# english saddle size?



## longhorngal (Aug 4, 2005)

One of my daughters is 11 and weighs about 100lbs. She's pretty short-not even 5' tall yet. How do I know what size English saddle she could ride in? We have a western one that I think is a 12 inch. It's one of those Weaver brand synthetic saddles. Definitely a kid size saddle. She's wanting to do English. I found one on Craigslist and it's a 14". Would that be a comparable size?


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## Lisa in WA (Oct 11, 2004)

longhorngal said:


> One of my daughters is 11 and weighs about 100lbs. She's pretty short-not even 5' tall yet. How do I know what size English saddle she could ride in? We have a western one that I think is a 12 inch. It's one of those Weaver brand synthetic saddles. Definitely a kid size saddle. She's wanting to do English. I found one on Craigslist and it's a 14". Would that be a comparable size?


I can't even imagine a 14" English saddle. 15" is the smallest I've seen and it would be outgrown rapidly. Many, many people don't know how to measure an English saddle so it's anyone's guess if it really even is a 14" seat.

Your very best bet for a kid's English saddle is the Stubben Rex. You can usually find them on Ebay for not a ton of money. It's an allpurpose saddle so she can jump or do flatwork in it.
I don't believe there is any safer saddle for a child to learn in. Plus, they come in one size and they are a wide tree to fit most ponies (you can pad a too wide saddle to fit a narrower horse). My daughter learned to ride in one and it fit her when she was 9 and quite tiny. We still have it...I may have grandkids who'll need it someday!


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## Lisa in WA (Oct 11, 2004)

Forgot to add: I would not go any smaller than a 16" English saddle.


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## longhorngal (Aug 4, 2005)

Thanks Lisa, the only ones I saw on Ebay were $500 which is out of my price range right now. I picked up my used Collegiate for $175 locally which was quite a deal. The saddle I was looking at was too small after all.
I'll keep looking for the one you suggested and maybe one will turn up.


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## deineria (Aug 22, 2009)

http://cgi.ebay.com/COURBETTE-Engli...tem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f019881a4

16'' seat


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## deineria (Aug 22, 2009)

Not the Stubben Rex - but might work?


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## fetch33 (Jan 15, 2010)

Depends on what type of english riding... hunt seat or saddle seat. Seat size is measured from the little metal button near the top of the front of the saddle to the middle of the cantle, or the very back of the seat.


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## Lisa in WA (Oct 11, 2004)

Courbette makes a decent saddle but they aren't comparable to a Stubben in quality or resaleability. That particular one looks overpriced to me given that it's a pretty well used Courbette.
If you look for a little while, you should be able to find a Rex for a couple of hundered dollars. One just sold on Tacktrader.com for that.


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## Qhorseman (Jul 9, 2010)

I don't know if it helps any, I ride a 16" western and a 19" english. Wintec makes a decent entry level saddle.


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## Lisa in WA (Oct 11, 2004)

A 19" English saddle would be unbelievably too large for a person who is not even 5' tall and under 100 pounds, unless she has freakishly long thighs.


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## Qhorseman (Jul 9, 2010)

Just trying to give a comparison of seat sizes, any good saddlery should have saddles you can try


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## wr (Aug 10, 2003)

Qhorseman, welcome and it's very nice of you to offer up the distance between your back pockets as a comparison because I sure wasn't going there.


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## Kris in MI (May 30, 2002)

I came to hunt seat as a very skinny (75 pounds?) 13 yo. I *might* have been 5 foot tall by then, or might not (I remember starting 8th grade at 4' 10" and thinking I was never going to hit puberty!). My hunt seat saddle was a 16" and I rode in it all the way through high school ending up at 5' 7" tall. 

So if you can find a 16" hs or all-purpose saddle, that ought to do her a good long time.


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## Lisa in WA (Oct 11, 2004)

My daughter is 15, 5'6" and about 120 lbs. She has a 17" AP saddle (Stubben Siegfried) and and a 17.5" dressage saddle. She has long thighs so her 16" Rex doesn't work anymore. The seat fits her butt but her thigh and knee push her up out of the seat. Her knee extends over the knee roll.
So much about english saddle fitting is about the thigh rather than the butt.


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## longhorngal (Aug 4, 2005)

Well, I won the Stubben Rex I've been watching all week on Ebay. Looks nice and I got it for $232. Will let you all know how it works out!


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## fetch33 (Jan 15, 2010)

LisaInN.Idaho said:


> A 19" English saddle would be unbelievably too large for a person who is not even 5' tall and under 100 pounds, unless she has freakishly long thighs.


19" would be about right for a saddleseat saddle.... maybe even a little small for the average person. So it really depends on which type of English saddle she is referring to.


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## Lisa in WA (Oct 11, 2004)

fetch33 said:


> 19" would be about right for a saddleseat saddle.... maybe even a little small for the average person. So it really depends on which type of English saddle she is referring to.


True...I guess I never really think of saddleseat as being "English"....more "Southern"


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## Lisa in WA (Oct 11, 2004)

Good deal! It's hard to imagine that Stubben stopped making the Rex. now people are holding on to them for future generations. Like me!


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