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Re: [RC] newbie wants to know...... - Laney HumphreyOh boy, Bob, you've asked the $64 million question! I'll bet every endurance rider has had to make that decision for themselves. There isn't a "better" or "best" type because so many factors go into the decision. Off the top of my head here are a few:1. the type of saddle you're used to riding 2. the terrain you ride in 3. budget 4. what your friends ride in and also what's the most common type in your region of the country If you search the Ridecamp archives for posts on the subject, you'll find that people are most concerned with how their saddle fits their horse and then how it fits them. Lots of people start out riding whatever saddle they've got and continue using it until it starts causing problems - white hairs, changes in behavior, lameness. Then they start on The Great Saddle Hunt. Even though the undersides of english and western type saddles look different (to say nothing of the bottoms of alternative types of saddles), the bottom part is for the horse and the top is for the rider. If you have a preference for one top style or another, I'd stick with that. Then I'd suggest learning how to analyze the shape of your horse's back. With those two pieces of information, as well as some idea of how much money you want to spend and how long you're willing to wait for a saddle, you are ready to start shopping. You may have already figured out that you can't walk into a tack store and find endurance saddles. That makes the Hunt even harder! If you possibly can, go to the AERC national convention next Feb. in Reno, NV, or to your regional convention if there is a marketplace. Those, plus perhaps the Equine Affairs type shows are the only places you'll find any endurance saddles on display so you can actually sit in a variety of them and talk with the saddle makers. If your horse has no fit issues, you might be able to find a saddle "off the rack" that will work. But if your horse already has issues - anything from being built asymmetrically to deep tissue injury from a poor fitting saddle, to lameness, to behavior issues caused by poor saddle fit, to being young and/or unfit to name a few - plan on spending quite a bit of time and money on The Great Saddle Hunt! Laney Bob Fletcher wrote: Which is a better saddle for endurance riding, english type, western type or the so called endurance type. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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