My Biggest Saddle Shopping Mistake:
a Tale of Crazy Wild Drama

A few months ago a friend was in the market for a new saddle and contemplating a certain high end European brand that has enjoyed extreme popularity the last several years. When I saw her Instagram story with that name brand I thought, “NOOOOOO!!!!” and I immediately wrote her a long-winded email to try to stop her from getting wrapped up in crazy wild drama.

I shared my tale of saddle shopping woe that is so unbelievable, I still can’t believe it happened. This blog post is based on that email to her in which I summarized the happenings when I ended up with a crappy $5,000 saddle when I first bought Knight. I wrote a series of blog posts (published at the time, now set to “private”) about my saddle shopping experience, but I was told by said saddle company I had to take down my blog posts. So much for my First Amendment rights. I have toyed with the idea of republishing my original blog posts, but instead, this is a better solution as it’s a summary of the happenings then, and am I still complying with our “agreement” in which I was told to remove those blog posts from the Internet.

Here goes:

First off, I test rode Knight in that fancy European brand. The trainer he was with at the sales barn happened to be tight with the rep for that company. When I bought Knight it had been a few years since I’d ridden and when I discovered DC’s brand new saddle (my previous horse) which he didn’t get to use for very long because he died a few months after I bought it, was too wide for Knight, I had to saddle shop.

The popular European brand rep came out to my barn and spent maybe one hour with me. She looked at my horse and plopped on two or three saddles. The one that was the most comfy (for me) was the one I bought.

I remember telling her I was a fan of wool flocking and she said, “We don’t wool flock our saddles. When I was in Europe for training, we took apart wool flocked saddles and there were bugs in them. The only reason wool flocked saddles exist is to keep the saddle fitters employed. It’s old-fashioned technology.”

Side Note: What I found interesting several months down the road was a barn friend who moved from Canada said her trainer in Canada had that brand of saddle with wool flocking. She guessed it wasn’t common because the reps don’t know how to flock and it’s an extra step. Hmmm. 

The next thing the rep said–are you sitting down?–was the foam used in their saddles is the same material NASA uses on their rockets! Now I’m not sure how that’s relevant, but DANG that’s cutting edge! Wouldn’t you want a NASA-approved saddle? (I can’t believe I got so taken.)

[By the way, I have since researched the NASA connection to see if there is any truth to that claim and as far as I can tell, that was a bunch of baloney.]

The rep found out I was from the Chicago area originally and guess what? She was too! So she started asking me if I knew different horse people and when we landed on my former trainer who is an amazing human and the most ethical horse person I know, she said, “I’m friends with her. All her riders have our saddles.” Well, I never thought to call my old trainer and ask her what she thought. Womp, womp.

The rep left and I didn’t commit to a purchase. I’d have to think about it. Keep in mind, this saddle would cost more than my new horse did.

A few days later the rep called to tell me they were “having a sale.” She started talking to me about my Illinois trainer again like we were old friends from the Midwest. I am normally a pretty cautious person, but was like, “Everyone loves these saddles–they must be good.” I went ahead and gave her my credit card number.

I was so naïve.

At this point I was about a year into blogging on Saddle Seeks Horse. I never told the rep I had a blog. Meanwhile I blogged about the saddle shopping experience. Nothing crazy. Nothing controversial. Just straight talk about my new saddle. This info will be pertinent later on. Sit tight.

My saddle arrived and I was so exited–until after a few rides when I noticed Knight’s back had a weird indentation in it. That was not cool.

I took pictures of the indentation on his back and reached out to the rep via email and voice mail. I didn’t hear back from her. Apparently she was at Thermal (that crowd is about as opposite as my just-getting-back-into horses middle-class suburban stable with a riding school crowd). She was hobnobbing with the “important” people. I was not important.

I wrote a blog post and didn’t say anything outrageous, but posted the pictures of Knight’s back and “I’ve tried reaching out to the sales rep, but she won’t get back to me.” And I said something to the effect “the new saddle honeymoon is over.”

