Technically, this should have been the 2nd saddle trial, but I will get to why it doesn’t qualify at all in a minute.
I saw a great deal on ebay for a CWD saddle, 18″ on a 5″ tree (aka a wide). Every saddle fitter I have spoken to says that while May has big shoulders, she is not an incredible wide, backed horse. To be honest, I believe them because the wither tracings I have do not show a table-backed horse. The CWD was worn with some cosmetic issues, but I was assured it was in sound, use-able condition, and for the price, I could afford to fix the issues it had. It even came with a 14 day trial! Cool.
First Red Flag – The box showed up and was basically random strips of cardboard taped together with packing tape. No Joke. Check This Out.
Second Red Flag – The return address on the UPS label had been completely torn off.
I kept telling myself that I bought from a seller through eBay with PayPal protection and that the ability to return the saddle was clearly written into the terms, but I am not going to say that didn’t make my stomach tie up in knots. I opened up the box, stuck my hand under the pommel to pull the saddle out… and I immediately knew it was too narrow. I didn’t even have to look at it because my hand barely fit between the panels.
How narrow? 4″ dot to dot instead of 5″ dot to dot.
The difference? Basically my wide saddle just became a narrow… Damn. Other than that, leather was beautiful (despite being miscolored, as expected), and everything seemed sound about it. Unfortunately, that tree was never going to fit on my horse. I let the seller know, and she told me it did measure as a 5″ tree and that I should try it anyway… I emailed her back a few hours later to tell her it didn’t work and that I would like to return it.
I got a return label quickly and was able to ship the saddle back.
Third Red Flag – The return label was to a different city/state than where the saddle came from.
Oh well. It was provided by eBay from the seller, so that was where the saddle was going. It shipped back quickly, and I received a refund for everything I spent almost as soon as the saddle was returned.
I am not sure how to rate this one. It was a total fail that locked up almost my entire budget for more than a week for a product I couldn’t even sit in. However, the whole return process was easy enough. I am going to give it a 5/10. Disappointing, but luckily not disastrous.
That “box”!!! LOL.
I will say I used a different box to return it!
Yikes. That entire pro was would freak me out as well. Glad you got your refund!
I was so concerned that I didn’t dare put another saddle on my credit card for trial just in case I couldn’t get my money back!
OMG, how shady! Glad the return was drama free, though!
I was so relieved! Onto the next saddle adventure!
That’s creepy. I’m glad you were able to return it.
Me too! I was completely expecting a fight so I didn’t dare spend more money to try a different saddle. All’s well that ends well I guess!
This is why i havent bitten the bullet while looking for saddles. OH It is so hard. And i need a wide too so you need to share when they don’t work for you (but no narrows thanks).