wasmi.net

A couple of years ago I embarked on a quest to find saddles to fit my horse, Kai. It took me several months to find a western saddle (I had bought Kai in October, and I found the western saddle early the following year, I think.) It took me even longer to find an English saddle that fit him!
I made the mistake of settling for a cheaper quality western saddle. It fits him, and looks pretty, but I was used to a better quality saddle so it had issues that annoyed me. The rigging was a slot instead of a huge, round ring. This made it very, very difficult to do up the cinch. Also, the stirrup leathers were fairly stiff, and flat against the horse's side. This meant if I lost a stirrup, I wouldn't be able to easily regain the stirrup unless I used my riding crop to reach down and physically turn the stirrup towards my toes. (Not easy at the trot or canter!)
I only used the western saddle until I was able to find an English one that fit, but I did use the western one if anyone else came out to visit and ride Kai.
I did have fond memories of my old Circle Y saddle (which I had obtained quite inexpensively and sold along with Chizzam so that he would have a saddle that fit him.) I did try looking for another one, but found that the prices for even the well-used, older, unfashionable Circle Y's were out of my ballpark (much less the shiny new fashionable ones. But I wasn't looking for fashion, just good quality and comfort!)
I finally found one on eBay, but I had to drag out the credit card to pay for it. (It had dust on it from lack of use, fortunately.) I intend to recoup the cost of upgrading to this saddle by selling my old western saddle and the two old English saddles that don't fit Kai. Brian and I are having a big garage sale next month, so come on over and buy stuff!