Do Not Buy A New Saddle Until You Read This

The most important of all horse riding supplies is the horses saddle. Riders saddle a horse to evenly distribute their weight across the animal's entire back to prevent fatigue and bruising. Riding without a saddle (bareback) will cause your horse to become tired more quickly and your horse can even develop cramping and muscle injuries. Excessive saddle-free riding over time can cause your horse's back to sag and become chronically weaker than normal. Likewise, the wrong saddle for horse could be just as damaging to both you and your horse.

Saddles are generally constructed from two types of materials, leather and synthetic materials (most commonly suede). Leather saddles are more durable and therefore last much longer than synthetic saddles. Synthetic saddles are lighter, easier to clean than leather saddles, and are know to be less expensive.

Horses and their riders can engage in a plethora of activities together and there is no one kind of saddle that does it all. For example, a saddle designed for the sport of polo will not be very comfortable if you're going to be riding for several hours, like on a cattle drive or something. Also, a big bulky saddle is not the best choice for fast paced and competitive riding and jumping. So when choosing a saddle that's right for you, it's important to consider the activities you will be doing as a horse and rider pair.

Generally have steel stirrups and elastic cinches but these accessories may not be included when and if you decide to buy a saddle English. Most English saddle advocates wear tall boots to protect their legs while they ride because English saddles do not have fenders. Fenders are the part of a saddle that keeps the cinches from pinching your legs while you ride. A general statement about English saddles is that they are a show saddle and more for "show riding" but they can be used for lower profile riding if you feel more comfortable on one. Of course the saddles listed below are just a few of the varieties of saddles English. Just think of all the different activities you could possibly do on top of a horse and there's probably an English saddle for it.

Hunt-Seat Saddles: Designed for extreme movements while caught up in the excitement of a fox hunt. More commonly know as Jumping saddles, they place the rider closer to the front of the horse to help the rider with balance and support. Stirrups are short with a bend at the rider's knee position to make it easy for a rider to scoot forward when he/she is preparing for the horse to jump over an obstacle.

Saddle-Seat Saddles: Designed to be flat and place the rider further back on the horse for riding on more level ground. Also known as gaited saddles or a cutting saddle because the front is cut back a few inches to allow the horse a further range of movement with its front legs. A horse will need to lift its front legs very high during competitions in order to perform the best gait step.

Flat-Racing Saddles: As you may have guessed, the main purpose of a Flat-Racing saddle is horse racing. Designed to be very small and light weight with extremely short stirrups. The design allows the rider to stay forward and up off the horse's back. The rider's position on the horse greatly effects how fast a horse can run.

You can expect western saddles for sale to include the stirrups and cinches that you need, however some riders prefer after market saddle accessories anyway. A western saddle will have fenders down the sides to protect your legs from getting pinched by moving straps. Another unique feature of Western saddles is something called the scurrying. Scurrying is the support cushion that surrounds your butt when you're sitting on the saddle. Be careful when you buy a western horse saddle to check the scurrying for any sign of "turning up" or curling, especially near the corners. Turned up corners indicate poor quality scurrying and could effect the overall support of the saddle.

Barrel Racing Saddles: Specially designed for competition barrel races in which competitors speed around a series of free standing barrels to complete a pattern or course, if you will. The dude or dame that finishes in the shortest time wins! The barrel saddle is very similar to the regular Western saddle but with a few tweaks added to help you and your horse cope with the common challenges associated with barrel racing. Some of the features that have been upgraded are a taller horn to help you hang on while negotiating tight corners, a higher cantle on the back for balance, stirrups that hold your feet at a different angle, and a design that overall keeps you more forward on your horse.

Treeless Saddles: Unlike most saddles, a treeless saddle is not built around a wooden tree (frame). Instead, layers of material such as leather, vinyl, or foam, are used to make the frame and saddle. In short, a treeless saddle is built for optimal comfort for both horse and rider and they make great endurance saddles. Its unique style of construction allows it to better fit a wider variety of horses. It is a versatile saddle and can be used as a trail saddle and just about any riding activity that requires you to be on your horse for long periods of time.

Used mostly as training saddles for breaking horses and other horse training activities.

To get the best horse saddle for you, it's important to consider the size of your butt (sorry ladies) as well as the size of your horse's back. When it comes to saddles, size does matter. Size is everything when comfortable horse riding is concerned and for optimal riding comfort, you'll want a size of saddle that caters to both members of your team (horse and rider). If you are a seasoned rider and enjoy mounting different horses each time you ride, you'd probably want a saddle sized to fit your butt more so than a particular horse's back. That could save having to buy a saddle for each individual horse.

You may also want to consider a custom made saddle. Some manufacturers will actually take measurements of your horse's back and create a saddle based on those measurements in order to get the best fit possible. I'm not 100% sure if they want measurements of your butt as well, you'll have to ask when you place your order. On the other hand, if you already know the size of saddle you are looking for you can save a lot of money by buying saddles online (up to 50% just by getting a saddle online).

Finding the optimal saddle can be quite a process of trial and error. To make the process easier, It is recommended to have someone who is experienced with riding horses to help you find your saddle size before you go out and browse horse saddles for sale. Even then, be sure to find out weather or not you can return the saddle that you buy, just in case you realize it's a poor fit after a bit of riding. Just remember, getting the highest level of comfort for you and your horse is the only way to get the best riding experience every time.

Here's a trick to help you ensure that your horse is as comfortable as possible in his/her new saddle. Just follow these simple steps during the trial period just after you buy a saddle for horse. (for the purposes of this tutorial, let's assume that your horse is a girl):

1. Work your horse with the saddle on until she starts to sweat a bit.
2. Remove the saddle and check her back for dry spots. Dry spots indicate that excessive pressure is being applied on those areas of her back. If you continue to use the same saddle, eventually she will get bruises and possibly skin damage in exactly the same areas that you identified as dry spots.
3. Sometimes making adjustments to how the saddle sits on her back can even out the pressure and eliminate dry spots. However, just the fact that there are dry spots indicates a level of discomfort for your horse when she wears that particular saddle.
4. If you cannot get rid of all the dry spots by adjusting the saddle's position then you know that the saddle does not fit her properly.
5. Take it back and get a new saddle.

Stubben Saddles
Tucker Saddles
Circle Y Saddle
Big Horn Saddles
Simco Saddles
Abetta Saddles
Corriente Saddles
Equine Saddles
Antares Saddles
Roper Saddles
Cordura Saddles