from the ground but am willing to be persuded otherwise. Riding ambitions are staying on board, flat work, lots of hacking and hopefully low level endurance.

So why not just buy the Strada? Lovely saddle, big price tag. I would need a custom knee roll to suit my short leg and like some others on the group I worry whether the panels will soften in cold weather.

Thanks

Annette

[nona]

AG

I have pm'd you re the Wintec saddle, not wanting to hijack this thread.

Thanks

Nona

[Claire]

waving at heather now she's back....

[Heather]

The new saddles will be here by the end of this week. I have to finally ok them and then they will make me the leather one. It will be made in Sedgewicks, the finest of all English leathers, and priced at £799. We simply couldnt get the quality in other leathers, so with Sedgewicks we know we have the best leather in the world, at a truly unbeatable price!!

[whisper's mum]

There will still be synthetics too, won't there? 

[Claire]

what i really wanted to know was the answers to my questions below, heather, since i don't understand the concept and can't find anything where you've explained or discussed it......

[cirocco]

So if we like the synthetic or leather saddles, would there be a possibility of having a suede one perhaps.. say brown?.

if so how much would it be, any ideas.

[hannah]

Ok, I'm not Heather but I have seen the prototypes. Heather will need to confirm, but here are my thoughts:
The new saddles have a leather tree which is flexible, so the saddle will fit most types. You may need to use shims/wither pad to make the saddle seat level.
The saddles will be available in either synthetic or leather, GP and dressage initially and the synthetic prototype I have looks FAB  it looks very traditional (read normal  ) and also has suede seat and knee rolls. As with the Fhoenix, the knee rolls are adjustable so will suit being used by different riders or altering between flatwork and jumping in the GP.

Hope this helps and that I'm passing on correct information 

[drummers mum]

I'm drooling!

[Shelby]

Heather - please can you tell us how the leather tree compares with the Vogue/Fhoenix panels, what are the advantages/disadvantages and how the new saddle feels to the rider compared with the Vogue 

[Lucia]

Ohhh good question! Be interested in how they compare.

[Heather]

Hi Shelby,

The concept is quite different, in that the leather tree is truly a 'tree', if you have ever seen a plastic tree, the leather one is very similar only without points. Ours has a gullet plate which means that the front arch cannot spread, but will be in two widths, medium and wide, but these will still fit a range of different horses, as there are no points so the panels widen out or in, to accommodate the width of the horse. Just that some need a slightly narrower front arch if high withered, to keep the clearance.

The panels are firmer and deeper, giving a deeper gullet as the gullet is not soft like the Fhoenix or Vogue. The main advantage is that the leather tree enables us to make the saddle look exactly like a normal treed saddle, and it does also give greater clearance on very high withered or atrophied horses.

The new leather ones will be made after all in Sedgewicks leather, the 'Rolls Royce' of English hide and butt, as we just couldnt find anything to compare. It will bring the saddle to a still extremely reasonable £799 for the leather version. We can only keep the price down as we are not selling through shops. This would without a doubt be a £1500 saddle in shops ( they want a 100% mark up and why we try to stay direct retail).

It is very comfortable, but still not the ultimate comfort of the SoftTree. But it comes a close second!! I hope to have a leather one on the trade stand at YHL but we are cutting it pretty fine. Have to ok the final synthetic samples- then they can go ahead and do the leather version!

[drummers mum]

I'd love to see pics of the insides, so is the tree one piece of leather? For future stands you should have a cross section to show people