Thoughts of Bates Elevation, CAIR panel?
i have a bates elevation out on a trial, but ive heard pretty nasty things around the CAIR system, what do you think? The tack shop promised they had never heard any complaints, but ive hear otherwise.. thoughts? and what do i oil it with?
Answers: I'm not a big fan of synthetics.
I've owned BOTH kind and the leather ones are still with me. In the early 90's I traded a set of corner plates for a Wintec Sport and grant it, it be a GREAT saddle, BUT the difference in sitting in one vs my now 39 year ancient Stubben Siegfried is like the difference between owning a Saturn and trying to compare it to a Mercedes. Let's see if the Wintec holds up to the standards of a Stubben nearly 40 years later.
Our reasoning astern this is that a synthetic, no matter how they make 'em has no "GIVE", that's one of the reason for the interchangable gullets in the saddles of the Wintecs. I can honestly say surrounded by the decades of owning my Siegfried (Stubben), I've NEVER had it on a horse it didn't fit and I've owned a LOT of different sized/breeds of horses. From WIDE Quarter Horses to Narrow TBs and even a couple of Arabs.
I don't like the fact that the synthetics don't own any "give" to them and you stand a better chance of soring up a horse because they don't shift with a horse's body (They have little or no "give" contained by the trees, let alone the comfort that a leather saddle does for it's rider if you go and get a good, quality saddle.).
If you're limited on funds, after try e-bay and find a good used saddle.
I was going to get a Bates until I hear a lot of horrible things about the Cair panels. So I'm immediately getting a Stubben or Equipe saddle for a few hundred cheaper than the Bates! Well I'll be interested to see if anyone has had any luck near the Cair panels!!
