My saddle is made by H&R Saddelry in Frisco Texas. It has a flex tree and a roughout seat with no padding. The cantel is 6 in and is deep and rounded. Nothing fancy about this saddle but it fits me like someone made a mold of my butt and made the saddle just for me. I can ride for 8 hours and feel like I never left my Lazy Boy. I'm going to get another one just in case the guy should stop making them!!! This is the best saddle I have ever owned in my 35 yrs of riding. I wish I'd found it sooner.

My favorite is a Big Horn Cordura. Sarge's favorite is a King Series that most people say doesn't fit him. Go figure.

I have two favorites. My most favorite, because it is most like bareback, is a Wintec Sport Dressage . . . It doesn't have the top jockey . . . just little slits over the stirrup bars, and I use Webbers so there is no buckle under my leg. My Wintec has been used for breaking many horses, and I have a really secure seat with it and love it on trail. It's light as a feather and easy to clean . . . don't have to worry about saddle soaping or oiling after riding in the rain or snow. For more wide-shouldered horses, I have a Sharon Saare Endurance Saddle (for when I'm feeling in a "western mode") and it is one of the few Western Saddles I can ride without getting sore. The seat is lightly padded, smoothly sloped on either side of the seat, and it has a short, rounded skirt and is only about 20 pounds.

I have a couple Circle Ys. One is 40 years old, old buckstitch type, in great condition. I feel the most comfortable with and I use the emost. Last year I found a used Circle Y, flextree, and it is also very comfortable for horse and rider.

anyone here ride English, maybe I didn't read back far enough but I didn't see any mention of the english saddle here, am I the lone english rider? Anyway, although I'm mainly a hunt seat and dressage rider, I also enjoy the western saddle as well as the trooper saddle but for everyday schooling or showing, I love my Stubben VSD-DL, it's a great jumping saddle, comfortable for the long haul as in trail riding or hunting and has longer flaps for Dressage too! Lastly, the Stubben name has long stood for quality and it sure is made well plus it's good lookin' too!

I love my old Herford, my dad bought it new when I was about 10 or so...it is about thirty years old. Going strong. They are very comfortable saddles! Something I was wondering though... I ride several horses, some are QH bars, some semi QH bars, one Arab who takes a QH bar saddle (or maybe gaited). What about the Ortho Flex or the Rocking R (the ball and socket ones like the OF)? I want something that will fit my but and almost every horse's back I put it on. HARD TO FIND! And they are not always LIGHT! I don't want to go spend $3K on a saddle and not like it!!! My friend just bought a Sensation saddle for her older (slightly swaybacked/slightly potbellied) morgan mare. She absolutely LOVES it and so do her horses!

I have a Dale Martin Barrel Saddle and it fits me and my horse great!

I have had three saddles custom made for me out of Herman Oak leather and quarter horse bars... one is a heavy - I call a cowboy/buckaroo - saddle on a low association tree, high cantle back, tooled with silver, Spanish lacing on the pommel, silver medallion horncover w/one large turqouise in center. 2nd one is a cutting saddle, Buster Welch tree w/double basket weaving w/a rose in each basket cross, floral tooling on fenders, custom made antiqued w/silver conchos and my newest one is a Ranch Cutter, basket weave tooled with anchor metal D rings, brass buckles and conchos - which I took to Colorado to ride all day in the mountains last year setting up drop camps for Elk hunters... They were all built by Martin Bergin in Missouri and all three are fantastic and comfortable. You can ride in them all day long and not have a sore backed horse or you getting stoved up. You can never beat a good quality, custom made saddle.

I bought a Tesky @ the NFR about 6 years ago, it is a retro, it's beautiful and comfortable. I also have a custom made, that I got from a friend of mine, built in 1989, a great saddle for horses your not sure about, it really sucks you in.

Finally had one custom made. Wish I'd not waited roughly 45 years to do it tho. Pic of it is on the buckskin that's on one of my profile pix. Researched for 2 years and interviewed all the local saddlemakers and many hours of googling, asking questions and visiting saddle shops everywhere I went. Best decision I've made even tho a few tried to talk me out of it. Association tree to fit variety of horses. Light enuf (about 31#) that my lil' ol' arms can get it up on my 16.1 Thorobred if I need to. Still have the Plantation Saddle stuffed with horsehair that I used to ride my first horse with back in 1964. That is a treasure forever to me.