So apparently my baby boy is growing up and getting too wide for my beloved Stubben Siegried :-( I'm a bit sad as I love love love this saddle, and it's as wide as I believe they make them.

So I'm thinking I'll be in the market for a new jumping saddle soon. I'm looking for one with a pretty forward flap though as I have a pretty long femur.

Anyone have any suggestions that magically fit Arabs well??

I too had to sell my stubben siegfried because of width issues with my arabs. It was definitely sad as I have to say that it was my favorite saddle to date, but I have found a few other options that I love. I have had good luck fitting arabians with thornhill saddles, they go all the way up to 36cm and have tons of seat sizes. Here is a link to the website:

http://www.thornhillusa.com/saddles/saddles.html

I also ride in a crosby close contact wide tree and it fits my super wide mare just wonderfully. I think crosby's tress run a tad wider than the industry standard which works great for those of us with wide horses.

Good luck in your search!

Deena

The Arabian Saddle Company saddles are HEAVEN! Never jumped in mine, only shown hunter pleasure. I am selling my "old" one as it's too wide for my new gelding. It's an extra wide tree, but it also has about an inch more "forward" on the flap as I have a long femur also. The saddle I'm selling is the Elan. It's an 18" seat, which works great for me, and I'm just 5'5".

Here's their website: www.arabiansaddle.com
I'm going to try to get pics of mine today or tomorrow. Here it is on the horse I bought it for. You can really see how forward the flap is--a little too far for me at the time with how deep I was sitting!

Sorry to hear that two of you have had to give up your Siegfrieds .... they are simply superb, especially over fences.

We use Stubbens (mostly Siegfried and one ancient Parzival) for our Eventing cross country and stadium jumping. I'll ask Chrissi what widths ours are, as they are used on the purebred Arabs as well as the part breds. Even the llttle kids use Stubben Rex, as it puts them in positively the best position for jumping as well as staying balanced throughout the the entire jump (approach, take off, flight, landing, get away).

If you intend to use your new saddle for jumping, be very careful what you choose. Many APs are great on the flat and work fairly well up to about 2'6" .... above that height problems often become apparent. Unfortunately, many people blame the horse saying he has no talent to go any further or shuts down after that height when, actually, it's what the saddle is doing to the rider's position while over the fence and on landing that is causing the horse to have problems. Change of saddle then makes a HUGE difference ... suddenly the horse once again shows plenty of untapped ability because the rider is where he/she is supposed to be throughout all 5 phases of the jump.

I think the best choice is from Custom Saddlery

I have three of their custom saddles....so far

http://www.mysaddle.com

Sharon - were the Siegfrieds you used CC or A/P??



Also - anyone had any experience with Pessoa's? I've heard both good and bad about them, but never had the experience to ride in one personally or know how the fit the typical Arab...

Thanks!

Sharon likes the Siegfrieds.

I like the Butet and the Devoucoux (very pricey).

I also have Frank Baines which you can get in a WIDEEEEE tree. My Elan for jumping is great. I have jumped some big fences in it. Everyone who has borrowed it loves it.

I used to have a Pessoa AO -- long enough ago when they were built in England. I am not impressed with the quality of the Pessoa's that are now built in Argentina. Most tend to be stiff and of lesser quality than the English made.

I use a Thornhill, now. I also have a County Stabilizer, but prefer the Thornhill. I have used one or the other saddle for success up to Nat'l Champ over fences.

I have an older ainsley cc saddle which fits most of the arabs but not the wide bodies! Our widest girl wears a country stablizer which we had the rep come and fit her. Several riders have the older Pessoa's which they loved but when one ordered a new one, it was awful! She then got a Tad Coffin which fits both her narrow and wider horses.

Our Seigfrieds are also older models ... 15 yrs or more (the little grand daughters' Rex models are newer), lol, we use them a LONG time .... so don't know about the style designatnions and fit of the newer adult model Stubbens, and they may well be different.

Our Parzival is so old it's listed as a collector's item, but still in excellent condition and used regularly. It's had proper leather care and been kept in excellent repair. The Seigfried that Chris has ridden for 22 years is getting some 'thin' spots in the leather from all that use, but otherwise still excellent (we are VERY CAREFUL about who we use to re stuff them when needed).