The rep eventually called me and literally told me the saddle tree needed time to “break in” and that’s why it fit the way it did. I needed to give the saddle more time. Because trees need to break in to fit the horse’s back–like a shoe needs to break in to  your foot.

That’s when I started seeing her true colors.

I called the master saddler at Barrington Saddlery near where I grew up. I knew he’d tell me the truth. I asked, “Does a saddle tree ever need to break in?”

He laughed and said no.

I poured out my horrific story up until that point about the MIA sales rep and he said, “I hear this story all the time. Those reps don’t care–they just want to sell you an expensive saddle. They don’t have training and don’t know how it’s supposed to fit a horse.”

So now I was really angry and I Googled and discovered the brand had a shop near the Los Angeles Equestrian Center!!!! I thought, “I’m going to just go show up to the shop, take the saddle with me and tell them I need my money back.”

Well, I got the address and it’s literally a tiny little workshop and not really open to the public, but I didn’t know that and I walked in like I was the most confident person in the world. I had my saddle in hand and the half dozen or so employees looked at me like I was from Mars.

“Hi! I’m here to return this saddle.” They had no idea what to do with me.

One of the women asked me who I bought the saddle from and said she’d call the rep for me.

I said, “Yeah, that’s not going to work. I have tried calling her to get her help but she just told me the tree needs to break in. I really need your help. I’m a teacher and this saddle cost more than my horse. If I ride in it I’m going to hurt my horse. I would really like to just return it.”

“We can’t do that.” Blah, blah, blah. She said.

I insisted, “Well I really need someone to help me because I can’t keep a $5,000 saddle that is going to hurt my horse. It’s beautiful, but it’s just not working out. You can still sell it. It’s brand new.”

I was very nice, but also very firm. My dad always says you get further with honey than vinegar, so I poured on the honey.

The lady said she couldn’t help me but she’d call her boss, and asked for my number. She said they’d get back to me. I walked out with my stupid saddle in hand.

As I was driving home on the 5 Freeway in rush hour traffic I got a phone call. It was the CEO of the company. It was one of the worst phone calls I’ve had in my whole life. He was smarmy and started out saying he’d send a new sales rep to work with me and I just kept saying, “You know I just don’t think we’re a good fit. I am not happy with this saddle, nor with the service. I understand I’m just a teacher with an OTTB and I’m not at a big, fancy show barn. You have to understand I can’t keep a saddle that is going to injure my horse.”

THEN he started reading part of my blog post BACK TO ME! How did he know I had a blog?

[If you like reading equestrian blog posts, this is my most highly trafficked blog post ever: Avoid This Dangerous Donut in the Saddle.]

“I see this Saddle Seeks Horse. It says, the honeymoon with your saddle is over. That’s not very nice  of you to say that about us. You’re not letting us help you.” It was honestly so creepy and he was being such a bully, but in a friendly voice.

I kept arguing with him, “Just do the right thing. Isn’t the customer always right? This saddle can’t be fixed to fit my horse–it will hurt him.” I must have been on the phone with him for 20 minutes to a half hour. It was painful. I just kept repeating the same thing over and over, “Please just do the right thing. I’m a teacher and I can’t afford a saddle I can’t use because it will hurt my horse. I’ll return it and you can still sell it. You won’t be out any money. Just let me move on.” And he kept trying to be all friendly/schmoozy, telling me he liked me and the horse world was very small.

I was rattled and we were at an impasse. He said he didn’t know what he could do but he would get back to me and we hung up, still at an impasse.

After I got home, I received a phone call from a woman with a French accent. It was the lady at the shop.

She said, “CEO [I don’t remember his name] spoke to me and he really likes you and we NEVER do this, but he’s agreed to let you return the saddle. But you have to take down your blog posts.”

I literally said, “I’m sorry, could you repeat that?” because I thought I didn’t hear her correctly because of her accent. Nope–I had heard correctly. I would have to give up my First Amendment rights in order to get my money back.

I told her I’d think about it and call her back.

I messaged a couple of horse bloggers, one who’s a lawyer and one whose hubby is and asked what I should do. They both said, “Take the money and take down your blog posts.”

