In other news--a saddle review

I am a saddle addict.

Admitting it has not helped with my problem.

Since the SO doesn't read this, I figure it's fine to 'fess up to my latest purchase.

I bought another one, and by god if this fits my horse it will go down as possibly the best saddle purchase ever.

 Here she is, all cleaned up!  I took this picture today but deleted the background 

so you wouldn't have to look at my neighbor's house.

I have really been missing my hunter roots lately.  I want to ride in an English saddle and breeches again.  It's easier for me to feel the horse, to give and train cues, and it'll do loads to get my balance back to where it should be.

Plus, my nice tall boots are getting way dusty from sitting in the closet.

I also want to preface this review by saying that I am a total, absolute tack snob.  I know way too much about all varieties of saddles, and I can recognize and name by brand about any saddle or bit you throw at me.  I bought my Myler bit super cheap on ebay because I recognized what it was despite the seller neglecting to post that information.  I have found lost treasures because their owners didn't know (or care to know) what they had.  My Jim Taylor saddle is one of those stories.  Unfortunately, it's too wide to fit Chevy at the moment (she sprouted withers again), so it's just hanging out right now.  Which is a shame, because it's a real pleasure to ride in.

All Jim Taylors are custom made by hand.  This one retailed at 

close to $4500.  I got it, dirty, neglected, but sound, for $350.

So I've got high hopes for this latest saddle purchase.  Chev has a tricky back.  She has wide shoulders but still a wither, so she usually takes a wide type tree with lots of flare in the bars at the bottom.  She gets very annoyed by trees that dip in before they flare out.  This saddle's a wide tree, wider than most I've seen (since of course there's no standard to tree measurement), and looks to have plenty of flare.  So we'll see when I put it up on her back.  Plus, I put a lot of stock in how the horse moves and feels while working with the saddle.  I think that tells you a lot about fit.

So anyway, back to the tack snob thing.  I have always hated HDR (Henri de Rivel) saddles.  I consider them to be low quality in general, with crummy, cardboardy leather, similar to the Kincade/Intec/lower end Collegiates.  Turns out I was only familiar with the lower end HDRs--like the "Advantage".  Have you noticed low end anythings always have a super impressive name?  Like, much more so than things that are nice quality to begin with?

I have personally owned Wintecs, Collegiates, and Crosbys, and I owned a Circuit Elite for a very brief period.  I even own a Prestige Nona Garson Elite with a broken tree that I thought maybe, someday, by some miracle I would have the money to fix (not likely).  My last CC saddle was a Frank Baines.  I was loathe to sell it--it was a lovely saddle, I had the Reflex model--but Chevy grew out of it and it helped pay the majority of her shipping costs to move out here.  I've ridden in everything from cheapies to Pessoas, Stubbens, and very high end, $3-4000 range jumping saddles.  I'm pretty poor though, so I can only buy what I can afford.

On the western side, I've owned Circle Ys--two of them, and they were both terrible fits--a Rico barrel saddle that I used when I first started riding Chevy (now THAT was a NICE little saddle!  I'd love to find another one but there aren't too many around), I owned a Charlie Ridley, and the Jim Taylor, and I currently ride in a little custom training saddle by El Dorado, which rides a lot like a Billy Cook and fits the pony well.  It's a really different ride from the Jim Taylor--much more of an equitation seat.  I've sampled a pretty large number of western saddles, from basic entry level corduras (which, surprisingly, aren't all bad),  Reinsmans, Billy Cooks and Bob's.  And I have to say, the Jim Taylor is definitely up there with the rest of the reining saddle kings.  

Back to the recent purchase!  After all that mumbo jumbo, what I'm trying to say is after the Frank Baines, I pretty much resigned myself to never getting another english saddle I'd be happy with.  I don't make much money on an artist's salary.  But, I did just get my tax return, and after many months of total poverty, it didn't take me long to figure out how to spend it.

The specs:  It's a Henri de Rivel "Rivella".  This is the top of the line saddle for HDR, but I have to say, I wasn't expecting much.  It came with Herm Sprenger irons (which I have had my eye on for a while, sold my last flex stirrups with the Baines saddle) and HDR leathers.  And it was Buy It Now, shipped, for $300.

I figured, what the heck?  Even if it doesn't work out I can resell minus those irons I've been thinking about getting anyway.

It arrived this morning and holy moly, it is lovely.  I never, EVER thought I would EVER say that about an HDR.  I know this is one of the older Rivellas, and the leather is so beautiful and soft, the stitching is even and perfect, and though it's been used a lot, it looks beautiful.  It's definitely at least the quality of the Baines saddle, and that was new in the $3200 range.  The construction is really, really nice and everything has held up really well.  Everything is neat and symmetrical.  There are a bunch of new M. Toulouse saddles in the tack store out at the barn right now, and I have to say, this one makes those look like cheap junk.  It looks nicer than a Pessoa (except maybe the old, N Pessoa ones).  I am totally impressed.

So that's why I wanted to preface my review with all that stuff about me being a tack snob, because I don't dole out this kind of praise lightly.  

So there you have it: you can teach an ol' tack snobby to change her opinions and love again.