When saddles cost more than horses!

[brigadier]

I'm currently selling the WOW saddle I bought for Harriet but found it not quite right for me or her. I want £650 for it(what I paid). My friend is selling a nice 13.2 pony , attractive and safe and a good jumper but needs work on schooling(not mouthed properly). She is struggling to get her asking of £650. Comparable prices, so it got me thinking about the fashion for expensive, desirable tack over the price of the horse.
Arguably you can buy a decent competition potential horse for peanuts as long as you are prepared to retrain (racehorse). But fitting it out with its bling bling bridle and saddle for all occasions is where the big bucks come in. Thirty years ago a saddle was a saddle and as long as it was English and it fit well it was a good saddle. Now there is a plethora of names and types and styles on the market. But do they make good horses? Have we gone bonkers over materialistic tack?
Thoughts?

[haffyfan]

Yes would be the answer!

Are the £1500 plus saddles really any more expensive to produce than any other decent quality English saddle or are we paying huge amounts for 'research' and essentially the brand name, Lavina Mitchell, Fiona Cork, solutions etc.

[pboy]

I think we are paying a lot for the research these days as saddles seem to have come on a huge amount in the past 5 years (I say this as someone who bought a new saddle in 2010 for Pocholo, and again last year and my saddler was saying there has been a huge amount of change in that time). I think we are also far more aware of what is comfortable for our horses, though we also then tend to over-think! I'm sure the old technique of having a saddle then padding was better in many ways, and probably closer to the philosophy of people like Kay Humphries and Lavina Mitchell.

£650 does seem incredibly cheap for the pony too, I think prices for average and below average ponies have dropped at the same time as saddle prices have gone up. Your description would have fit my old 14.2hh (over 20 years ago now) and we paid quite a bit more than that!

[racaille]

I am always astounded by the amount of bling people have - and I dislike the current fashion her for sparkly everything.

As you know, things are different here and we do not have saddle fitters - a lot of people assume that their saddle will pretty much fit any horse although that is beginning to change. One of the reasons people pay three grand for a good saddle here (Devoucoux, Antares, CWD) is that they are followed for life - the company comes out to refit/flock if needed, which is a service that does not exist on its own.

I have to admit that if I won the lottery I'd buy one too!

[jane]

Very interesting question Brig. My thoughts are that a bridle is a bridle - so long as it is safe and fits it doesn't really matter what it is like - personally I think simpler the better.

Saddles - I think you should try and get the saddle that is a good fit on the horse and secondly a good fit for the rider. I prefer to spend a bit on my saddle as I ride for long distances over long hours, I need to be comfortable and more importantly my pony needs to be comfortable. I have ridden in many well fitting but flipping uncomfortable saddles over the years and now I am older and know there is a choice then comfort for both of us is imperative.

I have expensive sprenger irons, but as I am arthritic I find they do help, have used cheap ones in the past but found that they do break and haven't lasted like the Sprengers have (about five years now).

Also like the nuumed numnahs - again for horse comfort and for wickability.

So for me a saddle is the most importan bit of kit, but I am not interested in fancy browbands, numnahs or bling. Comfort for Debs and me is my main concern.