I purchased a long yearling reiner prospect but what I didn't quite realize is that all of my existing equipment would not be appropriate for competing in reining. My dripping-in-silver Broken Horn saddle was just not going to do the job for me. My show headstalls were too "pleasure" oriented. I don't even need to mention how "not" my english gear was going to work. I had a second Broken Horn work saddle that I was hoping would be ok for me to use during Sweetie's 2 and 3 year old year. That gave me 2 years to find my reining saddle.

I tried all types and styles of reining saddles. I did have a budget to stick with. I sold my Pleasure saddle for $2200 so that was about my budget to purchase a reining saddle. I know you are thinking that $2200 is alot of money, and your silver show saddle had lots more silver on it, that should make it worth more right? Nope. Take a Leson, Don Leson is a renowned reining saddle maker. My girlfriend spend over $6k for her custom made Lesan. Used Leson's in good shape are around $4k. (7/2007 - UPDATE Prices have gone up in the last few years, now a good used Lesan will run you $6k to $10k. I sat in one at the last show, asked the price and was told quite casually "only" $12.5k!) So I had to look at some different Brands.

As I explored the reining saddle market, I threw out the Circle Y type saddles, they didn't feel right and were visually inferior to the hand made reiner saddles out there.

Avila's Pro Shop from Montana is a vendor that always attends our reining and Quarter Horse shows. I liked what I saw and sat in a few. They even had a very cool, retro saddle at one show, dark leather, basket weave with silver corner plates. I liked the feel of it when I sat in it. the stirrups hung free and forward. It was more of a cow horse saddle. But it was way over my budget.

Avila's shop did have some not-so-fancy models that did fit in my budget so my search there was not a total loss.

I had been riding my gelding that I sold to a youth since I had been horseless. It just so happened that the parents ordered her a saddle at the Arab World show(my gelding was a quarter horse, I don't really know why they wanted to see Arabs). The saddle came at about the time I bought Sweetie. I had been riding in it for a few months and liked it very well. it was close contact with free swinging stirrups. As time went on, I took notice of this saddle. It looked like a reining saddle to me, so I wrote down the name of the saddlemaker and looked it up on the web. The maker name was Jim Taylor. Well, to my surprise it WAS a reining saddle. I started scoping out saddles at the shows and saw plenty of Jim Taylors and asked folks if they were happy with it. The price was reasonable so I figured I would order one. The wait time on custom made saddles is pretty long, 4 months to 2 years. As Sweetie rounded the bend of her 3 year old year, I needed to get going on what saddle I would be showing in.

Soon after my Jim taylor epiphany, I found out that the family was selling my old horse. I contacted them and they were getting out of showing so would be willing to sell me their Jim Taylor. woo hoo! I was soooo happy. The price was in my budget so I snagged it.

I showed in that saddle the first year. the only problem I had with the saddle was that is seemd to set me too far forward for the stops. The result was some back pain if I had a bumpy stop.

Back to Avila's dark leather saddle. It ended up that a large reining farm had purchased that saddle from that very show that I saw and sat in it. As Sweetie turned 5, my trainer relocated to this very farm, co-locating with their trainer. My first time there to ride I immediately located that nice dark oil saddle. A few weeks later I was shocked to come ride on a saturday and noticed that very saddle being used by my trainer...this was interesting to me, so to make a long story short, the farm sold me that darn saddle and now I have 2 reining saddles. The dark saddle has no padded seat, a very wide seat that sits me way up on my horse and back off her withers. the stirrups have a heavy feel to them and they sit pretty forward. I have shown in this saddle ever since.

My moral to this story is to be sure to ride in the saddle or make of saddle if you can at all possible do so. my Jim taylor worked great for my gelding, but not so well for Sweetie. I have tried my Avila saddle on other horses and hated it.

When you settle on a saddle, be prepared for it not to be absolutely perfect. I know they cost alot so you would think for that kind of money they would be exactly what you need. Remember that they are hand made and each is unique. Small style differences can mean a fit or feel difference to the rider.

My young gelding, Checks is very, very tiny. So small that my big cowhorse saddle is just too darn big for me to comfortably get my legs on him without getting very sore knees. I won't even go into how hard the seat is for my rear end, since it is a smooth leather seat without a stitch of padding on it. So, Look for updates to my saddle story as I look for a replacement. I will be trying out a barnmates Avila reining this weekend. So far that is the most comfortable seat when just sitting in them. Remember way back when, my Jim Taylor saddle was too narrow for me, so I still like the wider seat, just not as wide as my current saddle. I still like the square skirts, but it might not be possible for me to find one that is exactly what I like unless I order it. I am more of an instant gratification person and don't want to wait 3 months for one to be made.

Yes, readers have likely figured out by now that when I decide I need something, I take action. But really, I have been on the hunt for a saddle since last spring. So that makes the total time I invested over a year. In that year I sat in all sorts of saddles. Recently, oh about May I sat in a particular saddle that I really liked. At the end of June I asked to use it on Checks to see how well it worked on him and again, I really, really liked it. I wrote down the serial number from under the stirrup fender. It is a Bob's - Bob Avila saddle. I had already been talking with a couple of dealer's about pricing on a variety of Bob's saddles.

To get the skinny on the particular saddle I liked, I called Bob's and spoke with Tony Zimmerman who handles the Bob's website as well as his own website called www.cowdogsaddles.com. Tony reported that it was a cow horse saddle. He then sent me some pics of two he had in stock that were in my price range. Saddle prices are pretty high and to get a saddle like mine with full silver on it was over 7k. I was looking to spend more like 4k. I fell in love with one of the pictures. The price was right and I made arrangements to get the saddle shipped. I had to pre-pay of course and after my check in the mail fiasco, I actually wired them the funds. A process I HIGHLY recommend for larger internet purchases. I got the saddle 4 days later and it rocks! I will post pics...

The second half of the story is that as soon as I tested the new saddle out I shipped my old one off to them. Upon receipt of it Tony wrote me a check for the agreed upon trade in value and now life is just about perfect saddle-wise. Tony was very friendly, knowledgeable and easy to work with.