Endurance Saddle – What Saddle is Best for Endurance?

I don’t actually ride my horses in any endurance rides, and even though I used to do some competitive trail riding I don’t even do that anymore. I really just prefer to ride for pleasure and enjoyment, but even so I know that some saddles are much better suited for endurance riding. In fact there are specific endurance saddles made just for this purpose.

Now, do you have to use an endurance saddle specifically? No, not at all. And on the other hand you can buy an endurance saddle and use it for trail riding only. I’ve done that as they are very comfortable and also very lightweight, two things I value in a saddle.

I have not owned a Tucker saddle but I have sat on them lots of times in the tack shops. They are very comfortable saddles, and I was especially enjoying trying out the Tucker endurance saddle on one of my visits to one of the tack shops in Ocala a while back. That thing was amazingly comfy. It truly made me want to plunk down the outrageous price, and I almost did. I guess I must have come to my senses or something but I didn’t buy it.

I did own the Crates endurance saddle for a while and it too was quite comfortable and extremely light. I think it only weighed about 15 pounds and it was a leather saddle. I sold it when I got my Clinton Anderson saddle because I wasn’t using it anymore, but it was a very nice saddle. It had the wide trail stirrups, really nice.

Another one I really like is the Flex-Lite Trail Endurance Expedition Saddle by Circle Y. An absolutely gorgeous saddle. They use that “Softee” leather that you don’t have to break in at all. The tree comes in regular and wide, and it’s about 24 pounds. Not as light as the Crates but a really nice endurance saddle.

But to answer the question of what saddle is best for endurance, it is going to be the saddle you and your horse are comfortable with, regardless of the type of saddle it is.