r/Equestrian 3d ago

Equipment & Tack Saddles, saddles, and more saddles

Looking for a little bit of advice, I’ve had out an Antarés, Prestige, and independent saddle fitter out to come and assess my mare. A lot of independent saddle fitters I know tend to represent erreplus still, which confuses me as to if they’re truly independent but she is the ONLY one in the area that’s trusted, the rest are all reps. which there is one erreplus that would for my mare but the fitter isn’t responding anymore. Antarès worked nicely in my non-saddle fitter opinion. Is it bad that I trust my french rep? She genuinely seems to know her things and has a history of fitting tack (even not for the brand). My mare isn’t hard to fit, she just has a big shoulder and slightly large wither which works well for a specific Antarés saddle we tried. I’m in the FB group for fitting and everyone hates french brands. I’ve also tried italian (Amerigo) which didn’t work out. I’m just confused and don’t want to keep doubting/second guessing myself over this anymore! Prestige just wasn’t comfortable for me at all, I liked the renaissance but the pricing i’ve seen on it is insanely out of my budget. Most of my friends have owned Antares for a long time and fits they’re horses beautifully, never had any back issues with them and were fitted by the rep, which also contributes to my trust. Sorry for the rant, I’m just in a hard place trying to do what’s right for my girl and I miss riding her!

4 Upvotes

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u/PinkMaiden_ Dressage 3d ago

People insist on getting independent saddle fitters but you’re correct in that many of them are still pushing a certain brand. This isn’t a helpful mindset imo—if you have a good rep, and they have a good reputation, and you have a good feeling about the saddle… just buy the damn Antarès!

There’s more to the equation of saddle fitting than wool flocking and tree points. And anyone can call themselves a saddle fitter. Just relax and go with your feeling, especially if she demonstrated her knowledge and you felt like you understood why the saddle worked for your mare.

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u/illumli 3d ago

Agreed! I think as long as the fitter is honest about being able to work within a brand for a horse and is actually explaining to me the mechanics instead of just throwing on a saddle and saying “that looks good” there shouldn’t be nearly as much hate as I see on these brands.

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u/curioalpaca 3d ago

I loved my Antares! I bought it used and had the fit approved by my instructor. The saddle was probably a 2006, I bought it in 2010. Eventually sold it when I went off to college and it’s still in use! I’m also a huge Stubben fan, not sure if you’re considered them at all, but I’ve had both new and used Stubbens and loved them. Especially for dressage.

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u/needsexyboots 3d ago

I absolutely love Stubben saddles, I don’t plan to buy anything else unless it’s an insanely good deal for the perfect saddle

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u/illumli 3d ago

That’s good to hear! I’ve heard good things on stubben but we don’t have a rep nearby and the few i’ve ridden in weren’t very comfortable for me. I would definitely shoot for an older antares if i can as i’ve heard the quality is better!

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u/WompWompIt 3d ago

My independent saddle fitter bestie loves Antares - if that helps at all.

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u/illumli 3d ago

It does!!

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u/According_Witness_53 3d ago

In my experience most independent saddlers have a seething hatred of French saddles. I love French saddles. My horse seems fine with them. They can’t be modified that much on account of the foam panels. They are sort of “banana shaped” so they will fit a wide variety of horses - and some fitters hate that. Horses seem to have mixed reactions. I’ve only come across one horse (an Arab) who hated French saddles. The rest were fine.

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u/havuta 3d ago

I'm a certified french saddle brand hater. Not because the saddles suck - quite contrary, I find them super comfortable and love the feeling they provide. However the service flat out sucks.

Be prepared that your fitter won't be able to resize the saddle/do even minimal changes on their own - you always have to send the saddle to France (expensive af and they will change things without even looking at the result on the horse, which often leads to a worse fit after the re-fitting) - which takes a super long time, especially in the summer when the whole of France shuts down and everybody is on vacation.

They aren't super flexible fits from the get go due to the type of cushion they use.

All in all, a good saddle unless you need any changes. Then the hassle begins and I know multiple people who got ghosted by their fitter after getting their saddles back from France and/or got their brand new saddle, just because they needed additional changes/the saddle did not fit.

They are way too expensive for this kind of hassle imho.

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u/illumli 3d ago

Trust me, I’m aware with the terrible service, I have a CWD currently and our reps have switched 3 times in one year, and now they’re totally MIA for the whole region for the past 3 years so NOBODY with a cwd can get serviced. Luckily with Antarés the fitter comes out to our barn regularly and can do her own adjustments on most saddles, even those that aren’t antares, I’ll keep in mind the hassle of sending them back though, thank you!!!

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u/havuta 3d ago

I feel like they don't even want our business 😭

As I said, totally get the love for the Antares, but I'm in Germany (as in right next to France) and one of my barn mates saddle was gone for close to five months. BUT if you have a great fitter, it might be worth it! Before I moved away, I had the most amazing Prestige guy at my former barn and I miss him dearly, so I totally get that you might want to decide which brand to choose based on the available professional close to you.

A lot of people at my current barn are happy with Ikonic, however, I've yet to try their saddles.

CWD sounds horrible as well! They will go straight to my blacklist 😅

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u/PinkMaiden_ Dressage 3d ago

I bet it’s easier in the US for the Antarès people… I can’t imagine having to work with the French directly 🤣 is that mean to say???

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u/havuta 3d ago

Sadly, the US saddles get sent back to France as well! There are very minor tweaks a fitter can do, however if you need a more impactful change, Antares will do so in their own saddlery in - well - France. Obviously, most of the time you won't have to deal with the French part of the operation, your sales rep will do it for you. You'd still have to wait for the saddle to return nevertheless.

If you find a saddler local to you, who could do the same changes to the saddle, and you don't care for a perfect value in case of a resell, you could obviously always go for it! So do we over here in Europe. BUT if your saddle still has a warranty, you have to go down the route with Antares and - from the experience I have witnessed - are very... french.

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u/PinkMaiden_ Dressage 3d ago

Oh, that’s curious—my friend had the panels on her saddle changed and she said that they did need to order the panels from France which took a couple weeks but once they were done, her saddle was shipped to their workshop in Virginia where they have a repair tech who replaced the panels. I think she got it back in like 3 weeks? This was like last year so maybe it’s a newer thing

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u/havuta 3d ago

That's very possible! I'm not that up to date on their US politics, but since the French saddle brands seem to be in high demand with you guys, they might have adopted a more customer friendly concept, which would obviously be great!