I have bought six saddles from Ebay (US) and they have all been absolutely great. If there is a problem, it is how you read 'into' the ads to get a feel for the quality of the item and just how genuine is the advertiser.
The most important thing is just like many of the 'cheaper'saddles on sale in the UK, you cannot get a good saddle cheap. What you will get is a much better saddle, cheaper that you would in the UK....if you could find one in the UK.
To my mind the only place to buy a saddle is the USA. With the dollar the way it is at present against the pound, you will not get better value. You can get a cheap flight, buy a saddle bring it back and still be cheaper than buying the same one in the UK.

Good idea  :o  personaly yes its tempting  but  its not helping western riding in the uk, tack sellers pay for stand space at shows and maybe sponsor classes, its also handy to be able to try a saddle and buy tack at shows,  its all part of building things up here, we need to improve the shows and  successful businesses will hopefully want to invest in our sport ,

I do think that the saving one makes by buying cheaper abroad (without trying) can be undone if a saddle does not fit the horse or you !

That said I would like to pass a tip on (which was given to me by a western rider) to others reading this forum who are looking for a quality western saddle at a reasonable price. (Whilst I am all for encouraging western supply businesses in the UK - it should be recognised that not everyone can afford the cost of new saddles that are sold at shows ! )

Try Ebay Germany - search under "westernsattel" and then add the saddle maker you like.

I knew that my horse needed a super wide saddle with oval skirt - I found a good used wide Continental saddle. The cost of the saddle and the shipping was very reasonable priced (I did not pay any import tax). To assist with translation (my GCSE German was not up to much) I found a free translation service under Google which helped me with the basics. You may find that the seller also speaks english.

I just returned from Futurity in Oklahoma where I bought yet another saddle.
OK fitting is a worry but the way round it is....make a full sized cardboard pattern of your horses saddlepatch.

All you need is a wire coat hanger cut it and straighten it, Lay it along your horses back topline making it fit from the withers to where the saddle stops, transfer that to stiff cardboard and cut out the shape. Then do the same across the horse in three places. Snip a slit in each piece from the top to halfway down and slide the pieces together so you have a crude sort of honeycomb but exactly the sme as your horses back.
This will fold flat, go in your suitcase and when you find a saddle you like just get out your pattern, up end the saddle and try in your pattern to fit.

This is exactly what I have done and brought back a gorgeous used, handmade Jim Taylor reining saddle total cost ?1516.

Don fitted a saddle to our horse at a QH2000 on the weekend we bought her and I have to say it was a fabulous buy (even if she did pull some horrid faces at him when he was fitting it!) It fits her, OH and even me, and looks good despite no TLC from OH and minimal from me when I get the tiem
Think the peace of mind is worth paying a bit more - even if it meant restricting myself to buying a scrubby second hand headstall and using a hand me down pad until we could afford new!
Still, should the lottery ticket come up I've got my eye on a fabulous Dale Chavez show saddle on Ebay USA.....

Hi has anyone had any dealings with the saddles from riders choice on ebay?