As a newcomer to the horse industry I found the array of saddles and other tack confusing to say the least. What was the difference between an English Saddle, an Australian Stock Saddle, An Endurance Saddle, Western Saddle, Australian Military Saddle, a Russian Saddle, synthetic as opposed to leather, and of course a Mongolian saddle? And then what were Swinging Fenders? And Stirrup leathers? Etc etc
In my situation I had to think about a few important factors: I didn’t know the size of my horse, I would be using a variety of different sized horses, I needed to be able to strap gear onto my saddle, and the saddle had to be as comfortable as possible for both rider and horse….it also had to be relatively light weight, and not too expensive!
Everyone in the horse industry is highly opinionated and so I was constantly hearing contradictions. I went from thinking that a synthetic saddle was the best solution, to an Australian Military saddle (until I realised how hard they were to find!), a western saddle, and finally back to a leather Australian saddle. The Australian stock saddle was what I had used in the past, and I discovered that Bates Australia made a model with an adjustable gullet- this means that I can change the shape of the saddle to fit different size horses. It also uses an air panel system called CAIR which provides maximum freedom of movement and comfort for the horse. It is smaller and much lighter than a Western Saddle, which I think is especially important in Mongolia where the horses are shorter-backed. It uses a single girth strap with stirrup leathers- I decided that this would be a more simple system to repair and replace than the swinging fender designs (like on a Western saddle).
In any case the Aussie Stock saddle is what I went for and now I have to see how it goes! (Sorry to all those people whose advice I have not taken. But be sure I took everyone’s point of view into account!). Compared to the Russian and Mongolian saddles it certainly seems like a true luxury. The Mongolian saddles come in one universal size made of solid wood. Just to make it more uncomfortable they even put metal decorations on the saddle that dig into the inner thigh!
REVIEW FROM THE ROAD
Having ridden 3000km or so, I have come to know my saddle pretty well. It is good in the sense that it is tough, comfortable, and can be adjusted with different gullet sizes. It has great facilities for long riders including many d-rings for hanging things off and attaching cruppers and breast plates. On the other hand I have never had a really great fit despite blanketing and the modern 'cair' pads. The tree doesn't seem to give you much clearance over the spine and there are bolts which tend to get too close to the spine for comfort. In general it has been fine, but I am beginning to thing that perhaps an Australian military saddle with swing trees would have been perhaps a better option- hard to know.