A couple of days later I walked back in to the workshop with my saddle and handed over the saddle in exchange for a check for the amount I had paid. I thanked them and left immediately and cashed the check immediately.

I reluctantly changed the privacy settings on my blog posts to private, which is how they remain today.

I thought the crazy wild drama was over, but next I got the worst email from the rep. It was like a drunk rambling and it was overly personal about how all she is trying to do is make a living at something she loves and she would have helped me and blah, blah, blah. I didn’t even respond. It was ALL about her and nothing about helping me, or more importantly my horse! She was trying to make me the bad guy for being unreasonable.

A few day later I shared this tale with another horse friend and she was blown away. A day or two after that she sheepishly said, “I don’t normally do this, but you’ve got to check out Horse Show Diva.” [It’s a horse gossip forum.]

I went online to Horse Show Diva and there was a thread titled “Someone Must Stop the ________(name of saddle company) Bullies.” It was all about how unethical they are and they named the same rep who sold me the saddle. There were allegations I won’t get into, but it was not cool–the things they claimed she had done.

What I found also crazy is the sales rep was in the forum defending herself AND the CEO (remember the smarmy guy who called me and was reading my blog post back to me) was also in the forum!!! What kind of company CEO stoops to commenting on a HORSE SHOW GOSSIP WEBSITE???!?!?? LOL

Are you still there? I don’t even know if I’m halfway through this saga.

Back to my era of discovery. There was a horse blogger I was friendly with who lived in Provence. Not sure if she’s still blogging, but I reached out to her and asked her what the fellow countrymen think of this company’s saddles. She went into French equestrian forums and the storyline was the same! Bad service, bad quality, not ethical.

Since then, I’ve kept my ears open on this brand and I have not heard good things. I had a friend who bought one and it was “custom” fit for her horse, yet it always slid forward up to his neck. Even in the round pen. Even with the tightest girth setting. Once because of the saddle sliding forward, she fell off after a fence and got a concussion!

She had the saddle “refitted” for her horse twice and it still was a bad “custom” fit and the rep said, “There’s nothing we can do. Your horse has ‘pony withers.'”

To add insult to injury, my friend paid extra for that saddle to have buffalo skin. When she went to sell it and looked up the ID code she realized her saddle was made out of regular calfskin. She was unsuccessful selling it in California and had to ship it across the country to be rid of it. She even said, “I wouldn’t take a brand new one of those saddles for free.” Today she rides happily in a Stubben Portos.

On another note, I have heard more than one horror story about the stirrup bars on that bad saddle I had falling off–at least once during a Grand Prix round. Yikes!

I met a guy who is a dressage rider with his own equestrian business. He actually used to work for a different saddle company. Long story short, I told him that story and he said he knows for a fact the “French” saddles are made by machines in Morocco and they’re like $400 to produce and they sell for 5-6K. I believe him.

The tide has changed here in SoCal and I guess there have been so many horses with soundness problems one vet–a sports medicine one–made the connection with a particular issue and it was all due to the saddles. I really wish I could remember the details on that one but all I could think is why isn’t there a class action lawsuit yet.

Now when I had the Stubben rep and the County reps out–guess how much time they both spent with me–HOURS! The County rep especially watching Knight move, did back tracings, had a step stool she got on to examine him from behind to really see his back. When we put the County on I could just feel him move more free. Contrast that with the other rep who put a few saddles on and we were “good” to go.

I also loved the Stubben but for some reason I couldn’t put my finger on, I always got the sense I was a little too close to absolutely hitting my crotch on the wrong part of the pommel. Something about the twist was off for me.

One other reason I like the County is each saddle is made by one person. They have their own unique number stamped on the saddle. I feel like if you can trace it to a human being who’s a craftsman, it’s going to be a high quality.

So to summarize. County and Stubben are great saddles. That other saddle company is no bueno. I know some people love the brand and are very loyal, but I had such a nightmare experience I would not wish upon any fellow equestrian saddle shopper.

Thanks for reading and tally ho! 

Leave a Comment: What’s been your best (or worst) saddle shopping experience? How do you avoid the drama?

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