Used Western Saddles: Yes, I am talking about them AGAIN
I'm a bit of a broken record. It seems like I'm always talking about buying used saddles, rather than new ones. But I don't apologize and I won't stop talking about used saddles. There's two reasons for this. The first is that one of the wonderful things about western saddles is that, if they are well made and cared for, they'll last a lifetime or longer. That means that used saddles aren't used up. They often have many, many great years left in them.
The second reason is that there are so many shiny, new, low quality saddles that are flooding the marketplace today and I cannot bear it that so many people fall for them. I see it endlessly in forums across the web and in the inquiries we receive. Folks will talk about their "beautiful" new saddle that they bought and will post a link to a flimsy, poor leather quality, shellacked saddle that makes me weep … and I bet makes their horse weep too.
Please don't fall for this. A new saddle priced at $400 can NEVER be a quality saddle. It takes at least $750, and probably closer to $1000, to get a decent saddle. But western riding doesn't have to be a rich person's activity. If you have $300-$700 to spend, you can find great values in the used market.
And there is no larger selection of used saddles than on ebay. The Western Saddle Guide partnered with ebay to present their huge tack selection in a store designed by horse people, for horse people. You'll quickly be able to find exactly what you're looking for. Shop by new or used. Shop by saddle type. Find all types of tack and horse riding accessories in easy to use categories
So, get on over there and shop the Western Saddle Guide Tack Store. But, puhleeeze promise me that you won't buy a shiny new saddle priced at less than $750. Look for those great used bargains.
To help you out, we're introducing a new blog feature called: WSG's Used Saddle Pick of the Week where each week we'll highlight a quality used saddle currently for sale in our Tack Shop. This week our pick is: 14" Crates Barrel Saddle. You have to act fast because the auction ends in a couple of days, but it's a very nice saddle from a very good saddlery - Crates
Filed under Saddle Buying, Saddle Types by Saddle Sense
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Comments on Used Western Saddles: Yes, I am talking about them AGAIN »
Hey can you tell me about a circle (C) saddle do you know anything about them please reply. get along little doggie.
Leo,
Circle S is a very average production saddle brand. There's a whole group of these new saddle brands that have relatively generic names that sure seem to me like they're intended to fool people.
The number of brands that use the words "Circle", "Silver", "Royal" and "King" in them seems a bit too many to be coincidence. And when you try to research who the company is behind the brand, you often end up with a dead end. For Circle S, the best I can come up with is Shiloh Tack, which appears to be a distributor for the brand. http://www.shilohtack.com/
If the maker of a saddle appears to be hiding, I think they're tring to tell me something.