I am new to riding english, but have started taking lessons and would like to buy an english saddle.Now, I am not going to show, I'm just an old lady (well,37) who wants a decent english saddle. I found a starter set in the Country supply catalog(late fall edition) that is 149.99. Anyone have this saddle or know if it is a complete waste of time or may be something good to begin with?If I really enjoy riding english I will eventually fork out the big bucks for a nice one but for now is this one ok??Any advise appreciated!

No No No!!!! RUN AWAY!!!!!! BAAAAAD idea!

Those beginner saddle packages are complete junk. The only plus about them is that they will fall apart on you in a few rides thus sparing you and your horse the pain it would otherwise put you through.

They are made on extremely inferior trees that don't fit 90+% of horses, pinch and cause severe back pain/problems. Some of them don't even come in tree sizes!!!! They also won't do you any favors. At best it won't put you in the correct riding position, and it could throw you completely off balance and make you miserable. The "leather" is crap and will fall to pieces (as will the stitching).

In general if it's an english saddle that sells for less than $500 new it's not worth putting on a horse. That doesn't mean you need spend $500 on your first english saddle though ;)

If you don't want to show and don't really care about looks you can look into the wintec synthetics. Good quality trees in sizes so that you can fit a decent portion of horses (some even come with adjustable gullets for fine tuning of fit, though these are the more expensive models, if you can find one used they can go fairly cheap). Good build quality that will put you in a reasonable position. The only thing that really makes them cheap is that they are synthetic rather than leather (look at what the Bates, which are essentially leather wintecs, go for).

You can also look for used, older, but not abused name brand saddles. You can find a saddle that was "mid range" ($500-$600ish) used for cheap. Look for brands that you know like County, Henry De Rival, Wintec, Courbette, etc. A name brand saddle will have a good tree, and position, and at least respectable leather that will hold up and last you a good long while if you treat it nice. You can probably find something like this used in the $200-250 range and it will be well worth the extra $$$ to not hurt your horse. Be careful buying used saddles and pay attention to the amount of flocking left (padding on the underside); older used saddles may need to be reflocked which can get expensive, but you should be able to find one that is fine.

You'll also probably want to buy local (unless you are willing to fork out the $$$ to ship a bunch back and forth) as fit can be an issue not only for you but the horse. It's not like fitting the typical western saddle to the typical stock horse where it just fits or can be corrected with a good pad; it can get quite tricky and you don't want to start playing with padding (english saddles are actually designed to be used basically without a pad; the pad should only be there to keep the saddle clean. All the fancy crap you see is people trying to correct for poor saddle fit! This is not the same as western where the saddle was designed to be used with a pad and spreads weight out in a much larger area.)

I'm glad I asked-I knew it was too good to be true.Thanks for the advise!:)

 Try some of you local tack stores for consignment saddles too. Sometimes you can find a really nice saddle for a good price. I found a nice Beval saddle that had hardly been used for under $500. It came with a girth (a really nice, expensive one), the stirrup leathes and stirrups too. I use it for lessons so it's perfect. I do want to show eventually but like you I didn't want to fork out a bunch of money for my lesson saddle. Good deals are out there, you just need to look around.

Ditto what everyone else is saying. I accepted one of those "starter" saddles as a gift from an extended family member who has horses, and I don't know what he was thinking. The metal piece that kept the stirrup leathers on constantly broke ( always at the worst of times, like when I was jumping ) and for some reason my leg always, always, always slipped back on that saddle but ONLY that saddle. It was very poor quality and ended up causing more pain than it was worth.

I feel your pain about prices, you may just want to keep your eye out for tack sales, etc. If you have $400-$500 to spend, you can definitely get a good quality English saddle from the used section of a tack store or something, but for less than that it'll take some serious searching.

I bought my used English saddle at Middleburg Tack: They let me have it on a 7 day trial.

http://www.middleburgtack.com/index.cfm?action=inventory&pCategoryID=CFEE0AB1-C291-660C-45C830FCE0920C24&name=All%20Purpose

Bucks is here:

http://www.bcsaddlery.com/esadu1.htm

Tacktrader here:

http://www.tacktrader.com/

You can buy a new Wintec 500 for a fairly reasonable price(shop for the best deal) I've had 2 and liked them alot-low maintainence, easy care.

 I would highly recommend a Wintec AP or dressage saddle (new or recent used) or a used Collegiate or Crosby, they're very common, comfortable, and fit a relatively wide variety of horses well.  I bought my used Crosby event saddle for $400 about 4 years ago, so don't feel like you have to spend a fortune to get something worth riding in. 

Thanks everyone for the great advise.I'm glad I didn't just order the one in the catalog.I will chack the consignment shops around here!:)

Please take my advice and save has hard as you can, buy a saddle from a reputable saddle maker not a dealer, manufacturers are more acustom to your needs.

I wish you the best of luck

Yours Warmly ian the saddler

  Holy old thread, revived, batman!  Folks, check dates before you post!