A client of mine asked me recently if I could use a saddle.

Her horse had died recently and she wasn’t using it anymore.

Imagine my surprise when she walks into my workroom carrying a beautiful Stübben all-purpose saddle with the pads!

It is an older version of this!

So now we have a good saddle to work with, and because it is a little deeper of a seat, I will have just a bit more stability than the higher Western saddle I’ve been messing with. I like the horn and seat of a Western saddle better, but the stability through the fenders is nice on an English saddle.

What I really want is someone to make me a custom design*.

Until then, I’m going to have to settle (and what a delightful compromise it is!) for the Stübben.

*What I would like to find is a deep but short-backed McClellan saddle with a bit of a higher pommel and cantle with fenders like a cross-country English. Kind of a combination of a jumping English saddle and a McClellan with a full seat that has a saddlehorn (or four).

McClellan Saddle